For someone who was supposedly the wisest person ever, Solomon was very unwise in many ways. Even when I was a Christian, I constantly asked myself how someone so wise could be so unwise.
That passage about the lying spirit in the prophets was actually the final straw for my partner. He's been a true believer since childhood, and I finally came out to him as agnostic in 2020. He'd been a "progressive" christian I guess with social issues and whatnot, and definitely viewed his Christianity as a personal relationship rather than something he needed to constantly evangelize and whatnot. While I haven't tried to deconvert him, we had both come across Dan McClellan tiktok videos independently. I guess he covered that verse a few weeks ago, and that was the breaking point for my partner. He had always relied on the fact that the Bible is true because g-d wouldn't lie to the people who wrote it. But if g-d is willing to lie to his prophets, and admit to it as well, what's to stop him from doing it throughout the entirety of scripture.
That’s scary to think about. If God is all powerful and so vain and manipulative, what if he created all evidence against creationism and historical accuracy like dinosaur bones, distant star light and geological patterns in just the perfect way to trick us for shits and giggles, so he can just laugh at us for having reasonable doubt. I don’t believe that God exists by like a 99.9% metric, but holy shit that 0.1% would be absolutely horrifying, not just for punishment but the idea that a God would be SO evil to cheat his creation like that. Worst part: wouldn’t be out of character.
I've never read the entire Bible, but I've read a bunch of summaries and blurbs and all that. Some of the stories that I find the most strange are the ones where it says, "The King called his 400 advisors and prophets in to ask what he should do, and he didn't listen to Jeremiah, the prophet of God, because he's dumb." And like, yeah no shit. If I've got 400 people trying to tell me what to do, it's unlikely that I'm going to listen to a specific one person. Especially if 200 are in agreement that I should do something else
Love the idea of secular bible study especially those of us who left. The world of the Bible is what is what my life was based on for decades great to have an honest place to explore that part of our life that is not a church
Thanks for saying so! I hope you find it useful or at least interesting. If nothing else, i promise it will help confirm to you why you left it all behind. Ha
The world of the bible is what a lot of the secular world is based on, too -- it's just disguised. But consider: the Church was the basis of Western European education, and everything that came from it. So anyone who's been through that or the businesses and professions and rules and laws that came from it can benefit from this study, IMO.
When I was a Christian I was told that we would have an urge to read the Bible everyday and delve into his word as though it was a drink that we thirsted for. If we did not have this intense urge, something was wrong with us. It turns out it was something very right to not want to read the Bible all the time. The stories are horrific and tedious.
Each time another question pops into my head regarding something you share (me thinking, “Say what?”) - you answer it in the next few things you say! Anticipating those things that are conflicting, hypocritical or just plain nutty is what makes your videos so good! You are a natural teacher. We are lucky to have you doing this and your children are super lucky to have you for a dad! ❣️👨🏻🦰 Gingers rule!
They can see all the flaws with everyone else's gods. They just excuse their own god's flaws. Their definition of an evil god would look just like the one from the Bible. They just won't admit it.
@@TheZeroNeonix True-- although I do appreciate and respect the ones who pick the loving parts of the bible and focus on them in their actual daily practice. Still think we'd be better off without religion altogether.
@@TheZeroNeonixThis makes me think of William Lane Craig. His standard for Christianity is "If there's a one in a million chance it's true, it's worth it". His bar for everything else is substantially higher
I feel that this place is my safe space. Yesterday I went to youth group and they were talking about pride and how not to be prideful like god commands and I talked about how with his omniciesnce he knows whether some people leave the faith or some join but they talked about how it was my choice and my fault if I seperated of him and to never question his ways (because I brought the example of how many of the people in this world will end up in hell and the isolated tribes) but they were like "who knows? we can't tell you who gets saved and who's not" Also I have problems with myself since I am in the closet and how they push the narrative that the Agenda 2030 is the revelation is the End Times and I am just scared not going to lie. Everything is so cult like, not saying they are bad people but I began to have questions that makes me doubt. Also the fact that they reference the bible for everything, because it is the word of god but it is a circular argument because I will get them saying "It is in the Bible" but how do I trust the Bible "Because it is the word of God" but how do I know it is the word of god? "Because it says in the Bible" like what? And they will use the "It is by faith you know it is the word of God" like a huge cope out. I have so many problems with this because I have my doubts but my church keeps pointing to Israel seeing their activity as end times prophesies being fullfilled (they are dispensational pre-millenialist) and have this obsession with the rapture of the church. I don't question much for the fear of hell or getting left behind it is just anxiety inducing. But then I salute you Brandon for your work, you bring peace to every deconstructer My salutes from Puerto Rico
that is very kind of you, and yes i hope you always feel comfortable and at peace venting or questioning here. Its so hard, especially when you are younger, especially when everyone else seems to have no problems with it. It is circular like you said, but then play that game. Fine lets make it all about the bible, theres enough info in it to disprove god via his own claims. no need for philosophy or some other religion to win you away. The bible itself is the reason I could not longer beleive.
@@MindShift-Brandon yes, and if you think the american church is wild... you have to see the latin american one, they are even more militant But thank you sir
I really enjoy the biblestudies. After 40 years of weekly church biblestudies, it is a joy to look at things from a different perspective. I really hope you will be able to do the entire bible. By the way, i just love your sarcastic sense of humor!
Concubinage was always a major red flag issue for me. Such a glaring inconsistency. And Solomon dabbling with the other gods after becoming the wisest man ever just strikes me as comical. And plus anyone else would have been killed for it. I guess it's good to be king. XD I like your breakdown of the subjectivity of the morality at the end too. ;)
I agree...in many wedding vows, we hear verses from Genesis about one man and one woman in marriage, yet so many of "god's leaders" went directly against that command with mostly no consequences. I have enough aggravation with one wife, why the hell would I want more (outside of getting laid a lot)? And imagine the monthly problems times hundreds! Not only no, but HELL no!
I have to be honest I read alot of the OT and made excuses for alot of troubling stuff but it was in fact the last verse you covered where God put a lying tongue in the mouth of the prophets that I closed my bible and said I'm done. True story. I was never the same after reading that.
@@MindShift-Brandon I think it was the whole narrative and me picturing them all coming to him with their best ideas. The plotting and scheming in heaven was just like wtf! I think it would have been more palatable had the text said God allowed the devil to deceive him.
Man, no wonder i was so terrified not just of the devil, but very VERY terrified from God himself, he sounds just like an abusive parent😢(just like i have one) so I really really understand why this can cause fear to a kid and a grown adult as well. Thanks for the videos Brandon, I'm almost catching up with you with this series, I've been loving your content so far, keep it up man, great content, this is really the word i wanna be hearing 😊
Such a thoughtful comment. You are right. The devil is that character your abusive partner warns you about. Well, if you ever left me, trust me theres guys way worse than. Then you just stick around for abuse. This book is disgusting.
You know the biggest issue I have with the Bible is it never made me feel like God loved me, maybe God is love maybe not! but every time I read it or open the book i read something awful rather than Good I felt like i was more condemned by it than accepted by God! It just didnt jar with me on a lot of stuff maybe that's why i don't read it! thank for doing the reading for me lol!
We used to have this superstitious trend where people would just open their Bibles and get encouraging verses. And this is not biblical at all btw just some evangelical craziness. I remember trying this same thing and getting only parts where God hates something. LMAO. Oh well, it is what it is, hate 😂
As a former Muslim, I often found Christian idea of God's love to be super strange. For example, I love my children, and I sacrifice for them, but I don't talk about my love, tell them how important my love is, how much I sacrifice for them, how my love for them is the most important thing there is, how I do all these things for them even though they don't deserve it, and so on. Not only do I not love like that, but I would hate if someone loved me like that. If you love someone, it should be about them and not about your love for them. So how is that different from Islam? Islam is more like the old testament. God is powerful, and you love and fear him. If you were homeless and God was a billionaire, then Allah and the old testament Yahweh would buy you a house and demand worship. Christian idea of a god, on the other hand, would be a billionaire who would get a minimum wage job cleaning toilets to earn money to buy you a house to then constantly hold their suffering over you.
Oh man. That takes me back. Yes just open and point to hear what the lord has to say to me today and id get something like deut 23:1 “no one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall enter the assembly of the lord” ok. Gotta take care of the boys today!
@@MindShift-Brandon Deuteronomy 23:1-2 "1“No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of Yahweh. 2No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation, none of his seed shall enter the assembly of Yahweh." Matthew 19:12 "12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”" Definition eunuch: "A eunuch is a man who has had his testicles removed." So depending on how you interpret this we have problems. So let's add a defense from bibleref as well. "Jesus expands on the concept of a eunuch here, describing some men as being born eunuchs, meaning those who naturally lack sexual desire or the ability to have sex. This would seem to include those who are born with physical complications, as well as those with sexual desires incompatible with marriage. Then Jesus adds a third kind of eunuch, those who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Given the broader sense in which Jesus is using the word, He does not mean literal castration. Rather, He is speaking figuratively of those who have set aside their sexual desire and right to be married in order to serve the Lord with a more single-minded devotion. He concludes by saying that the person who can receive this condition should do so. " - bibleref
The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal is wiiiiiiild. I’ve heard pastors use that as an example of god listening and showing himself. Conveniently they never mention the part where everyone gets murdered afterwards.
Thanks for this new bible study, as always, many great examples as to why people should definitely not rely on the bible, especially the old testament for moral guidance. And the inconsistencies are definitely a sign of a man made myth, not a manifestation of divinity from a perfect being.
I can’t wait for you marriage episode. That has been a huge problem for me for a long time. Jesus says that lusting in your heart after a woman is adultery, and under the law, that is punishable by death… how then is a David or a Solomon allowed to just overturn this rule and not be subject to death?? Favoritism? Yes. Picking and choosing? Absolutely. Inconsistent with Gods design of one spouse? Obviously. And worst of all, he decides when he wants to punish for it arbitrarily. So much for being the same yesterday, today, and forever. So much for “never changing”. That’s always been one of the main inconsistencies that’s stuck with me
Alan Moore once wrote a story about two superheroines fighting over the superpowers one of them stole from the other; this being a mystical book, the myth-echo of Solomon is summoned to rule on the issue, and he comes across as a infanticidal maniac, slavering over the prospect of slicing babies in half! His final ruling is to split the powers between the two, which the thief is fine with, but the true hero knows would be disastrous (for plot reasons) so she gives up her right to the powers so they will remain intact...Solomon then gives her the powers instead, remarking "See? I told you there's always a baby at the heart of every issue!" (Just telling the story, it seems a bit obvious, but Moore's talent is such that you really don't see this coming when you're reading it) Anyway, I wonder if, even in the original story, "the baby" is a metaphor for something else...like, say, a certain kingdom that has been split in two...
Oo, good catch. I have argued sometimes that some stories were never meant to be retold as history. That they were Aesops, designed to teach. (I thought that the Binding of Isaac was meant to illustrate that God no longer desired human sacrifice, to differentiate from older ideas and the commonplace of the time human sacrifice.) This bible study feels like I gave the bible too much credit. But its nice that some of that theory might be true.
Oh man.. ..i had forgotten about this. A little more than thirty years ago i was discussing with an atheist friend how Solomon was regarded as being the wisest man who ever lived and i told him about the cutting the baby in half story. My friend laughed out loud, and gave an explanation for why that wasn't such a great solution. Specifically, that the tactic is transparent and anyone who saw through it would insist on giving away the child to save it. I never really thought about this before, but that was definitely an early step in my deconversion.
Well, actually back then society was more barbaric than what we consider today, and no, they wouldn't insist on giving it away. But heck, when you say morality is relative and not objective, you really can't get upset with the barbarism of the past just because you don't agree with it. Consequence of relativism.
@@theboombody it would probably be a good idea to determine whether someone is an advocate of relativism by asking them before putting words in their mouth. For the record, I am not. Also, my point didn't have anything to do with morality. It is strictly an assessment of the efficacy of old Sol's judicial solutions. So what are you even talking about?
Thanks again Brandon, your videos have become my daily bread, I think you should be nominated for most caring Atheist of the year. You must have shifted over a thousand minds by now, we should take a census... oh wait, counting is bad according to god, sorry nevermind, "Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done."
How can Solomon actually get to *see* and interact with God twice and yet still go on to follow the other gods that his ladies introduce him to? Why is Yahweh consistently so less appealing when compared to the other gods that were on offer at the time? And btw the 2nd time in 1 Kings 9 is also the last time God is said to “appear” to a human in the Hebrew Bible (according to The Disappearance of God by Richard Elliott Friedman). So this is it, and Solomon wasn’t impressed enough to stay loyal to Yahweh. 🧐 Another great episode!
Watched this a couple of times. You do a great job Brandon - I can only think of Tolkien had put in a religious element into his books there would at some point be a Rings cult now and apologists doing the mental gymnastics that we see religions do today.
Thank you and yes i always think this. Take something like lotr ir star wars, make a few more divine claims. Wait hundreds of hears and bam! Worldwide religion
@@MindShift-Brandon and don’t forget the trump cult that’s actually sprung up in real time - most of his evangelical supporters think he’s the most godly person on earth - strange he never mentioned god in 1000’s of interviews and books before 2015. 🤔 - surprised he’s not had any blinding revelations from Jesus 😂
Just a little reminder of how horrific the Bible has always been: Back during the days of the Hays Code, when media was very heavily censored for content, the studios started churning out Bible movies. This was not in order to "convey God's Word," but to get around the censors regarding s^x and violence by using the argument of "maintaining biblical accuracy." Ever compare Bible movies like the Ten Commandments to other movies of its era? Yeah, MASSIVE difference between the graphic stuff portrayed, even when limited just to them. It can be exciting stuff for violence and action... but not exactly conducive to "love and kindness."
I love your secular bible study episodes Brandon! I would love to share my story with you, perhaps because it's rather different than most deconstruction stories I've heard. I look forward to hearing from you, and seeing your channel go far.
Don't undersell the Ahab story, it's even weirder than that in context: Ahab wants to know if God will approve a military action, so he calls on the prophets to see if He's ok with it (which is what he's supposed to do, right?); only there's one prophet who apparently hates him, because he always gives bad news. That prophet (who I think only shows up in this sequence) is even warned to go along with the positive accounts of the others, but does not. When the other prophets demand to know why he breaks with them, he tells the story related, which I THINK is meant to be an actual vision he claims to have had; iow, he saw behind the curtain into how the heavenly court works. This raises further questions: Did God want him to see this? Why would he, since it exxposes God's own duplicity? Surely, God wouldn't want him to tell on Him? And yet he does...So either they're all just making shit up, or God is deliberately entrapping people into doing wrong, even when they ask his guidance (and is powerless to stop a whistleblower from revealing this). The real shame is that God's punishments trickle down to effect the people, who are just trying to live their lives, until they are ended or ruined by invading armies or plagues...If God is so displeased by Kings doing evil in his sight, then would it really be so hard to just punish THEM, instead of all the people who had no say in his decisions??
You're acting like the Bible is hiding all this stuff. It addresses these things very directly in the book of Job. But even if you take God out of the equation, does nature really seem any more benevolent? The sins of one affect very many in this world, from either a secular or religious viewpoint. The only difference is the secular world continues this pattern indefinitely and there is no definite end.
@@theboombodyNature doesn't police my thoughts, or hate me and demand my eternal torture for committing thoughtcrimes. Nature does not claim to be honest and then lie like God does. Nature does not claim to be fair, moral, just or loving. God is a malicious liar who demands love and worship on pain of torture and death, all the while claiming to be the ultimate moral good. He is a malignant narcissist and I have met plenty of petty human beings like him. None as awful though. I will take reality over becoming beholden to a fictional narcissist who thinks people deserve to be tortured unless he personally decides they don't. Equating a mythological character to the natural world itself is a very strange tactic that doesn't even make a coherent point, and it certainly is not going to convince anyone.
Another great video Brandon 🙌🏻 Superb idea going through each book critically. Again zooming out all the stories of detailed temple plans shows it’s man written … unless the god who made everything and trillions of planets, stars and atoms - was more bothered about architecture / interior design than like you said slavery. 🙄
thank you much! and yes even if you are going to avoid the topic of slavery, could god not give us a chapter with the same detail where he explains his building of the cosmos instead of a temple...so many issues.
@@MindShift-Brandon ah but we don’t know the mind of god and how he works …. But priests and pastors do …. And god needs some money from tithings … why can’t he just tell the pastors talking to him the winners of horse races 🤷🏻😂 - so much wrong as you say.
I am so glad you called that out. I'll have to add it to my description. I must have got my notes mixed up from my 2 kings planning. This should have been about Jehoiachin's age when he began to reign which is 8 in 2 Chronicles 36:9 vs 18 in 2 Kings 24:8. I had a different note originally about Jeroboam that I decided to cut, so think things got wonky here. Bummer.
God is absolutely the villain. Took me a long time to realise that. I also learned only recently that there were several versions of Jebus, and the only reason we have the biblical version we had is because of the Romans being the dominant power. There were even an early Christian sect that did not believe that Jebus was a physical person. And others that held that he was entirely human. Frankly... It's all bollocks.
Another great one Brandon! If anyone is interested in a book that talks about the abundance of archeological finds we do have, I'd recommend the book "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of It" by Neil Asher Silberman & Israel Finkelstein. Lot's of detail of the archeological finds related to the first 8 books of the Old Testament as well as logical theory of what more likely really happened as apposed to what the bible says. In short, the book tells of a slow migration out of the highlands of the Israel and Judah nations due to economic reasons. David was most likely a king, but a king of a very small town, not at all the king of a Great Kingdome as told by the Bible. The robust kingdom the bible speak to didn't occur until much later under Josiah after the Assyrial destroyed the nothern kingdome. The Bible was put together by the leaders under Josiah in an effort to unite the northern kingdom of Israel with the Southern kingdom of Judah by telling tales with emotional signifcance that would resinate with both kingdoms and pull them together to fulfill what was said to be a historical prophecy. Great book!
Besides sending lying spirits, it seems that god likes to harden people's hearts, also.Whenever you bring this up to fundagelicals they immediately think of the Pharaoh. I had one person tell me that Pharaoh had already begun to harden his heart and god just carried it out to the end/full. If that isn't mental gymnastics I don't know what is.
I see why there are so many members of The Clergy Project. Once the Bible is properly understood, there no other conclusion to reach than it’s not true.
@TheMahayanist : can't imagine how tough it must be to litterally dedicate your life to a religion you end up not believing anymore. Even if losing faith happens at a reasonably young age, finding a professional reconversion can't be easy :-(
Love your take of King Solomon never thought about him being so wise but stupid enough to push slavery and all the other dumbs things he does.And suppose to be a gawdly man? Thanks again for a spot on thought provoking video.
Thanks for this! Dang, do one of these on every book! There are a few things I still wonder about (I included them in my message), but it’s like there’s no way I can turn back now. I can’t unread or unlearn the absurdity. Could you possibly do a vid on the origins of monotheism? If what I’ve read is true, I could never second-guess myself on my decision to leave faith altogether.
The whole OT with its constant SA of women, men with hundreds of wives, women as gifts, women murdered as punishment, etc etc etc - I could never understand why in the world any woman would not immediately conclude that this was obviously written by men for men. This is not a God for women. What woman in her right mind would want to worship a God who so clearly does not even see her as her own person? It boggles my mind.
Grade school children today know more about morality, nature and the world than the smartest people of that time. People back then thought that the earth was flat and that the sky is a firmament that's holding back water. Like why are we still valuing their wisdom and guidance?
right on. I wouldnt rely on those tribes for any other part of my life, but when it comes to eternal salvation or how to live my life, now i am supposed to listen? no thanks.
Given that Elijah was pouring multiple doses of water on his sacrifice, I sometimes wonder if that was actually something like gasoline...he was in a high place, some distance away from the people watching, so the exact nature of the substance could have been anything...
@rboland2173 One of my favorite lines from the movie Lord of Illusion, by a stage magician: "Given sufficient time and preparation, I can duplicate ANY miracle from the Bible."
The Judgement of Solomon is nonsensical in the extreme, I'm a little shocked it's glossed over as often as it is. The dispute began because one woman was falsely claiming the one living baby was hers rather than another's - in other words, whether from the genuine desire to nurture, or the cynical need to gain the benefits of having a child, the woman who was not the real mother really needed a living baby. Why would she accept having half a dead baby? The actual mother is also way too quick to accept her child in the care of a woman fine with slicing children in half.
I notice with your editing, the volume level of your voice varies...a little quieter or a little louder, more treble or more bass. It's not distracting to any degree...I just notice that kind of stuff. But to the point...another great expose of god. Like you said, "what the hell?"
Great video! I loved your problematic verses. I agree with you about the “ man of God” periscope. It was horrible. The man of God followed YHWH’s instructions strictly until the very end when he was deceived by a fellow prophet. Then YHWH uses the deceitful prophet to prophesizes the death of the man of God. He is then killed by a lion. It is insane. YHWH repays the loyalty with brutality. When I was reading 1 Kings I started thing to myself why would anyone what to follow this god. He demands much, requires strict adherence to his commands and after one mistake ( intentionally or intentionally) he will either kill the offender or the offender’s family or people group. No wonder more Israelites worshiped the native deities such as El or Baal.
Unrelated question, if god made ppl speak different languages due to them trying to build a ladder/tower/whatever to heaven, why is learning different languages never forbidden? I mean it seems rather like thumbing your nose at him getting around his punishment and solution and whatnot. And if the entire point was to simply stop the building couldn't he have just done a big earthquake instead?
I really appreciate the analyses that you do that show any rational thinking person that God and the Bible in numerous places are clearly and seriously in the wrong and in error. This is truly eye-opening and affirmative and proper, in keeping even in other places where the Bible does tell God's people to be diligent students of truth and rightness (!!!?!!?!). I appreciate the liberation from an unfair and oppressive and arbitrary and burdensome and whimsical and deceitful God and Christ that comes from your objective analyses of showing that God and Christ in many places throughout the entire Bible are harsh and oppressive taskmasters and slave-drivers and abusers and bullies against the people they say they love so much (!!!!?!?!). It feels so good to stand up to a stupid and flawed bully God and to turn the light of truth on against him!
J Vernon McGee said if you ever have a question on a test asking which kings were good and which kings are bad you're better off just saying they were all bad. You'll get a passing grade
Ohhh...you're supposed to explain to your first wife when you want a second--or presumably third--one? That explains her reaction when she saw the other family photos on my phone.
I like you I believe, have always been baffled by Christian saying that God doesn't approve of polygamy when the wisest man to ever exist, who knew firsthand that God existed, had 700 wives. Do they believe that they know better than the wisest man to ever live? What kind of arrogance is that?
COMPARITIVE DECOSTRUCTION: While not claiming to be "god-breathed," although claiming "inspiration" in their storytelling, look at American "history" books. Villains are heroes, the stories are highly redacted, and being of EUROPEAN origins, specifically British, the texts claim "god-breathed" atrocities committed "in the name of god (hence, religious claims). The history books read in high schools omit what would literally shatter the claims of "goodness" which America makes. The late Rev. Dr. Pat Robertson loudly proclaimed that, "The founding fathers were great men! Read you history books!!!" Then came the following, which can be applied to biblical deconstruction: The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest" by Francis Jennings Series: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture (1975) James W. Loewen "Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong" And there are more. Jesus was right about one thing: Whatever is done in darkness will be exposed by the light. (Paraphrase mine)
As a child and teenager I was a devout Catholic. I never gave a full conscious read to the actual Bible, but as a kid I read it children's Bible several times. It's fascinating to learn about all the things the children's Bible skipped or censores, it gives a whole new perspective on it all.
Yup! And while im glad this horror was censored for children, none of it should have been allowed because it indoctrinates without the full story. Its purposeful manipulation.
Prince of egypt was great. I really dig the new noah and exodus that came out with russel crow and then with christian bale. But no generally speaking “christian” entertainment sucked.
@@MindShift-Brandon yah I noticed only remakes of the Bible stories were actually good. But the modern Christian movies are so bad, like really bad and cringe.
If King Solomon is the wisest person to ever live, and he began worshipping gods that weren’t Yahweh, what does that say about those deities? This feels like further evidence that the abrahamic faiths are monolatrist.
I think I could find time! One per day...of the wives anyway. I might not make it to the 700th, but it sure would be fun to try. The concubines...I dunno.
5:37 that story is super weird in hindsight that one woman is super indifferent. I think most people at least in modern day would probably balk at the suggestion and then get marked as the parent
So, could we finally usher in that "No Church, No Religion" Future people've been clamoring for already? Maybe some generic sci-fi future like the one depicted in that Harrison Ford movie?
Hey man, going through your videos and not seeing any about the resurrection. Would love to know your thoughts on that and how you came to believe otherwise.
We will for sure get to it, but ultimately my main issues are the invalidity of the gospels and NT books in general. They are contradictory, not first person accounts, written anonymously decades after the fact and we see the lore grow. The whole thing about 500 witnesses is just a verse. Its not like their are 500 witnesses that signed some document or are recorded elsewhere. Theres about 1000 issues, but again I'll get to it at some point for sure.
I was struck by the passage claiming Solomon to be the wisest man to ever live, past and future. That would mean that Jesus, the living incarnation of God, was less wise. Also, it's requiring future knowledge, that would effectively require God's creation to be deterministic. So in one stroke, it both undercuts God's capacities, and exaggerates them. Or at least calls into question the free will claims. You mentioned that not taking the OT literally causes problems, but I would posit that a literal reading also causes quite a lot of serious problems. The literal path, makes interpreting the bible easier in a lot of ways. But the easy path is rarely the path of true wisdom. Considering the imperfections of the bible, claiming it to be the literal word of a perfect God seems rather indefensible. I think one of the more plausible explanations is that the bible is the work of fallible men, who were striving to learn about and explain God, and related theological issues. The shifts in how God is described between various books, certainly point in that sort of direction.
I agree. And I almost added in the same thought about jesus but i really dodnt want to hear all the bs excuses come back about how jesus was both god and man, so its different etc
22:32 God gave King Solomon multiple wives waw , we really are just property in God's eyes to please men . I thought it's Adam and Eve not Adam and Eves.
Old Testaments is the book of occultist behaviour and worship. Infact you have more ways worshipping false gods than worshipping Yaweh. You have to wait for Jesus to tell you hiw to pray to him. Solomon being wise knew the logical fallacies of Yaweh, so having 1000 women is how he coped, having David as a father running around being naked already would drive any son mad. Just imagine if Kings had 10 volumes.
Any literate person can deliberately distort accounts. “Insert god here” would be enough of a falsehood to make the story appear to be of religious significance. As there is no proof that a god had anything to do with this, the story becomes irrelevant.
Many atheists could benefit from your approach. Most of the one's I've come across, pre-deconversion-- from celebrities, to contemplatives, to scientists, to UA-camrs alike-- are angry, apathetic, and arrogant. They stand close to 0% chance of reaching people with insults. Those they do reach, usually teenagers and young adult trolls, blindly imitate their disgusting behavior. Don't get me wrong. I had an angry phase as well, but I saw no solace in remaining there. I had to move on. Me personally, I'm agnostic. I am "without theism" as well, but I don't harbor identity with the subject (if that makes any sense). Don't identify with it because of behaviors from whom I previously mentioned. I've seen some insensitive people who had nothing to offer but offensive deconstructions. That was not progress, "objective truths" or otherwise. Got off the subject a bit, but your channel brings education that I share with those who are seeking to deconstruct. I don't force my freedom from religion onto others and I do not hurl insults. I do, however, absorb a lot from your videos. THANKS A LOT.
King Solomon has to be real! If he isn't then I can't justify there being a sex book in the Bible (that's totally safe for children to read)! - some Christian (probably)
Baal evolved from a human sacrifice into a god, so maybe he really was a false god? 😅 Possible origin story...? Source -*When God Was A Woman" By Merlin Stone Paraphrase only.... each year a special male youth was named husband to a fertility goddess (I forgot her name.) Apparently he spent a year living like a king on earth. God-like? He became Baal. And Brandon has reinforced that deities evolved. Apparently, so did Baal? p.s. book is long gone with a friend, cannot quote.
One kings, in contrast to two king 🤣 Seriously, the weird titles of these numbered parts have always just baffled me... If you're going to translate something, translate it into the language as it's used...
I would say that we give Elijah a Hard time. He was afraid and wanted God to take him. Jesus who knew Better ask God to take the cup from him and Jesus himself fled and was even contemplating to go up to the feast because of the fear of those that wanted him dead
Lots to cover on this one! Sorry for the weird lighting issues. Happy SBS day!
SBS Day is my favorite day of the week. I love every part, not just the inconsistencies.
Thats wonderful to hear. Thank you!
For someone who was supposedly the wisest person ever, Solomon was very unwise in many ways. Even when I was a Christian, I constantly asked myself how someone so wise could be so unwise.
That passage about the lying spirit in the prophets was actually the final straw for my partner. He's been a true believer since childhood, and I finally came out to him as agnostic in 2020. He'd been a "progressive" christian I guess with social issues and whatnot, and definitely viewed his Christianity as a personal relationship rather than something he needed to constantly evangelize and whatnot. While I haven't tried to deconvert him, we had both come across Dan McClellan tiktok videos independently. I guess he covered that verse a few weeks ago, and that was the breaking point for my partner. He had always relied on the fact that the Bible is true because g-d wouldn't lie to the people who wrote it. But if g-d is willing to lie to his prophets, and admit to it as well, what's to stop him from doing it throughout the entirety of scripture.
100%!
That’s scary to think about. If God is all powerful and so vain and manipulative, what if he created all evidence against creationism and historical accuracy like dinosaur bones, distant star light and geological patterns in just the perfect way to trick us for shits and giggles, so he can just laugh at us for having reasonable doubt. I don’t believe that God exists by like a 99.9% metric, but holy shit that 0.1% would be absolutely horrifying, not just for punishment but the idea that a God would be SO evil to cheat his creation like that. Worst part: wouldn’t be out of character.
The hardest thing I ever did was challenging my beliefs, the greatest thing I ever did was walking away from it.
Amen!
It’s very tough. It’s also hard when crazy ideas in family and friends around you, now make you feel like you have all the crazy ideas.
I've never read the entire Bible, but I've read a bunch of summaries and blurbs and all that. Some of the stories that I find the most strange are the ones where it says, "The King called his 400 advisors and prophets in to ask what he should do, and he didn't listen to Jeremiah, the prophet of God, because he's dumb."
And like, yeah no shit. If I've got 400 people trying to tell me what to do, it's unlikely that I'm going to listen to a specific one person. Especially if 200 are in agreement that I should do something else
Love the idea of secular bible study especially those of us who left. The world of the Bible is what is what my life was based on for decades great to have an honest place to explore that part of our life that is not a church
Thanks for saying so! I hope you find it useful or at least interesting. If nothing else, i promise it will help confirm to you why you left it all behind. Ha
The world of the bible is what a lot of the secular world is based on, too -- it's just disguised. But consider: the Church was the basis of Western European education, and everything that came from it. So anyone who's been through that or the businesses and professions and rules and laws that came from it can benefit from this study, IMO.
When I was a Christian I was told that we would have an urge to read the Bible everyday and delve into his word as though it was a drink that we thirsted for. If we did not have this intense urge, something was wrong with us. It turns out it was something very right to not want to read the Bible all the time. The stories are horrific and tedious.
The crap that we were force fed and guilted into desiring.
@@MindShift-Brandon Plus, it was always expected that our favorite book had to be the Bible by default.
Spot on! Thanks for pointing out the elephant in the room.
@@BluStarGalaxy Which, considering what's in the bible, is an interesting way of forming our thoughts and actions...
Interestingly, I’m way more interested in reading and understanding the Bible now that I’m out
Each time another question pops into my head regarding something you share (me thinking, “Say what?”) - you answer it in the next few things you say! Anticipating those things that are conflicting, hypocritical or just plain nutty is what makes your videos so good! You are a natural teacher. We are lucky to have you doing this and your children are super lucky to have you for a dad! ❣️👨🏻🦰 Gingers rule!
That is a lovely compliment. Thank you so much for that!
If the Christians think that their god is so good, I wonder what a not-so-good god would be like? Thanks for your wonderful analysis of 1st Kings.
My pleasure, and yes, design a bad god...I bet it would keep looking a lot like yahweh.
Probably one that supports LGBTQ people or something
They can see all the flaws with everyone else's gods. They just excuse their own god's flaws. Their definition of an evil god would look just like the one from the Bible. They just won't admit it.
@@TheZeroNeonix True-- although I do appreciate and respect the ones who pick the loving parts of the bible and focus on them in their actual daily practice. Still think we'd be better off without religion altogether.
@@TheZeroNeonixThis makes me think of William Lane Craig. His standard for Christianity is "If there's a one in a million chance it's true, it's worth it". His bar for everything else is substantially higher
I feel that this place is my safe space. Yesterday I went to youth group and they were talking about pride and how not to be prideful like god commands and I talked about how with his omniciesnce he knows whether some people leave the faith or some join but they talked about how it was my choice and my fault if I seperated of him and to never question his ways (because I brought the example of how many of the people in this world will end up in hell and the isolated tribes) but they were like "who knows? we can't tell you who gets saved and who's not"
Also I have problems with myself since I am in the closet and how they push the narrative that the Agenda 2030 is the revelation is the End Times and I am just scared not going to lie. Everything is so cult like, not saying they are bad people but I began to have questions that makes me doubt. Also the fact that they reference the bible for everything, because it is the word of god but it is a circular argument because I will get them saying "It is in the Bible" but how do I trust the Bible "Because it is the word of God" but how do I know it is the word of god? "Because it says in the Bible" like what? And they will use the "It is by faith you know it is the word of God" like a huge cope out.
I have so many problems with this because I have my doubts but my church keeps pointing to Israel seeing their activity as end times prophesies being fullfilled (they are dispensational pre-millenialist) and have this obsession with the rapture of the church.
I don't question much for the fear of hell or getting left behind it is just anxiety inducing. But then I salute you Brandon for your work, you bring peace to every deconstructer
My salutes from Puerto Rico
that is very kind of you, and yes i hope you always feel comfortable and at peace venting or questioning here. Its so hard, especially when you are younger, especially when everyone else seems to have no problems with it. It is circular like you said, but then play that game. Fine lets make it all about the bible, theres enough info in it to disprove god via his own claims. no need for philosophy or some other religion to win you away. The bible itself is the reason I could not longer beleive.
@@MindShift-Brandon yes, and if you think the american church is wild... you have to see the latin american one, they are even more militant
But thank you sir
I really enjoy the biblestudies. After 40 years of weekly church biblestudies, it is a joy to look at things from a different perspective. I really hope you will be able to do the entire bible.
By the way, i just love your sarcastic sense of humor!
ha! glad its appreciated and yes I will absolutely do the whole cannon!
@@MindShift-Brandon Really happy about that.
Concubinage was always a major red flag issue for me. Such a glaring inconsistency. And Solomon dabbling with the other gods after becoming the wisest man ever just strikes me as comical. And plus anyone else would have been killed for it. I guess it's good to be king. XD I like your breakdown of the subjectivity of the morality at the end too. ;)
great highlights here, thank you!
I agree...in many wedding vows, we hear verses from Genesis about one man and one woman in marriage, yet so many of "god's leaders" went directly against that command with mostly no consequences. I have enough aggravation with one wife, why the hell would I want more (outside of getting laid a lot)? And imagine the monthly problems times hundreds! Not only no, but HELL no!
I have to be honest I read alot of the OT and made excuses for alot of troubling stuff but it was in fact the last verse you covered where God put a lying tongue in the mouth of the prophets that I closed my bible and said I'm done. True story. I was never the same after reading that.
We all did! Thats so interesting to hear which verse was the final straw. Thanks for sharing!
@@MindShift-Brandon I think it was the whole narrative and me picturing them all coming to him with their best ideas. The plotting and scheming in heaven was just like wtf! I think it would have been more palatable had the text said God allowed the devil to deceive him.
Man, no wonder i was so terrified not just of the devil, but very VERY terrified from God himself, he sounds just like an abusive parent😢(just like i have one) so I really really understand why this can cause fear to a kid and a grown adult as well.
Thanks for the videos Brandon, I'm almost catching up with you with this series, I've been loving your content so far, keep it up man, great content, this is really the word i wanna be hearing 😊
Such a thoughtful comment. You are right. The devil is that character your abusive partner warns you about. Well, if you ever left me, trust me theres guys way worse than. Then you just stick around for abuse. This book is disgusting.
You know the biggest issue I have with the Bible is it never made me feel like God loved me, maybe God is love maybe not!
but every time I read it or open the book i read something awful rather than Good
I felt like i was more condemned by it than accepted by God!
It just didnt jar with me on a lot of stuff maybe that's why i don't read it! thank for doing the reading for me lol!
Man, its a great point. Thanks
We used to have this superstitious trend where people would just open their Bibles and get encouraging verses. And this is not biblical at all btw just some evangelical craziness. I remember trying this same thing and getting only parts where God hates something. LMAO. Oh well, it is what it is, hate 😂
As a former Muslim, I often found Christian idea of God's love to be super strange. For example, I love my children, and I sacrifice for them, but I don't talk about my love, tell them how important my love is, how much I sacrifice for them, how my love for them is the most important thing there is, how I do all these things for them even though they don't deserve it, and so on. Not only do I not love like that, but I would hate if someone loved me like that. If you love someone, it should be about them and not about your love for them.
So how is that different from Islam? Islam is more like the old testament. God is powerful, and you love and fear him. If you were homeless and God was a billionaire, then Allah and the old testament Yahweh would buy you a house and demand worship. Christian idea of a god, on the other hand, would be a billionaire who would get a minimum wage job cleaning toilets to earn money to buy you a house to then constantly hold their suffering over you.
Oh man. That takes me back. Yes just open and point to hear what the lord has to say to me today and id get something like deut 23:1 “no one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall enter the assembly of the lord” ok. Gotta take care of the boys today!
@@MindShift-Brandon
Deuteronomy 23:1-2
"1“No one who is emasculated or has his male organ cut off shall enter the assembly of Yahweh. 2No one of illegitimate birth shall enter the assembly of Yahweh; even to the tenth generation, none of his seed shall enter the assembly of Yahweh."
Matthew 19:12
"12For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb; and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men; and there are also eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this, let him accept it.”"
Definition eunuch:
"A eunuch is a man who has had his testicles removed."
So depending on how you interpret this we have problems. So let's add a defense from bibleref as well.
"Jesus expands on the concept of a eunuch here, describing some men as being born eunuchs, meaning those who naturally lack sexual desire or the ability to have sex. This would seem to include those who are born with physical complications, as well as those with sexual desires incompatible with marriage.
Then Jesus adds a third kind of eunuch, those who have made themselves so for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Given the broader sense in which Jesus is using the word, He does not mean literal castration. Rather, He is speaking figuratively of those who have set aside their sexual desire and right to be married in order to serve the Lord with a more single-minded devotion. He concludes by saying that the person who can receive this condition should do so. "
- bibleref
The story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal is wiiiiiiild.
I’ve heard pastors use that as an example of god listening and showing himself. Conveniently they never mention the part where everyone gets murdered afterwards.
Right! Or why god wont show up now
I really appreciate this secular Bible study. Thanks for posting ❤
It is my pleasure. Thanks for watching!
@25:18 "Then Elijah says 'let:s make it harder. Pour some water on it.' and the prophets of Baal said 'but it hasn't rained in three years!'"
Thanks for this new bible study, as always, many great examples as to why people should definitely not rely on the bible, especially the old testament for moral guidance.
And the inconsistencies are definitely a sign of a man made myth, not a manifestation of divinity from a perfect being.
Right on, friend. Thanks for watching!
I really hope we get bible stories some day
I can’t wait for you marriage episode. That has been a huge problem for me for a long time. Jesus says that lusting in your heart after a woman is adultery, and under the law, that is punishable by death… how then is a David or a Solomon allowed to just overturn this rule and not be subject to death?? Favoritism? Yes. Picking and choosing? Absolutely. Inconsistent with Gods design of one spouse? Obviously. And worst of all, he decides when he wants to punish for it arbitrarily. So much for being the same yesterday, today, and forever. So much for “never changing”. That’s always been one of the main inconsistencies that’s stuck with me
Of course! Kings were given Holy Sildenafil 😂😂😂
jesus came after david and solomon so logically they wouldnt be put to death
Alan Moore once wrote a story about two superheroines fighting over the superpowers one of them stole from the other; this being a mystical book, the myth-echo of Solomon is summoned to rule on the issue, and he comes across as a infanticidal maniac, slavering over the prospect of slicing babies in half! His final ruling is to split the powers between the two, which the thief is fine with, but the true hero knows would be disastrous (for plot reasons) so she gives up her right to the powers so they will remain intact...Solomon then gives her the powers instead, remarking "See? I told you there's always a baby at the heart of every issue!" (Just telling the story, it seems a bit obvious, but Moore's talent is such that you really don't see this coming when you're reading it)
Anyway, I wonder if, even in the original story, "the baby" is a metaphor for something else...like, say, a certain kingdom that has been split in two...
Oo, good catch. I have argued sometimes that some stories were never meant to be retold as history. That they were Aesops, designed to teach. (I thought that the Binding of Isaac was meant to illustrate that God no longer desired human sacrifice, to differentiate from older ideas and the commonplace of the time human sacrifice.) This bible study feels like I gave the bible too much credit. But its nice that some of that theory might be true.
Oh man.. ..i had forgotten about this. A little more than thirty years ago i was discussing with an atheist friend how Solomon was regarded as being the wisest man who ever lived and i told him about the cutting the baby in half story. My friend laughed out loud, and gave an explanation for why that wasn't such a great solution. Specifically, that the tactic is transparent and anyone who saw through it would insist on giving away the child to save it.
I never really thought about this before, but that was definitely an early step in my deconversion.
Yes! Its a great point
Well, actually back then society was more barbaric than what we consider today, and no, they wouldn't insist on giving it away. But heck, when you say morality is relative and not objective, you really can't get upset with the barbarism of the past just because you don't agree with it. Consequence of relativism.
@@theboombody it would probably be a good idea to determine whether someone is an advocate of relativism by asking them before putting words in their mouth. For the record, I am not.
Also, my point didn't have anything to do with morality. It is strictly an assessment of the efficacy of old Sol's judicial solutions. So what are you even talking about?
Thanks for these videos. I appreciate you making them. I know it must take some much time to dissect these OT stories
thanks so much for that. Its a bit of a process for sure.
Again. Very well done.
Thank you! Cheers!
Thanks again Brandon, your videos have become my daily bread, I think you should be nominated for most caring Atheist of the year. You must have shifted over a thousand minds by now, we should take a census... oh wait, counting is bad according to god, sorry nevermind, "Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done."
Ha. So kind and so funny
“Maybe your god is busy taking a sh*t💀💀💀”
-Elijah 2023
That is singlehandedly the best roast in history
How can Solomon actually get to *see* and interact with God twice and yet still go on to follow the other gods that his ladies introduce him to? Why is Yahweh consistently so less appealing when compared to the other gods that were on offer at the time?
And btw the 2nd time in 1 Kings 9 is also the last time God is said to “appear” to a human in the Hebrew Bible (according to The Disappearance of God by Richard Elliott Friedman). So this is it, and Solomon wasn’t impressed enough to stay loyal to Yahweh. 🧐
Another great episode!
Thanks for adding this in! Great points. Thats so very interesting!
Watched this a couple of times. You do a great job Brandon - I can only think of Tolkien had put in a religious element into his books there would at some point be a Rings cult now and apologists doing the mental gymnastics that we see religions do today.
Thank you and yes i always think this. Take something like lotr ir star wars, make a few more divine claims. Wait hundreds of hears and bam! Worldwide religion
@@MindShift-Brandon and don’t forget the trump cult that’s actually sprung up in real time - most of his evangelical supporters think he’s the most godly person on earth - strange he never mentioned god in 1000’s of interviews and books before 2015. 🤔 - surprised he’s not had any blinding revelations from Jesus 😂
I'm around half way through this series. Hoping to watch some more during the Thanksgiving weekend.
Thanks for being apart of this! Its a lot, i know!
@@MindShift-Brandon it is, but I'm enjoying it.
Just a little reminder of how horrific the Bible has always been:
Back during the days of the Hays Code, when media was very heavily censored for content, the studios started churning out Bible movies. This was not in order to "convey God's Word," but to get around the censors regarding s^x and violence by using the argument of "maintaining biblical accuracy."
Ever compare Bible movies like the Ten Commandments to other movies of its era? Yeah, MASSIVE difference between the graphic stuff portrayed, even when limited just to them. It can be exciting stuff for violence and action... but not exactly conducive to "love and kindness."
Thats a fun anecdote to learn. Thanks!
I love your secular bible study episodes Brandon! I would love to share my story with you, perhaps because it's rather different than most deconstruction stories I've heard. I look forward to hearing from you, and seeing your channel go far.
Thank you very much. I’ll be getting into videos like that in the near future so im sure we can have a discussion at some point
@@MindShift-Brandon thank you! I look forward to it. You look a lot like my oldest son. Just had to tell you.
Awesome as always.
Thanks so much!
Absolutely love this, devoured all your content I love it. Keep up the good work.
Thats amazing. Thank you so much for the support!
Don't undersell the Ahab story, it's even weirder than that in context: Ahab wants to know if God will approve a military action, so he calls on the prophets to see if He's ok with it (which is what he's supposed to do, right?); only there's one prophet who apparently hates him, because he always gives bad news. That prophet (who I think only shows up in this sequence) is even warned to go along with the positive accounts of the others, but does not. When the other prophets demand to know why he breaks with them, he tells the story related, which I THINK is meant to be an actual vision he claims to have had; iow, he saw behind the curtain into how the heavenly court works. This raises further questions: Did God want him to see this? Why would he, since it exxposes God's own duplicity? Surely, God wouldn't want him to tell on Him? And yet he does...So either they're all just making shit up, or God is deliberately entrapping people into doing wrong, even when they ask his guidance (and is powerless to stop a whistleblower from revealing this).
The real shame is that God's punishments trickle down to effect the people, who are just trying to live their lives, until they are ended or ruined by invading armies or plagues...If God is so displeased by Kings doing evil in his sight, then would it really be so hard to just punish THEM, instead of all the people who had no say in his decisions??
appreciate all the added context very much!
You're acting like the Bible is hiding all this stuff. It addresses these things very directly in the book of Job. But even if you take God out of the equation, does nature really seem any more benevolent? The sins of one affect very many in this world, from either a secular or religious viewpoint. The only difference is the secular world continues this pattern indefinitely and there is no definite end.
@@theboombody Nobody says nature is moral.
@@theboombodyNature doesn't police my thoughts, or hate me and demand my eternal torture for committing thoughtcrimes. Nature does not claim to be honest and then lie like God does. Nature does not claim to be fair, moral, just or loving. God is a malicious liar who demands love and worship on pain of torture and death, all the while claiming to be the ultimate moral good. He is a malignant narcissist and I have met plenty of petty human beings like him. None as awful though.
I will take reality over becoming beholden to a fictional narcissist who thinks people deserve to be tortured unless he personally decides they don't.
Equating a mythological character to the natural world itself is a very strange tactic that doesn't even make a coherent point, and it certainly is not going to convince anyone.
@@Badficwriter Then why bother striving for morality if nature is all that exists and it's in an unchangeable immoral state?
Another great video Brandon 🙌🏻 Superb idea going through each book critically. Again zooming out all the stories of detailed temple plans shows it’s man written … unless the god who made everything and trillions of planets, stars and atoms - was more bothered about architecture / interior design than like you said slavery. 🙄
thank you much! and yes even if you are going to avoid the topic of slavery, could god not give us a chapter with the same detail where he explains his building of the cosmos instead of a temple...so many issues.
@@MindShift-Brandon ah but we don’t know the mind of god and how he works …. But priests and pastors do …. And god needs some money from tithings … why can’t he just tell the pastors talking to him the winners of horse races 🤷🏻😂 - so much wrong as you say.
@@andeytubeyshamon If God gave out the winners of horse races, soon no one would bet against the priests.
34:01 best summary of history ever
My bible said in Both Kings and Chronicles that he was 41 years old
I am so glad you called that out. I'll have to add it to my description. I must have got my notes mixed up from my 2 kings planning. This should have been about Jehoiachin's age when he began to reign which is 8 in 2 Chronicles 36:9 vs 18 in 2 Kings 24:8. I had a different note originally about Jeroboam that I decided to cut, so think things got wonky here. Bummer.
God is absolutely the villain. Took me a long time to realise that. I also learned only recently that there were several versions of Jebus, and the only reason we have the biblical version we had is because of the Romans being the dominant power. There were even an early Christian sect that did not believe that Jebus was a physical person. And others that held that he was entirely human.
Frankly... It's all bollocks.
I thought his name was Jesus. Who's this Jebus man?
I am glad to audibly perceive your experience, howbeit ❤
Another great one Brandon!
If anyone is interested in a book that talks about the abundance of archeological finds we do have, I'd recommend the book "The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of It" by Neil Asher Silberman & Israel Finkelstein. Lot's of detail of the archeological finds related to the first 8 books of the Old Testament as well as logical theory of what more likely really happened as apposed to what the bible says. In short, the book tells of a slow migration out of the highlands of the Israel and Judah nations due to economic reasons. David was most likely a king, but a king of a very small town, not at all the king of a Great Kingdome as told by the Bible. The robust kingdom the bible speak to didn't occur until much later under Josiah after the Assyrial destroyed the nothern kingdome. The Bible was put together by the leaders under Josiah in an effort to unite the northern kingdom of Israel with the Southern kingdom of Judah by telling tales with emotional signifcance that would resinate with both kingdoms and pull them together to fulfill what was said to be a historical prophecy. Great book!
Nice, ill check it out!!
Besides sending lying spirits, it seems that god likes to harden people's hearts, also.Whenever you bring this up to fundagelicals they immediately think of the Pharaoh. I had one person tell me that Pharaoh had already begun to harden his heart and god just carried it out to the end/full. If that isn't mental gymnastics I don't know what is.
I have a video just on the Pharaoh incident you might find interesting that really breaks that excuse down
@@MindShift-Brandon Thanks.I'll check it out.
I see why there are so many members of The Clergy Project. Once the Bible is properly understood, there no other conclusion to reach than it’s not true.
I can google it but what is the clergy project?
@TheMahayanist : can't imagine how tough it must be to litterally dedicate your life to a religion you end up not believing anymore. Even if losing faith happens at a reasonably young age, finding a professional reconversion can't be easy :-(
@TheMahayanist : glad to read that, best of luck to get your degree!
Honestly i cant wait for sunday's video lmao
Lol!
28:33 “This Bible is ridiculous” 😂❤
Lol what else is there to say
Very enjoyable bible study
Glad you think so!
Love your take of King Solomon never thought about him being so wise but stupid enough to push slavery and all the other dumbs things he does.And suppose to be a gawdly man? Thanks again for a spot on thought provoking video.
My pleasure. Yes wisest man to ever live and then goes and worships other gods…
Nice.
Thanks!
Man, even tho they don't *sound* alike, I sure kept confusing Jeroboam and Rehoboam when reading and had to go back to sort them out! LOL
Thanks for this! Dang, do one of these on every book! There are a few things I still wonder about (I included them in my message), but it’s like there’s no way I can turn back now. I can’t unread or unlearn the absurdity. Could you possibly do a vid on the origins of monotheism? If what I’ve read is true, I could never second-guess myself on my decision to leave faith altogether.
Thats a great vid suggestion. And yes i do a book each Thursday so i will for sure do them all.
@@MindShift-Brandon Can't wait!
The whole OT with its constant SA of women, men with hundreds of wives, women as gifts, women murdered as punishment, etc etc etc - I could never understand why in the world any woman would not immediately conclude that this was obviously written by men for men. This is not a God for women. What woman in her right mind would want to worship a God who so clearly does not even see her as her own person? It boggles my mind.
Grade school children today know more about morality, nature and the world than the smartest people of that time. People back then thought that the earth was flat and that the sky is a firmament that's holding back water. Like why are we still valuing their wisdom and guidance?
right on. I wouldnt rely on those tribes for any other part of my life, but when it comes to eternal salvation or how to live my life, now i am supposed to listen? no thanks.
Given that Elijah was pouring multiple doses of water on his sacrifice, I sometimes wonder if that was actually something like gasoline...he was in a high place, some distance away from the people watching, so the exact nature of the substance could have been anything...
@rboland2173 One of my favorite lines from the movie Lord of Illusion, by a stage magician: "Given sufficient time and preparation, I can duplicate ANY miracle from the Bible."
@rboland2173 back in Jesus' day, magic and miracles were looked at as the same thing: something or someone interrupting nature.
The Judgement of Solomon is nonsensical in the extreme, I'm a little shocked it's glossed over as often as it is. The dispute began because one woman was falsely claiming the one living baby was hers rather than another's - in other words, whether from the genuine desire to nurture, or the cynical need to gain the benefits of having a child, the woman who was not the real mother really needed a living baby. Why would she accept having half a dead baby? The actual mother is also way too quick to accept her child in the care of a woman fine with slicing children in half.
excellent bbs thank you
Thanks so much for watching
I notice with your editing, the volume level of your voice varies...a little quieter or a little louder, more treble or more bass. It's not distracting to any degree...I just notice that kind of stuff. But to the point...another great expose of god. Like you said, "what the hell?"
Great video! I loved your problematic verses.
I agree with you about the “ man of God” periscope. It was horrible. The man of God followed YHWH’s instructions strictly until the very end when he was deceived by a fellow prophet. Then YHWH uses the deceitful prophet to prophesizes the death of the man of God. He is then killed by a lion.
It is insane. YHWH repays the loyalty with brutality. When I was reading 1 Kings I started thing to myself why would anyone what to follow this god. He demands much, requires strict adherence to his commands and after one mistake ( intentionally or intentionally) he will either kill the offender or the offender’s family or people group.
No wonder more Israelites worshiped the native deities such as El or Baal.
1/6 of the way there. Long live SBS.
Getting there! Thank you
What I really learned from the Kings books is that good people can have bad kids and bad people can have good kids. You just never know.
Unrelated question, if god made ppl speak different languages due to them trying to build a ladder/tower/whatever to heaven, why is learning different languages never forbidden? I mean it seems rather like thumbing your nose at him getting around his punishment and solution and whatnot. And if the entire point was to simply stop the building couldn't he have just done a big earthquake instead?
I really appreciate the analyses that you do that show any rational thinking person that God and the Bible in numerous places are clearly and seriously in the wrong and in error. This is truly eye-opening and affirmative and proper, in keeping even in other places where the Bible does tell God's people to be diligent students of truth and rightness (!!!?!!?!). I appreciate the liberation from an unfair and oppressive and arbitrary and burdensome and whimsical and deceitful God and Christ that comes from your objective analyses of showing that God and Christ in many places throughout the entire Bible are harsh and oppressive taskmasters and slave-drivers and abusers and bullies against the people they say they love so much (!!!!?!?!). It feels so good to stand up to a stupid and flawed bully God and to turn the light of truth on against him!
I really appreciate your comment. Glad you find it useful and yes so good to stand up to this nonsense
When you're a timeless omni+ god you get bored. You gotta think of games to keep yourself entertained.
Don't be such a wet blanket, Brandon.
Lol. Such a party pooper for yahweh
J Vernon McGee said if you ever have a question on a test asking which kings were good and which kings are bad you're better off just saying they were all bad. You'll get a passing grade
lol, for sure!
Ohhh...you're supposed to explain to your first wife when you want a second--or presumably third--one? That explains her reaction when she saw the other family photos on my phone.
I like you I believe, have always been baffled by Christian saying that God doesn't approve of polygamy when the wisest man to ever exist, who knew firsthand that God existed, had 700 wives. Do they believe that they know better than the wisest man to ever live? What kind of arrogance is that?
Yes! Fantastic point!
Not just 700 wives, 300 (I think) of those were concubines.
COMPARITIVE DECOSTRUCTION:
While not claiming to be "god-breathed," although claiming "inspiration" in their storytelling, look at American "history" books.
Villains are heroes, the stories are highly redacted, and being of EUROPEAN origins, specifically British, the texts claim "god-breathed" atrocities committed "in the name of god (hence, religious claims). The history books read in high schools omit what would literally shatter the claims of "goodness" which America makes.
The late Rev. Dr. Pat Robertson loudly proclaimed that, "The founding fathers were great men! Read you history books!!!"
Then came the following, which can be applied to biblical deconstruction:
The Invasion of America: Indians, Colonialism, and the Cant of Conquest"
by Francis Jennings
Series: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture (1975)
James W. Loewen
"Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong"
And there are more.
Jesus was right about one thing: Whatever is done in darkness will be exposed by the light. (Paraphrase mine)
As a child and teenager I was a devout Catholic. I never gave a full conscious read to the actual Bible, but as a kid I read it children's Bible several times. It's fascinating to learn about all the things the children's Bible skipped or censores, it gives a whole new perspective on it all.
Yup! And while im glad this horror was censored for children, none of it should have been allowed because it indoctrinates without the full story. Its purposeful manipulation.
Kid's Sun Day school (yes, I meant Sun Day) should give ALL the horrible stuff, not just the happy-ass unicorns and rainbows crap the get.
Hey Mindshift, did you have any favorite Christian movies? What do think of them now? I used to love Prince of Egypt.
Prince of egypt was great. I really dig the new noah and exodus that came out with russel crow and then with christian bale. But no generally speaking “christian” entertainment sucked.
Not a Christian movie, per se, but, The Last Temptation of Christ is a great movie.
@@MindShift-Brandon yah I noticed only remakes of the Bible stories were actually good. But the modern Christian movies are so bad, like really bad and cringe.
@@stevenbatke2475 lmaooo!! I hated it. It was so cringe.
If King Solomon is the wisest person to ever live, and he began worshipping gods that weren’t Yahweh, what does that say about those deities? This feels like further evidence that the abrahamic faiths are monolatrist.
yup! starting to looking pretty bad for good ol Yahweh
29:00 Your commentary is hilarious
His wives probably had affairs because there is no way one man can have time for all of his 700 wives and multiple concubines.
I think I could find time! One per day...of the wives anyway. I might not make it to the 700th, but it sure would be fun to try. The concubines...I dunno.
5:37 that story is super weird in hindsight that one woman is super indifferent. I think most people at least in modern day would probably balk at the suggestion and then get marked as the parent
The whole story is wild especially as the first story to showcase his wisdom
So, could we finally usher in that "No Church, No Religion" Future people've been clamoring for already? Maybe some generic sci-fi future like the one depicted in that Harrison Ford movie?
Comment for the omniscient UA-cam algorithm god 🙏
ALL HAIL THE ALGORITHM 🎉🎉🎉
Thanks, Jerry!
Hey man, going through your videos and not seeing any about the resurrection. Would love to know your thoughts on that and how you came to believe otherwise.
We will for sure get to it, but ultimately my main issues are the invalidity of the gospels and NT books in general. They are contradictory, not first person accounts, written anonymously decades after the fact and we see the lore grow. The whole thing about 500 witnesses is just a verse. Its not like their are 500 witnesses that signed some document or are recorded elsewhere. Theres about 1000 issues, but again I'll get to it at some point for sure.
I was struck by the passage claiming Solomon to be the wisest man to ever live, past and future.
That would mean that Jesus, the living incarnation of God, was less wise.
Also, it's requiring future knowledge, that would effectively require God's creation to be deterministic.
So in one stroke, it both undercuts God's capacities, and exaggerates them. Or at least calls into question the free will claims.
You mentioned that not taking the OT literally causes problems, but I would posit that a literal reading also causes quite a lot of serious problems. The literal path, makes interpreting the bible easier in a lot of ways. But the easy path is rarely the path of true wisdom.
Considering the imperfections of the bible, claiming it to be the literal word of a perfect God seems rather indefensible.
I think one of the more plausible explanations is that the bible is the work of fallible men, who were striving to learn about and explain God, and related theological issues. The shifts in how God is described between various books, certainly point in that sort of direction.
I agree. And I almost added in the same thought about jesus but i really dodnt want to hear all the bs excuses come back about how jesus was both god and man, so its different etc
I really wish Christians were empirical enough to test God like Elijah did. But... just get the data, NO MURDERING! Gotta be specific. 😀
Great!
Its been my experience the smartest people make the dumbest mistakes...
22:32 God gave King Solomon multiple wives waw , we really are just property in God's eyes to please men . I thought it's Adam and Eve not Adam and Eves.
Old Testaments is the book of occultist behaviour and worship. Infact you have more ways worshipping false gods than worshipping Yaweh.
You have to wait for Jesus to tell you hiw to pray to him.
Solomon being wise knew the logical fallacies of Yaweh, so having 1000 women is how he coped, having David as a father running around being naked already would drive any son mad.
Just imagine if Kings had 10 volumes.
No doubt!
It isn't true
it isn't real
it isn't relevant to happiness or self realization.
It's just ancient Hebrew fiction.
Well said!
Any literate person can deliberately distort accounts. “Insert god here” would be enough of a falsehood to make the story appear to be of religious significance. As there is no proof that a god had anything to do with this, the story becomes irrelevant.
Can you talk further about the (alleged) prophecies?
Many atheists could benefit from your approach. Most of the one's I've come across, pre-deconversion-- from celebrities, to contemplatives, to scientists, to UA-camrs alike-- are angry, apathetic, and arrogant. They stand close to 0% chance of reaching people with insults. Those they do reach, usually teenagers and young adult trolls, blindly imitate their disgusting behavior. Don't get me wrong. I had an angry phase as well, but I saw no solace in remaining there. I had to move on.
Me personally, I'm agnostic. I am "without theism" as well, but I don't harbor identity with the subject (if that makes any sense). Don't identify with it because of behaviors from whom I previously mentioned. I've seen some insensitive people who had nothing to offer but offensive deconstructions. That was not progress, "objective truths" or otherwise.
Got off the subject a bit, but your channel brings education that I share with those who are seeking to deconstruct. I don't force my freedom from religion onto others and I do not hurl insults. I do, however, absorb a lot from your videos. THANKS A LOT.
Thank you very much for this!
You should have a sign somewhere: Liked and Spiritually Supported by MythVision
;-)
lol!
King Solomon has to be real! If he isn't then I can't justify there being a sex book in the Bible (that's totally safe for children to read)! - some Christian (probably)
ha!
Anyone know who gave Yahweh his name? His Mom :)
Yahweh's mama is so fat...
Baal evolved from a human sacrifice into a god, so maybe he really was a false god? 😅
Possible origin story...?
Source -*When God Was A Woman" By Merlin Stone
Paraphrase only.... each year a special male youth was named husband to a fertility goddess (I forgot her name.) Apparently he spent a year living like a king on earth. God-like? He became Baal.
And Brandon has reinforced that deities evolved. Apparently, so did Baal?
p.s. book is long gone with a friend, cannot quote.
One kings, in contrast to two king 🤣
Seriously, the weird titles of these numbered parts have always just baffled me... If you're going to translate something, translate it into the language as it's used...
No one has more intelligence and wisdom than the author of Adam and Eve, trust Him.
Being wise doesn't prevent someone from being a monster
@@phantomstarsx9343 You're trying to devalue the greatness of wisdom, don't do that.
I would say that we give Elijah a Hard time. He was afraid and wanted God to take him.
Jesus who knew Better ask God to take the cup from him and Jesus himself fled and was even contemplating to go up to the feast because of the fear of those that wanted him dead
The Church (Body of Christ) is the authority, not the Bible.
Luckily churches have never done bad things
Doesn’t the Church derive its authority *from* the Bible?
No. The Church was responsible for the Bible in the first.@@dorothygilley3194
You have to be joking !@@EzaleaGraves
Which church?
Have you noticed that all 6000+ sects and denominations disagree with each other?
Some "authority!" 😂
Lmao why couldn't have God given women some power or wisdom.
Especially when you consider how many deities of wisdom have been goddesses! 😮
Perhaps favoritism?