I remember when I was young, I was told that if I ever doubted god's existence I should just keep praying until I believed again. That being said, the little voice in my head that spoke, " this might all be bullshit, " never went away.
@C FletcherYour comment reminds me of a conversation I witnessed once. Between a firm believer in Christianity and an Atheist, both from my school. The Christian guy said that God is real, because he had saved him from illness. My Atheist classmate made the best response ever for that. "When you were sick, did you go to the hospital? Did you take medicines? Did you see a doctor? Or did you just stay at home, praying? Because if it was the first alternative, I have some news for you."
I'd just like to ask... do you think your doubts prevailed because you were just too intelligent to fall for it? Or because none of it made sense to you? Because if the first, I would have to question how you could be smarter than ever Christian in the world. And if the latter I would have to ask why you thought you had the intelligence required to make the Decision that God doesn't exist when so many scientists, so many millionaires, and so many really realy smart thinkers claim that they know for certain that God exists.
Religion was basically forced to me since I was a child and I would feel perplexed when I meet athiests and ask them why they would let themselves suffer in eternal fire. They all told me one thing; "Read the Bible." I already read the Bible at the time but in spite to them, I reread it, to maybe understand them. I was mindblowned. I've already read the Bible but what I didn't do was understand it. I questioned my priest whom I am very close to. He was very kind and humble. He was happy to answer my question. Once I had, his expression changed. He struck me a cold glare and shoved me unto the cobblestone pathway. My parents came running in shock. They exchanged a few words before my parents took his side. They took me home and punished me. They made me kneel in salt while praying. But I wasn't. I closed my eyes like I was, but my mind was clear. Finally, I seperate my palms from eachother and opened my eyes, literally and figuratively. Never have I ever been so happy to escape that bamboozlement of a belief.
@@debras3806 Give me empirical evidence. Just because you, as a single human being haven't observed much, doesn't prove that such atrocities don't happen "all that much" which in itself, is not right for measurement. Here is a list of sexual abuse cases of the Catholic Church: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_cases Here is a study on sexual abuse of children by the catholic church: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31269519 There is also a MDPI study "Child Sexual Abuse in Protestant Christian Congregations: A Descriptive Analysis of Offense and Offender Characteristics" which you'll have to download yourself to view studying 326 cases of sexual alleged abuse. Understand this is _only_ looking into sexual abuse, and not accounting unreported cases of sexual abuse, or for emotional and physical abuse. Even outside of religion, sick stories are everywhere and happen everywhere.
@@gamingoli123 The taste of good food is one of the only things that make life on this damp mudball worth it... Even if I don't need the food for actual sustenance.
I once told a friend that I'm an atheist. She said, "no you're not, you're one of the nicest people I know." She came really close to seeing a side of me that's NOT so nice.
Same. My best friend is a devout Seventh Day Adventist. I remember that briefly after we met she was like „you‘re such a nice person, how can you just waste it all and not become a christian to go to heaven?“ the idea that i didn’t need a motive (like going to heaven) to want to be a good person who contributed to society absolutely blew her mind. religion really does promote some weird, instrinsic selfishness and black-and-white thinking. She still firmly believes that I‘m going to „come around“ eventually… because otherwise she‘d have to face the fact that her God would very much murder innocent, good people for not believing, and that that’s very much not in line with her own morals. So clearly, I must be a closeted Christian /s
I was born and grew up deaf. I don't mean "didn't have most hearing" but literally 100% deaf. I figured out that audio thing actually existed easily enough. I have no doubt same thing happens to colorblind people. Very good video.
Okay, I've always wanted to ask... Are there certain things you were surprised to find made more or less sound than you'd think? Like I've heard stories of deaf people not realizing that fans aren't actually that loud for example.
@@XXCoder Fair point. Well that's interesting at least. If your whole family knows sign language and a few of you can read lips, you could really fuck with people.
I'm colorblind, and have difficulty differentiating most shades. I've sometimes confused red and green for each other, orange looks brown to me, dark blue and purple are the same thing, and I don't even know what indigo is. Sometimes, one color will shift before my eyes and look different. I still know basically what, say, a rainbow looks like despite not being able to see anything other than a stripe of yellow and red. I understand what colors are and how people define them, I just can't see them. It's not hard to understand from an intellectual point of view.
@Quinton King might be a quote, but that would be a corporatist, they don't like competition, where as capitalism and thus a capitalist is driven by compition either in service or produce.
when i am around theistic friends, they know i am atheist, and yet they are comfortable talking on and on about their religion to me as if it's something I agree with/care about/am interested in. And it's never a conversation where they want to hear my thoughts, they just want to preach at me. It's like they live in a world where everyone obviously agrees with them even if they say they dont, so they can speak freely about whatever they want as if they were talking about their favorite TV show. If I ever bring up atheism, or talk about my "beliefs," they get offended and defensive as if I'm attacking them personally. I think it's an interesting double standard, that religious people can talk about their religion to anyone and everyone, but if an atheist were to do it, they would be mocking theists and being rude and disrespectful. While theistic beliefs are beyond disrespectful and dehumanizing to every life form on earth. Religion is like a protected class that no one can speak badly of
@@sbubbythefifth3568 I'm not sure what you're getting at, or it's relation to my original comment, but no I can't understand something that I haven't experienced fully. I can imagine what something is like, but I'll never know if it is accurate unless I live the same experience. We can't even know if we all see colors the same way. I am curious where you're going with this comment, so i hope you'll reply again
@Google user Arguing about owning the truth and being so right your wrongers will be sliced over and over forever is not the same to argue taste though
Whenever I have to deal with theists I just change the name of the God and reflect their argument back on them. "Well you really believe in Allah, you're just angry with him." "If you just open your heart you'll hear the voice of Quetzalcoatl". "Documented, eye-witnessed miracles prove my book is true. So Mohammed splitting the moon in two and putting it back together proves the Koran is true." "I can hear thunder so that proves thor and his mighty hammer are real." "Don't you want to go to heaven? All you have to do is believe in Ameterasu and it will happen."
CS Lewis is right; there are two kinds of people. Those that bend their knee to God and proclaim, "Thy Will Be Done!" And those that will not bow their knee to God; whereby he says, "Your Will Be Done." If we choose to be separate from God; then certainly he will not go against our will, should there be a Judgement Day.
@@theherald4340 If God's omnipotent there's no way his will can't be done. It's only the will of religious leaders claiming to speak for god that can be defied.
@@diemos09 So which of the two people are you, according to CS Lewis? God's omnipotence has no relevance as to our personally acknowledging him or not. You and I are given that free will to choose.
When i started questioning my theism, one thing that kept me believing was that when i prayed, i felt like god was listening, i felt comforted by a sense of contentment. I wanted to test that by praying and talking to god as well as others about what was troubling me. i prayed to god and felt satisfaction and content, i prayed to Zeus, then even tried Ariana Grande and felt the same i did praying to god. As a final test, i talked to a stuffed animal about how i was feeling, pretending it was someone who could understand and empathize with me. Consequently, i felt great if not a little better than speaking to god. i later came to realize i can write down my thoughts and take credit for me helping myself by acknowledging my feelings instead of talking to myself and putting the credit in the hands of some higher power. edit: i was taught that prayer is about “building a relationship with god” and we could do that through rehearsed prayers and or actually talking and reflecting -for comfort advice etc
I had almost forgotten the mental gymnastics that go on when you believe in a divine supervisor. I laugh (somewhat sadly) when I think about how I tortured myself over coincidences, and looked for meaning in meaningless places. I was afraid to think for myself. I nearly even abandoned what would later be my life's passion (physics and maths) over a fear that it would destroy my "faith". Of course, I soon realised that if I was so worried about the fragility of my beliefs, then I had already lost them. I have since found true meaning in science and mathematics. It is still hard to accept that I will one day vanish into oblivion, but I have come to realise that this is simply my ego rejecting it's own termination, as I am biologically programmed to do. In reality, when I'm dead, I won't know a damn thing about it.
Precisely this! The idea of nonexistence, as a being and consciousness currently typing this comment, being complete and utter _nothing_ with time is terrifying. But theres little we can do about it. Just enjoy life as best we can while we're here I guess.
A renowned British physicist, Eddington, who had helped prove Einstein right, did leave science for fear of losing faith. Science kept marching on, while dwindled into oblivion
"It is still hard to accept that I will one day vanish into oblivion, but I have come to realise that this is simply my ego rejecting it's own termination, as I am biologically programmed to do. In reality, when I'm dead, I won't know a damn thing about it." that is very well phrased and articulated for something so formless and abstract. well done. 👏
@@linwong1494It’s not as scary once you realize you didn’t exist before you were born, at least to me. Returning to that state of non existence is as comforting to me as heaven is to a Christian.
I remember I was told to think the doctor using a less painful needle during one visit was a "divine intervention" because I prayed before it. Or, on reflection, it probably makes more sense that the doctor saw a grown man weeping like a baby in pain, clearly traumatized, and decided to swap out needles.
MegaChickenfish It sounds like you may have had the misfortune of knowing a number of unintelligent Christians! Correlation does not prove causation, however... Nor does your experience even prove there's a correlation.
Perfectly describes the insanity lying within the largest three of the cults originating from the Middle East. After all, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all virtually the same, just different sides of a ... a three sided coin, so to speak.
Is that in a Bible? lool what kind of a chimpanzee would thought of that? Longer I live more I think that I clicked on a madhouse icon by mistake when I was turning on a game.
@@yoooyoyooo : 1 Samuel 18:25 KING JAMES VERSION And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. {18:26} And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son in law: and the days were not expired. Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^TRANSLATION: The king wants David to get him 100 Philistinian foreskins as a dowry. David gets 200.
I love that at 4:00 two of the books are identical except for a disagreement upon which half of the square is missing. You never cease to impress me TheraminTrees :)
was christian - russian orthodox - read the new testament and the the quran (translated tbh) and then i was atheist. long before yt was a thing. i still keep some rules that were religiously implimented - like: dont gamble - but not out of religious motives. i feel much more like a free person now, and i know why to be a good person. life matters. there is no afterlife. be good to each other is the best way to live as a social species. love you all :*
@@bobhope4288 You asked: Do you know the future or are you just closed-minded? I never said that I knew the future. Sometimes I am closed minded. No matter the argument offered, I am just closed to killing the innocent needlessly. You: Also, just for curiosity, have you ever been wrong? Me: Yes, many times about some things.
I believe that Loki the trickster God fooled them all. You have no proof your religion isnt a product of Loki. He is the trickster God afterall. You would be fooled to the maximum extent.
"BuT mY ReLiGiOn MaKeS rEaL pRoPhEcIeS" and you think loki wouldn't do something like that to make it look more legit? Shit this actually works really well
@@m07z lol sorry for the incredibly late response. But no I wasn't serious. I only tend to pull that out as an example or when someone is being super annoying about it. If I know of other "tricksters" besides loki id use them too in place of loki just so im not always using him.
@@Vulcanfaux There's quite a few of them, but Loki might honestly be the best one; fantastic example for your point and very very well known so everyone actually gets the point. edit: spose Nyarlathotep would be a good one too, but he's straight fiction and not anywhere near as popular. Fits the bill perfectly though.
For me it was history. The past makes no sense with the existence of an omnipotent being. Likewise, it's been my personal observation that theists tend to be ignorant of history.
It’s interesting to me that we saw the opposite things, for me history of not just earth but the universe seems to suggest to me that there is something, it’s all too similar and orderly to me for it to be completely random. I don’t know what it is I even believe in, just that there is something, a force an entity, idk.
@@Valiguss Thank you for bringing this up. In my university days I came to much the same conclusion as you. The more science I learned, I was struck by the organization and patterns of the universe, and concluded that it's all too consistent to be merely an accident. However, when I mentioned this observation to one of my professors (chemistry, to be exact), she made a point that blew me out of the water: Our understanding of the universe and its workings naturally appear organized and to follow a consistent pattern, because that's how the human mind functions. We (humanity) created those definitions according to our best ability, and this requires organizing our knowledge and fitting it into a neat, consistent system. However, when you apply the math, the pure physics of the universe, it shows something quite different: the universe is chaos, in constant flux, where the smallest variables result in drastically different and unpredictable outcomes. It cannot be truly measured, only guessed based on our flawed ability to understand. She explained it much better than I do here.
The events of history are not constant, not necessarily factual, fallacious to appeal; history is a story. Here lies a demonstrable constant of the human condition: The record has always been propagandized, by both benevolent rulers and tyrants alike. Nothing new under the sun.
Being curious about this topic, I'd like to ask you this following question I've been wondering of... Is morality❎ & immorality✅ having to do more with facts & faiths? Because I noticed that religion✝️☦🕉✡☯️☪️ and science⚛ that lean into taking the leap of faith🙏 (lead by assumptions & authority which is unverifiable) tend to led into blind conclusions in which they reject conflicting evidence -which tragically happened to one of the local area where a group faith-healing christians✝️ in the pandemic rejected the scientist's advice from findings that covid-19 is deadly🦠 under their faith, hosting a ceremony where they got infected and many tragically died💀. www.mmtimes.com/news/yangon-govt-sues-pastor-holding-sermons-infected-70-covid-19.html *I added faith-based science as there is one ideology called Scientism that states where people literally accept science as faith & should not be questioned like Religonism. kirkcenter.org/essays/scientism-is-not-science/ Whereas religion☸ & science🔬 that follow facts tend to accept both supporting✅ and conflicting❎ evidence, in which they learn via observation and reasoning to make it more verifiable👁. Like the science in its scientific method and religon that is applicable to it like Buddhism. (See the Kalama Sutta - pin.it/27zKKD6, which tells the Buddha tells his followers to not follow Buddhism blindly unless it agrees with their reason & sense) I think one's true morality lies in the facts there, since it makes one objective with truth which does not require belief. I like to know your thoughts, as I'm quite curious and I'd like to know more. I'm asking you this as I'm a university student who's writing an paper called "Should Religious🧙♀️🧙♂️ people be allowed to do Science👩🔬🧑🔬 in our education systems?" And I need your help if possible.
I’ve decided that henceforth, when questioned or challenged about my religious beliefs, I’m going to tell people I’m a hardcore Christian, but am actively choosing to defy God, and go to Hell.
@@mrflip-flop3198 Lots of people like classical music, which explains why every major city in the world, as well as many of the minor ones, has a special building and a select group of people dedicated to its performance. Some cities even have two such places and groups - or even more. Never doubt that many, many others share your enjoyment of classical music. It is not something to be ashamed of, but to be celebrated.
@@micaelgarcia1576 I don't know where you are from, but here in the USA, people who enjoy classical music are looked upon with a mixture of suspicion and derision. It used to be considered a good thing here to be cultured, and educated; now it is seen by many as ...I don't know, elitist? This country is not what it once was, and it hurts my heart to see what it has become.
@@craigcorson3036 yeah...people that like and most of the times play classical music are more often than not considered snobs, it's not only in the states either
I read the Bible as a kid that believed, not truly understanding it because I was still Christian and a child. As an adult I would make excuses for why I still believed, I felt like there had to be a god. But I always questioned, then instead of just reading the Bible I asked questions of it. It was hard I was scared, the fear that growing up Christian and believing in demons, devils, and hell is hard. It is like a weight has been lifted. Eternity is now just the throws of a dying brain, I’m ok with that.
Not only have your videos helped me run away from religion, they also helped me protect myself from them and their arguments. I have disseminated your videos in my language for the benefit of my Spanish speaking followers and consider you my friend from afar. Thank you again, what a wonderful video! as always.
JOLULIPA: Reason&Science Hey Jolulipa ;8) Always a pleasure to see your name appear, and glad the videos have helped in the way you describe - sharing ideas is what it's all about isn't it.
Thank you so much! My culture is Catholic dominated by genocide, coercion, etc and people today think that's a good thing because we "have god" now, or that it's forever ago just get over it. Spreading this logical thinking in Spanish is a good help
I completely relate to his statement about exchristians and the bible. I had read the whole bible several times as a Christian, and always bought the excuses made for god, and the biblical contradictions. Finally, I paid attention to the direct textual contradictions, the ones that cannot be excused because they are mutually exclusive. From that point, it was like pulling a thread that unraveled the tapestry. Or, like dominoes. Once I became disillusioned with the bible, I slowly began realizing that none of my beliefs had any real foundation. Nothing to justify them as factual claims. It was painful for me to realize, but it was a nail in the coffin for me. For years before, I was slowly having more and more problems agreeing with various doctrines and political positions of my brand of Christianity. Many Christian teachings just clashed with my most fundamental moral sense. Once the bible came into question, it was over for me.
There are many things which are generally held to be so, that once you question one of them, a number of related things all unravel like pulling the thread of a tapestry. Seldom do you have any support from others who see the generally held position, which "everyone knows" is true. It's argumentum ad popularum - appeal to popularity - which is a fallacy.
for me it was similar. my mother put me and my brother in catechism class, and as we studied the bible, the we started seeing contradictions. When we confronted the priest with that, he could never give us a straight answer. then he started getting a bit dismissive / passive aggressive about us. That class transformed from christian to atheist in one week. that was 20 years ago.
"From that point, it was like pulling a thread that unraveled the tapestry." My metaphor is that one day I noticed a loose thread on my sweater and I started pulling on it. Before I even realized anything was happening the sweater was gone and there was a loose pile of yarn at my feet.
I'm partially red/green colorblind. This wouldn't have worked on me. It's not that I see no color at all, I just can't appreciate something like half of them.
I'm not sure how long ago it was that I first discovered your channel, and that of your brother(?) Qualiasoup. Long time ago. I always found them hugely comforting, and useful. I was born into Catholicism, did a stint in the Witnesses between 10 and 15, while simultaneously being sent to a Catholic boarding school that was more like a reform school. Smack in the middle of rural Ireland. I believe I was 14 when I wrote to the Cistercian monks to find out more about their lives, with a view to joining them. Although at the time I would have been silently praying at night to Jehovah. I abandoned it all, slowly, without really noticing. Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and History all seemed better distractions, and had more to teach me. I was first called an atheist when I was 17, by my new religion teacher - I'd been expelled from the boarding school and was now happily ensconced in a Christian Brothers near my home village. The brothers were fine, unlike most of the sadists in the Carmelites who'd ruled me for the previous 3 and a half years. And now I was an atheist, according to the expert. He didn't appear to be annoyed, more disappointed. When I left two years later I realised that what he'd actually looked was resigned. He knew that he had two years of arguing ahead of him. Now I find myself with a 15 year old son. He spent Xmas with the in-laws, I stayed home as his mother is in hospital and I go there each day. They worked on him to get baptised as a Lutheran, and he came back looking to me for a little guidance. And now I get to watch your videos with my boy most evenings as we eat dinner, with a lot of pausing for his questions. So, twice now your videos have helped bring peace and reason into my life. Thanks for that.
Thank you for sharing your story. I smiled as I read your sentence: 'I abandoned it all, slowly, without really noticing.' It's funny isn't it, how that can happen - how you can find yourself just slowly walking out the door without realising what you're doing. Sometimes of course we're spotted by others who can see where we're headed - and the door is slammed shut in our faces. For a time. I love the relationship you describe with your son. That ability for family to have those kinds of conversations - to be able to ask questions and receive honest answers instead of ideological script - is wonderfully precious. Peace to you both.
I abandoned religion gradually too I was about 8 when I started to question my parents about some of the bible’s more fishy stories (eg., how did Noah feed all the animals, etc.), and by the time I was 12 I knew I wasn’t a believer.
Holy crap... I joined a cult in my youth because of the exact same thing as 18:24. I had no explanation, and therefore attributed it to a "Getting zapped by God" experience. It took two years for me to get over that "revelation" and leave "the family". Thank you for putting it so succinctly. Spot on.
I've been an atheist my whole life but that account genuinely terrified me. It's common for any kind of indoctrination to include attempts at emotional override that can take over anyone, no matter how supposedly smart or self-assured, but an example that had the desired effect within a few, stage managed moments is sobering. It's important to remember that nobody, not anyone, is immune to propaganda
You know what I love about this video? He speaks so neutrally about the subject matter, and gives the audience only a "Please ask questions, and don't stop asking them" vibe, if he didn't make any point to acknowledge he was an atheist, one could assume he *was infact* theistic. And I wouldn't know because they're valid points and questions either way. It's not pointed whatsoever. It doesn't have an agenda. It just rebukes failures in logic and disarms attempts to remove one's own agency. Well done.
I never could truly believe. I have tried to "fit in" with the majority of my family and their friends in the past, but I was constantly pushed away and felt isolated by the very people who tried to get me to believe.
You and others like you, were instrumental in helping me transition out of 21 years of fundamentalist religious delusion. What you do is both important, as well as impacting. Please, please, please, more like this, they are treasures.
I was raised a christian. So I felt pretty strongly the presence of God, his love and the grace of the holy spirit. I've marveled in awe at it's greatness, thankfull for everything he created and for the plan he had for us. I've had my prayers answered, and some of my wishes attended. That's the kind of thing they think is a direct experience of God, but it's just profound feelings, deep emotions and a good deal of coincidences and hypnosis. People from all religions have it, some people have it for political leaders and ideologies and cults. If devotion proved anything everything could be proved. You can find people deeply commited to all sources of things. Of course, when I talk about my past religions experience they will try to dissmiss it, to say my experience wasn't real or wasn't profound enough, most theists are quick to deny all profound experiences of other religions as ilusory and their own as true. We have people fasting, self-sacrificing, punishing themselves, dedicating hours of their lives to a cause, how dare we say their experiences aren't deep? Deep experiences says nothing about their sources. Hitler was probably very passionatly and certain about his ratial superiority. Being in love doesn't make the person you're in love perfect just because you're in love with them, and being in love with an idea doesn't make it more true or beneficial.
This video reminds me of a conversation I had with a deeply religious relative when I was about 18 or 19 years old. I had already been an atheist for a number of years. At the close of our conversation my uncle said something that struck me as very odd, because I thought it was a very weak argument. In fact, it wasn't really an argument at all. And he wasn't trying to hammer his point home. I knew his beliefs were sincere and that he could have made a much more impassioned statement about his personal belief in god and why I should believe. I was expecting something like that. However, after watching this video, I now realize what he was doing, and I realize he was actually being much more clever than I originally thought. First, he told me that he recognized that I was a very sincere person. I guess that was the buttering up part. Then he told me that he saw me as someone who is, "seeking the truth." (I bet a lot of fellow atheists have had that said to them.) I really had to fight back hard against making a disparaging snarky comeback, something that only a teenager would think was appropriate. I knew I wasn't seeking anyone else's idea of truth, so I just smiled instead. Then he said that "God, will open a door for you. All you have to do is look for the sign." Then he added that there was no way to know when that sign might appear. It might come with an unexpected delivery of good fortune, like getting a job or promotion I thought wasn't going to happen. It might appear when I was at my lowest point, when things were really going badly and the sign would show me a pathway to a better future and a pathway to god. This sign might also appear spontaneously in a single moment of inspiration seemingly unrelated to any immediate crisis. "Just look for it" he added at the end. I was reading Lord of the Rings at the time, so I thought, "Well, if Gandalf suddenly appears in front of me casting spells and warning me about Orcs approaching, that would be a real sign in my book." I just thanked my uncle for our conversation and some personal advice he had given me about purchasing a car. He had once worked at a used-car lot and knew how to negotiate to avoid added fees and deal with the psychological traps salespeople play on potential customers. In that secular arena his advice was both practical and sound. I never fully understood why my uncle wanted me to look for a sign. I knew that I had no intention of looking for non-existent signs of non-existent god. But, perhaps I intuitively realized that when you start looking at clouds long enough, you can start seeing anything you want to see in the them. Like a sign showing you the way to a deity. While that Christmas Day conversation has stuck with me over the years, I never really thought about very deeply. After hearing about Derren Brown's Fear and Faith project, my uncle's strategy is so much clearer to me now. Just look for signs in the randomness of your daily life and you are bound to see and fixate on things which you attach great significance to, even though they have no real significance at all. "Uncle, you learned more than just how to sell used-cars at jacked up prices to unwary customers. You learned how to make people see things that aren't really there. Clever, very clever indeed."
What I find most fascinating is that the 'beautiful revelation' doesn't need to be theistic at all; I felt exactly as that stem cell researcher did when I first took the time to really acknowledge the vastness of the cosmos and how far we as a species have come due to scientific endeavor. It was the reason I was never convinced of religion; no matter which 'Holy Book' I read, what sermons I heard, none of it could match what I'd felt when first reading 'A Brief History of Time'.
"Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." Pslam 137:9 (NIV). This was the first verse I'd read that made me question the motives and morals of the people of the Old Testament, and ultimately, the God of the whole Bible. I was a young teenager, 16 or so, when my questioning got me to read the entire Bible cover to cover, searching for context that would make it all make sense, that would restore the love and beauty I had grown up seeing in so many verses. After 8 years of trying to rationalize my beliefs and wallowing in self doubt, I was finally released from the shackles of my former religion. Theramin, your videos were a major part of rebuilding myself after that decision. Thank you.
Psalms were written by David, he wrote poems to god at the time of him being hunted. He felt rejected yet clung on to hope. This verse is not from god, it's from a man who felt betrayed.
@@Austin-ub2giI didn't know that was his motives, that is interesting. Thank you for telling me that. I can see that you are having some difficulty understanding English. Please let me elaborate. I did not state that God made David write anything. If you review what I said, I specifically said that Psalms wasn't written by god.
@@Austin-ub2gi Oh. I just got what you said. I thought you meant that David was writing about them. We were having a conversation talking about two entirely separate people! Sorry for the misunderstanding. Yes, I explained that was why David had said those things, because if you look at it that way, you can see why he said such strange things and why it seemed like he had strange motives and morals. If you read on you can see that David was a pretty great guy (until Bathsheba).
LOL, I got one about how hitler secretly found out about this biblical super medicine that someone invented, but that person got out and kept the secret of how to heal any wound, make pain nonexistent, cure mental illness, and basically turn humanity into mini-gods, but that the US government had a patent on it, but they could show is if we just clicked.
I think most Theists would be unable to comment due to the sheer amount of logic and facts he throws at you the whole video. I love his vids, but it's something I can't fully appreciate if I'm just watching it to pass time
@@gusgusin11 Although I am still Christian, he makes very thoughtful and engaging content. Most likely someone who is religious in terms of a religious Karen wouldn't respond because this video majority of the time won't be recommended to them because of the algorithm of which tries to show content that agrees with you.(because google™) That or they hopefully know if they post something ludicrous they'd be lambasted. Also if this video isn't recommended to a Karen, I doubt they'd search for this majority of the time because it wouldn't fit the narrative that atheist big bad oh noooo
@@gusgusin11 Bold of you to assume they would watch the whole video and not as soon as a little Atheist thing pops up they start having a Keyboard Meltdown
Anthony How are you remaining a Christian, even with all these hard to beat points? I have been a worship leader in a church for 5 years, and I’m basically ready to skedaddle now. Lol
I hate it when color blindness is assumed to mean I see in grey scale. I suppose there might be an extremely rare form of it where that is true. However for the vast majority of color blind people including myself it is more like color challenged. My form is known as Red/Green color blindness (confusion). What happens is that if an single object is either green or red I see it as green or red but if a red object is somewhere in a group of green objects I will not be able to find it. Strange, right. The other thing is 'blended" colors like purple which I see a blue (the red gets lost) or a pale yellow-green which I will see a simply yellow. OK rant over. I will re-watch the video now setting aside the true definition of my type of vision.
Thats exactly how I am. But whenever I mention Im colorblind to friends they hold up stuff or point to something asking what color is it. It doesn’t quite work like that, not for me at least.
I wonder what would happen if a group of red-green colourblind people, for example, grow up together isolated from everyone else, but then one day they venture out into the outside world and discover that there are entire new colours that they or their ancenstors have never seen before. Now what if there are colours that even non-colourblind people can't see, and one day we discover those colours albeit still unable to see them? I think I'm thinking too much now lol, ever since I stumbled across theramintrees I've been thinking a lot.
@@larsswig912 The colors the human eye can perceive, relate directly to how the different conically-shaped light-sensitive cells react to various wavelengths of light and to how that light reaches these cells. If your cone cells behave differently or you have more/different kinds of cone cells, you experience different colors. For example, the famous painter Monet had his cataract surgically removed, after which he suddenly painted with a lot more blue. The lens in human eyes filters out some UV light that the cone cells can detect. By changing the clouded lenses with artificial ones, this UV light was no longer filtered out of what he saw, making him see everything with a more blueish tint. There's apparently also speculation about some women being tetrachromats, meaning they have four different cone cells, rather than three. This is because there are two similar genes on the X chromosome that each encode the pigment for a similar, but slightly different cone for green light. Women who have both versions should therefore be able to distinguish more colors than average in the green/red region. Among animals, there's plenty of examples of animals being able to see further into the UV or IR range than humans can. Bees, to name just one, can see more of the UV range. You should look up pictures of flowers taken with UV-sensitive cameras. The sad bit about this is that so far, you can't make people perceive more or new colors. You can only enhance the contrast of the image by filtering out some wavelengths to make it easier to tell the colors apart (that's what those color-correcting glasses for colorblind people do) or you can use false colors (used all the time in astrophysics, where images are often taken in the UV, X-ray or microwave part of the color spectrum and are then recolored using blue, green and red).
You have protanopia! It’s the most common form of color blindness greens and reds are challenging and because of that it can affect other colors like purple bc they have red in it My uncle is in fact colorblind and can only see in gray scale
Ah, hearing that Nocturne in the background was lovely :) I remembered learning it years back, but haven't played it since. I scrolled to the description to see if there was a link I could follow to the version, and, behold, the man himself had performed it! It's a lovely rendition. Besides the gorgeous music, I appreciate all of your content. I've been out as an atheist to my family and friends since I was 15, and it had been difficult to articulate exactly why I didn't believe any of it (being 15, and all). Unfortunately, my parents thought that I must be going through a phase, and made it mandatory for me to attend church weekly, go to youth group weekly, sing with them in choir for events like Christmas, and lead prayers at dinner nightly until I was 18. I'm 21 now, and I'm finally about to move out of here and lead a life far, far away from this toxic way of life. Finding your channel over the last few days has been vindicating, seeing you debunk all of these myths and such. I feel well-armed now, if my parents decide to come after me again in yet another argument about my lack of faith. Thank you so very much :)
I was never a strong believer. I went to church on occasion, never really discussed god with my family. Then my dad put me though confirmation. At first I was excited. I thought I believed, tried to force myself to feel a divine connection. Begged for anything from above. But there was nothing. Death happened and life went on. Prayer changed nothing. Taking part in the rituals felt good because it was community, not because it was divine. Communion was just bread, thats all it ever was. Then we started reading and discussing the bible. That is when my faith fully slipped away. I threw away my cross and bible and the feeling was incredible, I was giddy. I felt free. I have never looked back. It was the confrontation that set me free.
Great video as usual! I saw the Derren Brown presentation you mentioned and was amazed by the power of Natalie's experience. I don't think it will make ALL believers question their own experience; it's too easy for them to say "that was faked" or "my experience was real even if hers wasn't". Dr. House said that if you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people, but I think and hope that the truth is somewhere in the middle, and that steady prodding with strong and clearly expressed arguments like this video will keep the tide turning.
KrisBlueNZ Ironically, in the discussions I've had about Derren Brown's F&F since it was broadcast, the question of whether the conversion experience was genuine has led to some of the most productive exchanges - because it really lifts the lid on the whole subject of bias. It's a springboard - not a dead end. Like you, I don't subscribe to the 'can't reason with religious people' generalisation. As a former religious person myself, there was nothing wrong with my reasoning skills - it was just that I was actively discouraged from using them on religion.
I was literally just talking with the pastor @ the church I lead music at about this. Is telling someone a comforting lie really worth the life time of disillusionment. I’ve been thinking through a lot of this faith stuff. I’m glad I found your videos. You have brought to light a lot of stuff I thought about, but I never went much further because I believed I was doing good. Being raised by single mother really made me susceptible to manipulation. The world is a cold place, but I would rather know the cold hard truth than a comforting lie.
ty* Thanks. I just resigned from my worship leader position. It’s difficult. All my friends are Christian. I just care about what is true. I need consistency. Also, It’s hard to know where to go in life, but I guess it has really always been me making the decisions. It’s so odd to not consider god when taking steps in life. I find myself still wanting to use the same “system” but with less of the superstition. I don’t want to trade one god for another.
@@benbenben123ben been deconstructing my Christian indoctrination over the past year. God is within. My faith in God is more so now my faith in the sufficient grace of how He designed me and my design potential. I will never ever truly trust anything or any organized religion outside of myself. For I Think, Perceive, Am Conscious, Therfore I AM. (The only thing one can truly ultimately trust, if God's not found there then he's not there...) I believe in some sort of global fundamental consciousness and I am "of" and "as" that consciousness through NO Intermediaries. I AM Made In His Image That is all that is somewhat intuitively true. Nothing else should be trustworthy. You have everything thing you need within you. You are NOT Broken. You Are simply Finite of which Imperfections of perception intention and self orientation are natural results. We simply need more understanding to further Evolve which is clearly largely the meaning of life. If one believes they are desperate and in need, then they will be. That was the biggest psychological damage done to me by religion ironically. The cognitive dissonance and God not resolving it directly no matter how desperate I was, was the last straw.
@Theodor Willis Ok. Just because stupid choices lead to bad outcomes doesn’t mean there is a god. Also, correlation does not equal causation. Also, which god are you trying to defend? How are you going to prove that the real god is your god?
@Theodor Willis Sorry, but your personal experience isn’t evidence. People have hallucinated crazier things. Look dude, I was a worship leader in a couple different churches for 8 years. I saw all the interworkings of how churches operate. I’ve heard all the bull you’re telling me, and I’ve said to others myself. The fact is that faith is flimsy. It’s a poor cover from the perpetual downpour of real life and facts.
I grew up in a desert, so I grew a fondness with rainbows since they appeared after it rained, which was a very rare occurrence. Now I live somewhere with a lot of rain, so rainbows aren't that spectacular anymore.
@@TheRojo387isn’t monochromatic vision a valid type of colourblindness though? They can see things, but not colour. I wouldn’t say that’s wrong, just not 100% representative. If anything, the dichromatic colourblindness would either complicate or expand the metaphor. But if monochromatic vision actually doesn’t exist, then I will take back my comment.
" I didn't find rainbows beautiful at all" Hello I am here to file a slander suit against you on behalf of my client, one mister "The Frog". What you have said is damaging to his music sales and must be taken down.
It's my understanding that your client uses rainbows as a connecting device, and that their appearance in no way affects that functionality. Therefore, the defendant's stated opinion should not adversely degrade the efficacy of said rainbows in fulfilling their purpose to him. Your case has no merit.
Again, you describe so well my own deconversion experience. Trying to hang on to faith, I read the Bible more. Also, I watched people. The ones we were supposed to watch out for, the bad ones--the atheists, Unitarians, philosophers--the freethinkers evidenced much more of the virtues the Christians claimed were theirs. Christians did not show a higher spiritual or moral high ground, rather the reverse.
Diane Gillespie Yes, that can come as a shock...we don't eat babies. Did you also experience those arguing for their religion were projecting their own fears on to you?
I remember watching that video you were mentioning at the end of your video. It was at a time during my transition from religion, and it was a bit unsettling seeing how these things worked in me at one point. All of your videos are always so well put-together. It's always a treat seeing them pop up in my feed.
Finally someone told me how to look at a stereogram. I always thought they were a scam because nobody seemed to be able to explain what they've done in order to see the image. All I got was "if you look at it for long enough, you'll see it" which to me was essentially saying that my mind will generate images from chaos as a means to brighten up the boredom of staring at a picture of TV noise for a long period of time.
I asked once what my Christian friend (who subscribed to the "everybody knows my god, some just hate him" thing) thought of people who had never heard of their god and show no recognition when they are first told. My friend took a long time to answer, and it was very circular.
@Theodor Willis I don't know, there's more proof that I was created from a pair doing the sideway monster mash than an omnipotent being creating me for the sole purpose of being discarded to Hell for not believing it exists.
I've been off RUclips for a very long time and I was a follower of yours years ago. Great to come back to the community and see you're still producing fantastic content.
That was a story told by Christ to explain how we should act. There was no Samaritan who did those things. No human has a monopoly on charity and care for another since we believe these are baked into the human heart. Jesus was criticizing the Pharisees here for their lack of that same charity.
that's actually the point of the story. Sumerians where the ancient enemy of the Jews and anyone at the time would have known that. It's about how kindness isn't about tribalism but the story has since been twisted around. It's like if a Natzi saved a Jews life out of kindness one time during ww2 and three thousand years later "Natzi" just became a short hand for "good person".
This channel is great, i wish more of this was common knowledge. Some of the best philosophy/phycology content I've seen on youtube! It gives me great things to think about, and helps with some of my own ideas, and thoughts on matters.
You are being very reasonable and civil about this and for that I thank you to the bottom of my heart. Always be a good person and keep doing what you’re doing, Brennan.
@@brennanpike2951 Why do you feel as if they are biased, when he seems to present all his opinions and arguments from objective realities which he has derived from logic and evidence?
The thunder analogy is one ive used often. That people thought a god had to create thunder and lightening. But through experimentation it's been discovered that water can and does build up a static charge (Kelvin Water Dropper) and that charge can be quite powerful from even a relatively small amount of water. If you believe it takes a god to create lightening then you can become a god via a KWD. But even now people attribute processes they dont understand to the supernatural, no matter how illogical or un-instantiated their belief is.
Thats the problem, a religious person will look at something they dont understand and say its because of god, a scientist will do experiments and try to fimd out how it works
@@Helperbot-2000 and most of the religious person cannot take any challanges thrown to their statement / believe, While us, the curious people, would always love our statement to be analyzed and challanged. Ps: I hope I didn't mispell "challange"
This is remarkable work. It hits right at home and as much as it is beautiful it is also uncomfortable, even to me as an atheist. You have my utmost respect, TheraminTrees. Thank you.
The thing that annoys me most about Christians is when they use a quote from the Bible during an argument. “Actually, Billy Bob 69 : 420 said, “do not waste your time on sandwiches, as burgers are the American way” Like wtf?
would be wacky if people cited gameplay elements in doom and doom wads like that "as demonstrated in shrieking teeth e2m5, your windows aren't wide enough, and are thus heretic works of the wicked world"
I hope this video is a sign that you're back to making videos on a regular basis again. I'm not sure why you stopped but I always loved your videos, your video on the no true Scotsman fallacy helped me win a quiz on identifying logical fallacies in my college critical thinking class five years ago because we hadn't been taught that one yet. For some reason that memory and your videos have always stuck with me, I think it's because this channel was my first glimpse at critical thinking in action, sure I'd been doing it in college out of interest but you showed me the importance and application of it in real world discussion. Anyway, this is a very long way of saying that I hope you're back to stay.
Obsidiax 'I hope this video is a sign that you're back to making videos on a regular basis again.' -I do have an ongoing personal commitment to make these videos - when I'm away for any time, it's just a sign that other demands in life are peculiarly pressing. Believe me, I could quite happily make videos full time - I'm constantly several videos behind where I'd like to be. 'your video on the no true Scotsman fallacy helped me win a quiz on identifying logical fallacies in my college critical thinking class five years ago because we hadn't been taught that one yet.' -Brilliant! That made me chuckle.
When I was a Christian, I remember asking a question in a cell group: Could Yahweh command man to sin? The answer given was of course no. Then I brought up one example: God commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Which if Abraham truly did, then he would have committed the sin of murder. And if he didn't, he still committed it, as such were the standards that Jesus had imposed. It didn't change whether the act was performed. Abraham had intended it, thus sin was in his heart. I remember many deflections. Saying that that event was meant to mirror Jesus as the son dying. But they never answered the question as to whether or not God had commanded it. I remembered being said to be "bordering on heresy" for my questions. It really solidified to me how much the Christian response is a deflection to questions. And I didn't even bring up Hosea, whom God commanded to marry a harlot, thus committing the sin of adultery. Even had a few children with her. I also love how you pointed out the hypocrisy with the Good Samaritan. How did I not see that before?
You out did yourself on this one. Clear, concise and well ordered. I can't say enough about your willingness to put essays together for the public so that you can inject reason into society. I think your sereies should also come in different languages. Do you use patrion? I'm willing to donate for all of your hard work.
truvelocity Cheers truvelocity ;8) A few folks've mentioned patreon to me recently - so looking into it. Certainly be up for making a lot more videos if there was enough support for me to devote the necessary time.
TheraminTrees I would support also. I think if we can get you a shout-out on one of the bigger channels, it could definitely be viable. Edit: scratch that, I see you already have a pretty healthy number of subscribers
Something I find incredibly interesting is how trying to convince someone of things like benefits of exercise/self-improvement is incredibly similar to preachers attempting to convince someone of their religion. If someone says "I haven't seen any changes in the gym," all you can really say in response is "you haven't done it long enough, these things take a lot of time" or "you are slacking off too much, and need to try harder". Even with the actual proof of self improvement working, it can still be dismissed with assertions like "It may have just worked for them (they were somehow special)" or false assumptions about "bad genetics" or just being "un-talented". I used to try to convince my siblings to start self improvement, and this would often result in heated arguments and debates over the necessity of the practice. Arguments like "I am fine now, why would I care about those benefits?" and "I don't care about those things" often popped up. All I could really say in reply was "you might think you are fine now, but the reality is that you could be so much better and happier if you did these things". This was based on my own previous situation. I did everything as they did, thinking I was fine the way I was, and just as many do I would in and out of depressive cycles. I started self improvement, and eventually all of that changed. Looking back on it, I sounded just like a fanatic preacher trying to save them, and the weirdest part is that self improvement is factually based, and I have been experiencing the benefits for myself since. the practice has evidence, it has reasoning, I can explain why the benefits occur and why they don't, and yet it simultaneously has the problem of being something that truly requires "faith" in order to achieve. The faith that, while you don't see many changes in the gym, or while you aren't feeling that much more confident talking with people, those skills will eventually become better if you keep doing it. This faith is incredibly hard to keep up though, since you wouldn't know it was true until you either saw someone else go through the entire process (and even then you can still just assume that they were different than you are), or did the whole thing yourself, blindly lifting those weights and eating a lot with the assumption that eventually you will become bigger, more confident, and happier. It sounds like some sort of fakery. Like some sort of thing that you are told, just so you start self improvement, only to find out after a week (which is not enough time to see results in most areas) that you feel and look the same. This is around the time when most people give up, or quit their new years resolutions, or retire from whatever else they are trying to achieve. It is a factual practice, and yet it sounds like some sort of religious voodoo. I eventually gave up trying to convince them. They did believe what I was doing was "A good thing to do," but they didn't believe that it would benefit them in particular, and just thought that I was somehow "born different, and tailored to benefit from it". If one of them said "I don't care about having big muscles," I would counter with "Its not just about muscles, its about being proud of the way you look, feeling good every time you look down and see what you have built, feeling more confident with the knowledge that you look and are strong, about feeling fresh and energized throughout the day," If they said "I don't care about being good at talking to people," I would counter with "Its not just that, its being able to lift others up when they are down, or make new friends more easily, or get rid of the overwhelming fear of social embarrassment," but it was no use. Those things were all feelings, and they had never experienced any of it. What I was describing might as well have been a fantasy world. They just couldn't see the value of putting all that work into something like that. I knew it would benefit them, this was a certainty, and yet it was impossible to show them in an efficient manner why. Maybe if it wasn't coming from someone related to them they would understand, I don't know. I am now a lot better at offering advice, and knowing WHEN to offer that advice, but it still saddens me to think that if I ever had to convince someone of something big, it would likely just sound like a lie. These videos are great, and they really make me think about stuff like this. Thanks a ton.
You’ve put into words what years of my life have felt like, yes as the preacher side of things. I think one thing self-improvement has that strongly parallels religion is the ‘doctrine of fulfillment’. Self-improvement assumes you value the things it is selling you. It’s basically like advertisement, where they say ‘you want this’ and then you want it. Except, human beings are individuals at heart. Due to a wide variety of experiences, genetics, environments, family, friends, cultures and even down to our very emotions, we’re all too different to be wired for the exact same things. It’s a wonder any desires have been identified at all. But the fact that desires have been broadly identified has led such discovery being abused as ‘the answer’, which basically extrapolates more information than is actually available. In simpler terms, ‘some humans have been found to like X, therefore all humans should like X’ is the philosophy of self-help gurus, and with that philosophy, they sell X (where X is a letter representing whatever you want it to be) to people, but go further saying ‘X will solve all your worries and set you on the future path to greatness’. They abuse desire to sell their product. Not all marketers are like this. Some are honest and consumers have just been previously brainwashed. Others are just innocent of the bad they might be doing with their marketing. But self-improvement as a whole is a double edged sword that, in the pursuit of simplifying life as a means to make it easier, risks narrowing people to the possibilities that could actually save them.
@@Mysteriousmachine1 I didn't think anybody had seen or cared about this comment, and had honestly forgotten about it, so thank you. I have learned far more since then, and I can safely say that there have been situations where I have been able to influence people in a positive direction, but that was only through my own actions and my own progress. They saw the example I had set, the things I had achieved, and then they wanted to take a shot at it. I had to be a living breathing example before there was belief. Most of the things I am talking about as far as self improvement is concerned are universal things that would benefit all people (or at least most). Things like exercise, diet, socialization, mastery of skills/ hobbies, having goals and defining what you actually want to have, etc. The messed up part is that, like you said, some people might not value those things. I feel like they would find that value if they tried, but you cant progress very far without believing in the practice, without having faith, so it just loops back in on itself. Its a real shame that so many of these gurus just try to make a quick buck instead of promoting ideas that would actually work for the majority.
why are your videos so artistically consistent? the cgi elements, the music, the tone. you dont miss a shot my friend, im pretty hooked. will binge watch every video now :D
What an amazing video! I've just recently discovered your channel and I'm so glad I did. The narration and music is wonderful but most importantly the subject matter is superb and well done. Moving on to the next video……
I know it's not contributing to the actual topic, but as a colorblind person, I get these reactions: - You've just never properly learnt recognizing the colors, you should practice them. - You're fooling us. - What color is this? ... that? ... and that? (pointing at several objects in the room) - How did you get a drivers license? How do you manage traffic lights? - Oh, now I understand why your clothes don't match. Imagine getting that as a reaction to your atheism
I cant believe you made a stereogram of the TheraminTrees baby. My mind is blown rn. Before this video, i had no idea what a stereogram was. When you first mentioned it, I paused the video and spent like 15 minutes trying to see something, but couldnt. I then went on a 3 hour RUclips rabbit hole to learn how to see them (took 2 hours before i saw my first one, and the next hour was trying consecutively harder ones). The attention to detail on this channel is incredible. Thank you for this hidden easter egg, it was well worth the journey to get here. Im gonna finish the rest of this video now; i feel ive earned it.
*****, it's all gold ... If you just subscribed today, you'll need to set aside some time to watch all of the Theremin Trees videos, plus all of the videos by Qualia Soup. If you need you burn up some of your vacation days from work, well... then so be it!
I was trapped in the haven't-tried-hard-enough cycle my entire life. I tried so hard and it cost me my health and half my life's years, assuming, I live to an average age.
The shell comparison makes me think on the conversations I've had with my mom, with her falling back on (after all her regurgitated apologetics were easily proven wrong) her vague experience of being "pushed" towards being confirmed in church. I recounted how _I_ had also been pushed. -towards that same confirmation, despite saying it out loud making me realize I had never actually read the majority of the bible for myself. -towards drinking alcohol at the mass communion, leading me to puking my guts out in the bathroom afterwards, even though I knew I was weak to the stuff and shouldn't do it. I felt the "push" as thousands stared at me. -straight out the door of church when I had finally read the bible and seen the irrational nonsense and indefensible evil in it. The strongest push of the 3. She went back and forth, trying to ascribe them to either God or Satan, both or neither, whatever she could do to rationalize away the fact that my "feelings of being pushed" were no more evidence of the supernatural than hers.
All one must do to refute a theist that is advancing the "colorblind" theory of atheism is remind said theist that by advancing such a theory, they are in fact either _denying_ a core principle of their _own_ faith, or _affirming_ a belief that violates a core principle of their _own_ faith. For example: A Muslim advancing this theory is _denying_ that everyone has the inherent ability to acknowledge and accept that Allah is God _and_ that Muhammad is his prophet. A Jew who is advancing this theory is _affirming_ that it is not possible (at least for some people) to recognize, follow, and obey God's law. A Christian that is advancing this theory is _denying_ that everyone has the inherent ability to realize and accept Jesus as their savior, and thus _affirming_ that salvation is _inaccessible_ to everyone. It's a bit more difficult when addressing this theory when the theory is advanced by a believer of a non-monotheistic religion. For example, Buddhism will readily admit that not all people are capable of reaching nirvana - at least not in their present life or manifestation/incarnation. Regarding possible objections at 6:01 - all of these can be inverted and asked rhetorically back to the speaker (i.e., "you're trying to hard", "First you have to _disbelieve_ then you'll see", "Secretly you _do not_ believe, you're just angry with it", etc.)
***** Actually, St. Augustine does state that salvation is inaccessible to most people, the sole exceptions being the so-called chosen ones. And Jews do believe they are the chosen people.
I disagree. St. Augustine is universally regarded as one of the greatest and most influential Christian thinkers, and one of the Great Doctors of the Church, the other being St. Thomas of Aquinas. We, on the other hand (well, I do not know who you truly are, but me at least) are not very influential (at least not at that level). If one of us says something it does not carry much weight, not very many people will listen to it. On the other hand, if St. Augustine says something, a lot of people will hear it and many will actually take his words as a guide for their actions and beliefs. In fact, St. Augustine's philosophy set the Church Doctrine for centuries on many topics, including the one at hand. So that's my point. It is in no contradiction to Catholic Doctrine to state that not everyone can be saved; quite on the contrary, St. Augustine would say that those who will be saved are already determined to be saved, from birth - they are the chosen ones. And if you are not a chosen one - says him - sorry, no matter what you do, you are not going to get into Heaven. However, he also said we do not know who are the chosen ones and who aren't, so leaving room for everyone to at least hope that they are among the chosen and so act accordingly, also precluding (at least in principle) hasty judgements, and, incidentally, also allowing for the "it's not up to me" response or similar ones. In essence, I believe that St. Augustine's thought, whether you agree with it or not, or think it made a positive contribution or not, is still relevant, as he was a pivotal figure in the shaping of Western Thought.
I am colourblind and the biggest mistake others make is to assume they already have an understanding of how I might see colour. Most are surprised to find out that my colour perception is only hindered by a fraction and something like a rainbow is not an alien concept. Thought this personal phenomenon seemed relevant and ironic given the content of this video.
I liked your video, and it would have been my favorite video on religion, if it had not been for the Derren brown part, I took the time out to watch both the first and second part of the show Fear and Faith, after you recommended the second part, and I could pretty much predict what was going to happen in the show, but I kept holding out in the hope that I was incorrect, which I was not, sadly. The whole show is a setup for religious people all leading up to the "religious convertion" of and atheist, which I 100% believe to be staged, not at all genuine. I understand that he is trying to show religious people that they were manipulated into their religious believe, but I do not believe in fighting bullshit, with bullshit, and I find Derren brown disgusting.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I also watched both parts of Fear & Faith following this video. I have no patience for "reality TV" writing and editing as it is, but I was particularly disturbed by the practices in the first half.
Thank you for this video. I am still struggling with this fear of God punishing me in some ways. It is horrible, and I am really fighting in my mind to completely let go and allow myself to be an atheist. It sounds insane :-/ I have been very Christian when I was a child (well, I was in a highly Christian environment at school and youth clubs, so...) and as a teenager I thought I had to convert my family so we could all be together in heaven. In my twenties thiiings started to fall apart buuut I was still a theist in some way. And now I am an atheist but with this nasty fear of God punishing me for not believing or for saying “blasphemous” things still lingering. Videos like these help, especially the pixie thing. :)
I couldn't agree more. Not only are the videos so well made, but the guy is simply brilliant. The scope, depth, authoritative grasp of the logic. It's so stimulating.
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I remember when I was young, I was told that if I ever doubted god's existence I should just keep praying until I believed again. That being said, the little voice in my head that spoke, " this might all be bullshit, " never went away.
I remember when I said I would kill myself if I ever "lost" god. What a ride I've been on that led me to loose my beliefs.
As an ex Muslim I used to be told that the devil is whispering to me when I question religion
@@arkaslayer6612 anyone who dosent want you to think is not your friend
@C FletcherYour comment reminds me of a conversation I witnessed once. Between a firm believer in Christianity and an Atheist, both from my school. The Christian guy said that God is real, because he had saved him from illness. My Atheist classmate made the best response ever for that. "When you were sick, did you go to the hospital? Did you take medicines? Did you see a doctor? Or did you just stay at home, praying? Because if it was the first alternative, I have some news for you."
I'd just like to ask... do you think your doubts prevailed because you were just too intelligent to fall for it? Or because none of it made sense to you? Because if the first, I would have to question how you could be smarter than ever Christian in the world. And if the latter I would have to ask why you thought you had the intelligence required to make the Decision that God doesn't exist when so many scientists, so many millionaires, and so many really realy smart thinkers claim that they know for certain that God exists.
Religion was basically forced to me since I was a child and I would feel perplexed when I meet athiests and ask them why they would let themselves suffer in eternal fire. They all told me one thing; "Read the Bible." I already read the Bible at the time but in spite to them, I reread it, to maybe understand them. I was mindblowned. I've already read the Bible but what I didn't do was understand it. I questioned my priest whom I am very close to. He was very kind and humble. He was happy to answer my question. Once I had, his expression changed. He struck me a cold glare and shoved me unto the cobblestone pathway. My parents came running in shock. They exchanged a few words before my parents took his side. They took me home and punished me. They made me kneel in salt while praying. But I wasn't. I closed my eyes like I was, but my mind was clear. Finally, I seperate my palms from eachother and opened my eyes, literally and figuratively. Never have I ever been so happy to escape that bamboozlement of a belief.
God, it's stories like these we need to hear more often.
Mr Lime
This sick abuse is just that...sick. As I Christian, I apologise on behalf of the group.
Doublechindoge 7
Maybe you can't hear more of these sick stories because, thankfully, they don't happen all that much 😜
@@debras3806 Give me empirical evidence. Just because you, as a single human being haven't observed much, doesn't prove that such atrocities don't happen "all that much" which in itself, is not right for measurement.
Here is a list of sexual abuse cases of the Catholic Church: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_sexual_abuse_cases
Here is a study on sexual abuse of children by the catholic church: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31269519
There is also a MDPI study "Child Sexual Abuse in Protestant Christian Congregations: A Descriptive Analysis of Offense and Offender Characteristics" which you'll have to download yourself to view studying 326 cases of sexual alleged abuse.
Understand this is _only_ looking into sexual abuse, and not accounting unreported cases of sexual abuse, or for emotional and physical abuse. Even outside of religion, sick stories are everywhere and happen everywhere.
So sickening... Glad you made it
This is exactly why I plan to change the world so things like this doesn't happen every day
Don’t be afraid to ask yourself deep, uncomfortable questions.
simple but underrated comment tbh
Doublechindoge 7 yup
Am I eating those chips because I'm hungry or because I'm so bored that I'm pretending I'm hungry?
I’m bored and pretend to b ehungry all the time...
@@gamingoli123 The taste of good food is one of the only things that make life on this damp mudball worth it... Even if I don't need the food for actual sustenance.
I once told a friend that I'm an atheist. She said, "no you're not, you're one of the nicest people I know." She came really close to seeing a side of me that's NOT so nice.
Maybe in her mind or indoctrination only religious people can be 'logically' considered nice.
@@bloothechronosapien4288that's what has been thought to people...🙃
@@bloothechronosapien4288only people from her own religion even, maybe.
Same. My best friend is a devout Seventh Day Adventist. I remember that briefly after we met she was like „you‘re such a nice person, how can you just waste it all and not become a christian to go to heaven?“
the idea that i didn’t need a motive (like going to heaven) to want to be a good person who contributed to society absolutely blew her mind.
religion really does promote some weird, instrinsic selfishness and black-and-white thinking.
She still firmly believes that I‘m going to „come around“ eventually… because otherwise she‘d have to face the fact that her God would very much murder innocent, good people for not believing, and that that’s very much not in line with her own morals. So clearly, I must be a closeted Christian /s
you and me both apparently@@atlas956
I was born and grew up deaf. I don't mean "didn't have most hearing" but literally 100% deaf. I figured out that audio thing actually existed easily enough. I have no doubt same thing happens to colorblind people. Very good video.
Okay, I've always wanted to ask... Are there certain things you were surprised to find made more or less sound than you'd think? Like I've heard stories of deaf people not realizing that fans aren't actually that loud for example.
@@philipfahy9658 Not really, but then my entire family is deaf so yeah lol. Not best person to ask.
@@XXCoder Fair point. Well that's interesting at least. If your whole family knows sign language and a few of you can read lips, you could really fuck with people.
I'm colorblind, and have difficulty differentiating most shades. I've sometimes confused red and green for each other, orange looks brown to me, dark blue and purple are the same thing, and I don't even know what indigo is. Sometimes, one color will shift before my eyes and look different. I still know basically what, say, a rainbow looks like despite not being able to see anything other than a stripe of yellow and red. I understand what colors are and how people define them, I just can't see them. It's not hard to understand from an intellectual point of view.
As someone who is colourblind, I can confirm this. Even though I have no means of seeing it, I can still acknowledge its existence.
"Colour blindness is....a red herring". Or a green one? Sorry. I'll get me coat.
Hope you didn't give up your day job. :P
I'm gonna have to pinch that joke if colour blindness comes up in conversation, y'know that, right?
Nice
@Quinton King might be a quote, but that would be a corporatist, they don't like competition, where as capitalism and thus a capitalist is driven by compition either in service or produce.
... :|
😂😂😂
when i am around theistic friends, they know i am atheist, and yet they are comfortable talking on and on about their religion to me as if it's something I agree with/care about/am interested in. And it's never a conversation where they want to hear my thoughts, they just want to preach at me. It's like they live in a world where everyone obviously agrees with them even if they say they dont, so they can speak freely about whatever they want as if they were talking about their favorite TV show. If I ever bring up atheism, or talk about my "beliefs," they get offended and defensive as if I'm attacking them personally. I think it's an interesting double standard, that religious people can talk about their religion to anyone and everyone, but if an atheist were to do it, they would be mocking theists and being rude and disrespectful. While theistic beliefs are beyond disrespectful and dehumanizing to every life form on earth. Religion is like a protected class that no one can speak badly of
They aren't a protected class so much as they are a dominant class, but for all the wrong reasons.
I am just interested to ask: do you understand what you can't experience? Or is "not being able to hear" more of an abstract concept
@@sbubbythefifth3568 I'm not sure what you're getting at, or it's relation to my original comment, but no I can't understand something that I haven't experienced fully. I can imagine what something is like, but I'll never know if it is accurate unless I live the same experience. We can't even know if we all see colors the same way. I am curious where you're going with this comment, so i hope you'll reply again
@@madsahren2208 thank you for answering. I was just curious to know if Something can be felt without experiencing it. Have a nice day :)
@Google user Arguing about owning the truth and being so right your wrongers will be sliced over and over forever is not the same to argue taste though
Whenever I have to deal with theists I just change the name of the God and reflect their argument back on them.
"Well you really believe in Allah, you're just angry with him."
"If you just open your heart you'll hear the voice of Quetzalcoatl".
"Documented, eye-witnessed miracles prove my book is true. So Mohammed splitting the moon in two and putting it back together proves the Koran is true."
"I can hear thunder so that proves thor and his mighty hammer are real."
"Don't you want to go to heaven? All you have to do is believe in Ameterasu and it will happen."
Someone playing a little smite
Will you marry me?
CS Lewis is right; there are two kinds of people. Those that bend their knee to God and proclaim, "Thy Will Be Done!" And those that will not bow their knee to God; whereby he says, "Your Will Be Done."
If we choose to be separate from God; then certainly he will not go against our will, should there be a Judgement Day.
@@theherald4340 If God's omnipotent there's no way his will can't be done. It's only the will of religious leaders claiming to speak for god that can be defied.
@@diemos09 So which of the two people are you, according to CS Lewis?
God's omnipotence has no relevance as to our personally acknowledging him or not.
You and I are given that free will to choose.
When i started questioning my theism, one thing that kept me believing was that when i prayed, i felt like god was listening, i felt comforted by a sense of contentment. I wanted to test that by praying and talking to god as well as others about what was troubling me. i prayed to god and felt satisfaction and content, i prayed to Zeus, then even tried Ariana Grande and felt the same i did praying to god. As a final test, i talked to a stuffed animal about how i was feeling, pretending it was someone who could understand and empathize with me. Consequently, i felt great if not a little better than speaking to god. i later came to realize i can write down my thoughts and take credit for me helping myself by acknowledging my feelings instead of talking to myself and putting the credit in the hands of some higher power.
edit: i was taught that prayer is about “building a relationship with god” and we could do that through rehearsed prayers and or actually talking and reflecting -for comfort advice etc
Sounds like your prayer never encountered God but only yourself. Self talk is good but it is not prayer.
@@bridgefin go abuse children in your church, your comment is passive aggressive and unnecessary
@@bridgefin sounds like self-talk *IS* prayer
@@ponponpatapon9670
That would be true if there was no God. But, if there is, then prayer is to Him and not to our selves.
@@bridgefin you sound dumb as shit my boy
I had almost forgotten the mental gymnastics that go on when you believe in a divine supervisor. I laugh (somewhat sadly) when I think about how I tortured myself over coincidences, and looked for meaning in meaningless places. I was afraid to think for myself. I nearly even abandoned what would later be my life's passion (physics and maths) over a fear that it would destroy my "faith". Of course, I soon realised that if I was so worried about the fragility of my beliefs, then I had already lost them. I have since found true meaning in science and mathematics. It is still hard to accept that I will one day vanish into oblivion, but I have come to realise that this is simply my ego rejecting it's own termination, as I am biologically programmed to do. In reality, when I'm dead, I won't know a damn thing about it.
Precisely this! The idea of nonexistence, as a being and consciousness currently typing this comment, being complete and utter _nothing_ with time is terrifying. But theres little we can do about it. Just enjoy life as best we can while we're here I guess.
A renowned British physicist, Eddington, who had helped prove Einstein right, did leave science for fear of losing faith. Science kept marching on, while dwindled into oblivion
"It is still hard to accept that I will one day vanish into oblivion, but I have come to realise that this is simply my ego rejecting it's own termination, as I am biologically programmed to do. In reality, when I'm dead, I won't know a damn thing about it."
that is very well phrased and articulated for something so formless and abstract. well done. 👏
@@linwong1494 I used to be terrified. I accepted it so long ago though, it's just apathy now. Do you experience this
@@linwong1494It’s not as scary once you realize you didn’t exist before you were born, at least to me. Returning to that state of non existence is as comforting to me as heaven is to a Christian.
I remember I was told to think the doctor using a less painful needle during one visit was a "divine intervention" because I prayed before it. Or, on reflection, it probably makes more sense that the doctor saw a grown man weeping like a baby in pain, clearly traumatized, and decided to swap out needles.
MegaChickenfish
It sounds like you may have had the misfortune of knowing a number of unintelligent Christians! Correlation does not prove causation, however... Nor does your experience even prove there's a correlation.
"David slays 200 Philistines to use their foreskins as a wedding dowry"
Umm
Perfectly describes the insanity lying within the largest three of the cults originating from the Middle East. After all, Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all virtually the same, just different sides of a ... a three sided coin, so to speak.
Did he smell the foreskins? Did he like it?
Is that in a Bible? lool what kind of a chimpanzee would thought of that? Longer I live more I think that I clicked on a madhouse icon by mistake when I was turning on a game.
@@yoooyoyooo :
1 Samuel 18:25 KING JAMES VERSION
And Saul said, Thus shall ye say to David, The king desireth not any dowry, but an hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies. But Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. {18:26} And when his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son in law: and the days were not expired. Wherefore David arose and went, he and his men, and slew of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full tale to the king, that he might be the king’s son in law. And Saul gave him Michal his daughter to wife.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^TRANSLATION:
The king wants David to get him 100 Philistinian foreskins as a dowry.
David gets 200.
@@mursuhillo242 An unfair 1d3
I love that at 4:00 two of the books are identical except for a disagreement upon which half of the square is missing. You never cease to impress me TheraminTrees :)
+NicholasKreuz ;8)
🎅🏿🥬
And then some of the speech bubbles were unreadable because the video is still in black-and-white. :D
@@ICanDoThatToo2 they weren't unreadable you just didn't try heard enough to read them.
@@redstripedsocks5245 haha that's awesome I love how much thought tends to go into the symbols in his videos
can confirm. was christian, read bible, am not christian.
Gabriel Fallon - And did you watch these kind of videos on RUclips?
Was Christian, found the church, will always be Christian.
was christian - russian orthodox - read the new testament and the the quran (translated tbh) and then i was atheist. long before yt was a thing. i still keep some rules that were religiously implimented - like: dont gamble - but not out of religious motives. i feel much more like a free person now, and i know why to be a good person. life matters. there is no afterlife. be good to each other is the best way to live as a social species. love you all :*
@@bridgefin Do you know the future or are you just closed-minded?
Also, just for curiosity, have you ever been wrong?
@@bobhope4288
You asked: Do you know the future or are you just closed-minded?
I never said that I knew the future. Sometimes I am closed minded. No matter the argument offered, I am just closed to killing the innocent needlessly.
You: Also, just for curiosity, have you ever been wrong?
Me: Yes, many times about some things.
I believe that Loki the trickster God fooled them all. You have no proof your religion isnt a product of Loki. He is the trickster God afterall. You would be fooled to the maximum extent.
Are you being serious?
@jocaguz18 I suppose you aren't wrong
"BuT mY ReLiGiOn MaKeS rEaL pRoPhEcIeS" and you think loki wouldn't do something like that to make it look more legit?
Shit this actually works really well
@@m07z lol sorry for the incredibly late response. But no I wasn't serious. I only tend to pull that out as an example or when someone is being super annoying about it. If I know of other "tricksters" besides loki id use them too in place of loki just so im not always using him.
@@Vulcanfaux There's quite a few of them, but Loki might honestly be the best one; fantastic example for your point and very very well known so everyone actually gets the point.
edit: spose Nyarlathotep would be a good one too, but he's straight fiction and not anywhere near as popular. Fits the bill perfectly though.
For me it was history. The past makes no sense with the existence of an omnipotent being. Likewise, it's been my personal observation that theists tend to be ignorant of history.
It’s interesting to me that we saw the opposite things, for me history of not just earth but the universe seems to suggest to me that there is something, it’s all too similar and orderly to me for it to be completely random.
I don’t know what it is I even believe in, just that there is something, a force an entity, idk.
@@Valiguss Thank you for bringing this up. In my university days I came to much the same conclusion as you. The more science I learned, I was struck by the organization and patterns of the universe, and concluded that it's all too consistent to be merely an accident. However, when I mentioned this observation to one of my professors (chemistry, to be exact), she made a point that blew me out of the water: Our understanding of the universe and its workings naturally appear organized and to follow a consistent pattern, because that's how the human mind functions. We (humanity) created those definitions according to our best ability, and this requires organizing our knowledge and fitting it into a neat, consistent system. However, when you apply the math, the pure physics of the universe, it shows something quite different: the universe is chaos, in constant flux, where the smallest variables result in drastically different and unpredictable outcomes. It cannot be truly measured, only guessed based on our flawed ability to understand. She explained it much better than I do here.
The events of history are not constant, not necessarily factual, fallacious to appeal; history is a story.
Here lies a demonstrable constant of the human condition: The record has always been propagandized, by both benevolent rulers and tyrants alike. Nothing new under the sun.
@@ericspencer8093 well the thing is, in randomness the small chance still exists, no matter how small it is - it's possible.
Being curious about this topic, I'd like to ask you this following question I've been wondering of...
Is morality❎ & immorality✅ having to do more with facts & faiths?
Because I noticed that religion✝️☦🕉✡☯️☪️ and science⚛ that lean into taking the leap of faith🙏 (lead by assumptions & authority which is unverifiable) tend to led into blind conclusions in which they reject conflicting evidence
-which tragically happened to one of the local area where a group faith-healing christians✝️ in the pandemic rejected the scientist's advice from findings that covid-19 is deadly🦠 under their faith, hosting a ceremony where they got infected and many tragically died💀.
www.mmtimes.com/news/yangon-govt-sues-pastor-holding-sermons-infected-70-covid-19.html
*I added faith-based science as there is one ideology called Scientism that states where people literally accept science as faith & should not be questioned like Religonism.
kirkcenter.org/essays/scientism-is-not-science/
Whereas religion☸ & science🔬 that follow facts tend to accept both supporting✅ and conflicting❎ evidence, in which they learn via observation and reasoning to make it more verifiable👁.
Like the science in its scientific method and religon that is applicable to it like Buddhism. (See the Kalama Sutta - pin.it/27zKKD6, which tells the Buddha tells his followers to not follow Buddhism blindly unless it agrees with their reason & sense)
I think one's true morality lies in the facts there, since it makes one objective with truth which does not require belief.
I like to know your thoughts, as I'm quite curious and I'd like to know more.
I'm asking you this as I'm a university student who's writing an paper called "Should Religious🧙♀️🧙♂️ people be allowed to do Science👩🔬🧑🔬 in our education systems?" And I need your help if possible.
Not enough screaming and shouting and name calling. How am I supposed to believe you?
Do not believe.
*BELIEVE!!!!*
@@mollof7893 YOU CANNOT MAKE MEEEEE!
@@OctyabrAprelya I don't believe that.
-CFW. Magic- WHY?
This is some of the highest quality content on RUclips. I will be recommending this to others!
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it.
It's almost impossible to imagine a calmer, clearer way of explaining than you manage to accomplish. Thank you for making this.
I’ve decided that henceforth, when questioned or challenged about my religious beliefs, I’m going to tell people I’m a hardcore Christian, but am actively choosing to defy God, and go to Hell.
YES LADS!
Ahh, the Masochrist sect.... those crazy masochristians.
Satanism FTW
Tmw you say "fuck it" and go full-on edge lord.
Your videos may be few and far between, Theramin Trees, but always well worth the wait. This one was no exception.
My sentiments as well...
Brilliant. Sharing.
Not seen anything new from TheraminTrees in ages. Really enjoy his work. Thanks for the link AronRa
AronRa Thank you.
Aron, you are my hero
Good to see you here aronRa
Aron ra , you are great.
Music: excerpt from Chopin's Nocturne No.20, performed by TheraminTrees
Thats awesome
You like classical music too?
@@mrflip-flop3198 Lots of people like classical music, which explains why every major city in the world, as well as many of the minor ones, has a special building and a select group of people dedicated to its performance. Some cities even have two such places and groups - or even more.
Never doubt that many, many others share your enjoyment of classical music. It is not something to be ashamed of, but to be celebrated.
@@craigcorson3036 Can I just... Ask why would you think he was ashamed of it? Just... why would one be ashamed of liking melodies?
@@micaelgarcia1576 I don't know where you are from, but here in the USA, people who enjoy classical music are looked upon with a mixture of suspicion and derision. It used to be considered a good thing here to be cultured, and educated; now it is seen by many as ...I don't know, elitist? This country is not what it once was, and it hurts my heart to see what it has become.
@@craigcorson3036 yeah...people that like and most of the times play classical music are more often than not considered snobs, it's not only in the states either
I read the Bible as a kid that believed, not truly understanding it because I was still Christian and a child. As an adult I would make excuses for why I still believed, I felt like there had to be a god. But I always questioned, then instead of just reading the Bible I asked questions of it. It was hard I was scared, the fear that growing up Christian and believing in demons, devils, and hell is hard. It is like a weight has been lifted. Eternity is now just the throws of a dying brain, I’m ok with that.
Not only have your videos helped me run away from religion, they also helped me protect myself from them and their arguments. I have disseminated your videos in my language for the benefit of my Spanish speaking followers and consider you my friend from afar. Thank you again, what a wonderful video! as always.
JOLULIPA: Reason&Science Hey Jolulipa ;8) Always a pleasure to see your name appear, and glad the videos have helped in the way you describe - sharing ideas is what it's all about isn't it.
Thank you so much! My culture is Catholic dominated by genocide, coercion, etc and people today think that's a good thing because we "have god" now, or that it's forever ago just get over it. Spreading this logical thinking in Spanish is a good help
He helped me in the same way, too.
Thank you for the Spanish CC. I was also considering adding CC to other videos, but the YT app doesn't let me do it, I'll need a PC lol
I completely relate to his statement about exchristians and the bible. I had read the whole bible several times as a Christian, and always bought the excuses made for god, and the biblical contradictions. Finally, I paid attention to the direct textual contradictions, the ones that cannot be excused because they are mutually exclusive. From that point, it was like pulling a thread that unraveled the tapestry. Or, like dominoes. Once I became disillusioned with the bible, I slowly began realizing that none of my beliefs had any real foundation. Nothing to justify them as factual claims. It was painful for me to realize, but it was a nail in the coffin for me. For years before, I was slowly having more and more problems agreeing with various doctrines and political positions of my brand of Christianity. Many Christian teachings just clashed with my most fundamental moral sense. Once the bible came into question, it was over for me.
Tim Richardson I had a very similar experience.
There are many things which are generally held to be so, that once you question one of them, a number of related things all unravel like pulling the thread of a tapestry. Seldom do you have any support from others who see the generally held position, which "everyone knows" is true. It's argumentum ad popularum - appeal to popularity - which is a fallacy.
for me it was similar. my mother put me and my brother in catechism class, and as we studied the bible, the we started seeing contradictions. When we confronted the priest with that, he could never give us a straight answer. then he started getting a bit dismissive / passive aggressive about us. That class transformed from christian to atheist in one week. that was 20 years ago.
"From that point, it was like pulling a thread that unraveled the tapestry."
My metaphor is that one day I noticed a loose thread on my sweater and I started pulling on it. Before I even realized anything was happening the sweater was gone and there was a loose pile of yarn at my feet.
What is an example of a textual contradiction that caused you to put aside your faith?
I am colorblind. My mom did this with dark colored socks to show me they were not all black.
azsli2 you have monochromacy?
@@treymorris9392 fair to assume.
anyway, we're all have monochromacy in very low light levels, so it's easy to experience that.
I'm partially red/green colorblind. This wouldn't have worked on me. It's not that I see no color at all, I just can't appreciate something like half of them.
@@sandakureva Partially?
@@jared8515 certain shades are distinguishable. The objects just have to be far enough apart on the color spectrum.
I'm not sure how long ago it was that I first discovered your channel, and that of your brother(?) Qualiasoup. Long time ago. I always found them hugely comforting, and useful. I was born into Catholicism, did a stint in the Witnesses between 10 and 15, while simultaneously being sent to a Catholic boarding school that was more like a reform school. Smack in the middle of rural Ireland. I believe I was 14 when I wrote to the Cistercian monks to find out more about their lives, with a view to joining them. Although at the time I would have been silently praying at night to Jehovah.
I abandoned it all, slowly, without really noticing. Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and History all seemed better distractions, and had more to teach me. I was first called an atheist when I was 17, by my new religion teacher - I'd been expelled from the boarding school and was now happily ensconced in a Christian Brothers near my home village. The brothers were fine, unlike most of the sadists in the Carmelites who'd ruled me for the previous 3 and a half years. And now I was an atheist, according to the expert. He didn't appear to be annoyed, more disappointed. When I left two years later I realised that what he'd actually looked was resigned. He knew that he had two years of arguing ahead of him.
Now I find myself with a 15 year old son. He spent Xmas with the in-laws, I stayed home as his mother is in hospital and I go there each day. They worked on him to get baptised as a Lutheran, and he came back looking to me for a little guidance. And now I get to watch your videos with my boy most evenings as we eat dinner, with a lot of pausing for his questions. So, twice now your videos have helped bring peace and reason into my life. Thanks for that.
Thank you for sharing your story. I smiled as I read your sentence: 'I abandoned it all, slowly, without really noticing.' It's funny isn't it, how that can happen - how you can find yourself just slowly walking out the door without realising what you're doing. Sometimes of course we're spotted by others who can see where we're headed - and the door is slammed shut in our faces. For a time. I love the relationship you describe with your son. That ability for family to have those kinds of conversations - to be able to ask questions and receive honest answers instead of ideological script - is wonderfully precious. Peace to you both.
I abandoned religion gradually too I was about 8 when I started to question my parents about some of the bible’s more fishy stories (eg., how did Noah feed all the animals, etc.), and by the time I was 12 I knew I wasn’t a believer.
The stereogram of the floating baby was so cool and extra.
It's funny, my eyes go unbidden into stereogram mode whenever I see one.
U_
Very cool indeed. And heureka moment as well
Couldn’t see it Lol
I could see it, I just didn't recognize the shape...
Holy crap... I joined a cult in my youth because of the exact same thing as 18:24.
I had no explanation, and therefore attributed it to a "Getting zapped by God" experience.
It took two years for me to get over that "revelation" and leave "the family".
Thank you for putting it so succinctly.
Spot on.
I've been an atheist my whole life but that account genuinely terrified me. It's common for any kind of indoctrination to include attempts at emotional override that can take over anyone, no matter how supposedly smart or self-assured, but an example that had the desired effect within a few, stage managed moments is sobering. It's important to remember that nobody, not anyone, is immune to propaganda
You know what I love about this video? He speaks so neutrally about the subject matter, and gives the audience only a "Please ask questions, and don't stop asking them" vibe, if he didn't make any point to acknowledge he was an atheist, one could assume he *was infact* theistic. And I wouldn't know because they're valid points and questions either way.
It's not pointed whatsoever. It doesn't have an agenda. It just rebukes failures in logic and disarms attempts to remove one's own agency. Well done.
I never could truly believe. I have tried to "fit in" with the majority of my family and their friends in the past, but I was constantly pushed away and felt isolated by the very people who tried to get me to believe.
Ultimate hypocrisy...
There's no hate like Christian love. Very disgraceful.
You and others like you, were instrumental in helping me transition out of 21 years of fundamentalist religious delusion. What you do is both important, as well as impacting. Please, please, please, more like this, they are treasures.
Nikki Seven Solos Thanks - and salutations. Glad you made it out ;8)
I'll see you in hell,
@@kazsura9812 at least you get to keep your mind in hell
@@shaxjack4717 yea thats why I said I'll see you in hell implying I'm going to be there with.
I was raised a christian. So I felt pretty strongly the presence of God, his love and the grace of the holy spirit. I've marveled in awe at it's greatness, thankfull for everything he created and for the plan he had for us. I've had my prayers answered, and some of my wishes attended. That's the kind of thing they think is a direct experience of God, but it's just profound feelings, deep emotions and a good deal of coincidences and hypnosis. People from all religions have it, some people have it for political leaders and ideologies and cults. If devotion proved anything everything could be proved. You can find people deeply commited to all sources of things. Of course, when I talk about my past religions experience they will try to dissmiss it, to say my experience wasn't real or wasn't profound enough, most theists are quick to deny all profound experiences of other religions as ilusory and their own as true. We have people fasting, self-sacrificing, punishing themselves, dedicating hours of their lives to a cause, how dare we say their experiences aren't deep? Deep experiences says nothing about their sources. Hitler was probably very passionatly and certain about his ratial superiority. Being in love doesn't make the person you're in love perfect just because you're in love with them, and being in love with an idea doesn't make it more true or beneficial.
Hitler was also very passionate and concerned about his Christianity read his book it’s disgusting
This video reminds me of a conversation I had with a deeply religious relative when I was about 18 or 19 years old. I had already been an atheist for a number of years. At the close of our conversation my uncle said something that struck me as very odd, because I thought it was a very weak argument. In fact, it wasn't really an argument at all. And he wasn't trying to hammer his point home. I knew his beliefs were sincere and that he could have made a much more impassioned statement about his personal belief in god and why I should believe. I was expecting something like that. However, after watching this video, I now realize what he was doing, and I realize he was actually being much more clever than I originally thought.
First, he told me that he recognized that I was a very sincere person. I guess that was the buttering up part. Then he told me that he saw me as someone who is, "seeking the truth." (I bet a lot of fellow atheists have had that said to them.) I really had to fight back hard against making a disparaging snarky comeback, something that only a teenager would think was appropriate. I knew I wasn't seeking anyone else's idea of truth, so I just smiled instead. Then he said that "God, will open a door for you. All you have to do is look for the sign." Then he added that there was no way to know when that sign might appear. It might come with an unexpected delivery of good fortune, like getting a job or promotion I thought wasn't going to happen. It might appear when I was at my lowest point, when things were really going badly and the sign would show me a pathway to a better future and a pathway to god. This sign might also appear spontaneously in a single moment of inspiration seemingly unrelated to any immediate crisis. "Just look for it" he added at the end.
I was reading Lord of the Rings at the time, so I thought, "Well, if Gandalf suddenly appears in front of me casting spells and warning me about Orcs approaching, that would be a real sign in my book." I just thanked my uncle for our conversation and some personal advice he had given me about purchasing a car. He had once worked at a used-car lot and knew how to negotiate to avoid added fees and deal with the psychological traps salespeople play on potential customers. In that secular arena his advice was both practical and sound.
I never fully understood why my uncle wanted me to look for a sign. I knew that I had no intention of looking for non-existent signs of non-existent god. But, perhaps I intuitively realized that when you start looking at clouds long enough, you can start seeing anything you want to see in the them. Like a sign showing you the way to a deity. While that Christmas Day conversation has stuck with me over the years, I never really thought about very deeply. After hearing about Derren Brown's Fear and Faith project, my uncle's strategy is so much clearer to me now. Just look for signs in the randomness of your daily life and you are bound to see and fixate on things which you attach great significance to, even though they have no real significance at all. "Uncle, you learned more than just how to sell used-cars at jacked up prices to unwary customers. You learned how to make people see things that aren't really there. Clever, very clever indeed."
Lovely comment and story thank you for sharing your knowledge
What I find most fascinating is that the 'beautiful revelation' doesn't need to be theistic at all; I felt exactly as that stem cell researcher did when I first took the time to really acknowledge the vastness of the cosmos and how far we as a species have come due to scientific endeavor. It was the reason I was never convinced of religion; no matter which 'Holy Book' I read, what sermons I heard, none of it could match what I'd felt when first reading 'A Brief History of Time'.
"Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks." Pslam 137:9 (NIV). This was the first verse I'd read that made me question the motives and morals of the people of the Old Testament, and ultimately, the God of the whole Bible. I was a young teenager, 16 or so, when my questioning got me to read the entire Bible cover to cover, searching for context that would make it all make sense, that would restore the love and beauty I had grown up seeing in so many verses. After 8 years of trying to rationalize my beliefs and wallowing in self doubt, I was finally released from the shackles of my former religion. Theramin, your videos were a major part of rebuilding myself after that decision. Thank you.
Psalms were written by David, he wrote poems to god at the time of him being hunted. He felt rejected yet clung on to hope. This verse is not from god, it's from a man who felt betrayed.
@@eleos5 well it led him to question a God he didnt say God said it.. he said it made him question the people of the old testament
@@Austin-ub2giI didn't know that was his motives, that is interesting. Thank you for telling me that. I can see that you are having some difficulty understanding English. Please let me elaborate. I did not state that God made David write anything. If you review what I said, I specifically said that Psalms wasn't written by god.
@@eleos5 which has nothing to do with what he said because he said the people of the old testament.
@@Austin-ub2gi Oh. I just got what you said. I thought you meant that David was writing about them. We were having a conversation talking about two entirely separate people! Sorry for the misunderstanding. Yes, I explained that was why David had said those things, because if you look at it that way, you can see why he said such strange things and why it seemed like he had strange motives and morals. If you read on you can see that David was a pretty great guy (until Bathsheba).
I'm always ironically getting Islamic ads on your videos
LOL, I got one about how hitler secretly found out about this biblical super medicine that someone invented, but that person got out and kept the secret of how to heal any wound, make pain nonexistent, cure mental illness, and basically turn humanity into mini-gods, but that the US government had a patent on it, but they could show is if we just clicked.
@@ianlucas6635 Wow, that sounds great, but don't click there. Yikes!
I got one from a vague religious institute.
@@ianlucas6635 Do you live within the United States of America?
@@RokeJulianLockhart.s4eb2q I'm in the UK and I remember getting that advert. So it's probably just an ad targeting the western world.
Adding another positive comment to the bunch because, as previously mentioned thousands of times, this channel is great!
Who else is looking for angry Christian moms in the comments?
I think most Theists would be unable to comment due to the sheer amount of logic and facts he throws at you the whole video. I love his vids, but it's something I can't fully appreciate if I'm just watching it to pass time
@@gusgusin11 Although I am still Christian, he makes very thoughtful and engaging content. Most likely someone who is religious in terms of a religious Karen wouldn't respond because this video majority of the time won't be recommended to them because of the algorithm of which tries to show content that agrees with you.(because google™)
That or they hopefully know if they post something ludicrous they'd be lambasted.
Also if this video isn't recommended to a Karen, I doubt they'd search for this majority of the time because it wouldn't fit the narrative that atheist big bad oh noooo
@@gusgusin11 Bold of you to assume they would watch the whole video and not as soon as a little Atheist thing pops up they start having a Keyboard Meltdown
@@CrafterboeyMiner huzzah a christian in this comments section who isnt the reason the middle finger was made
Anthony How are you remaining a Christian, even with all these hard to beat points? I have been a worship leader in a church for 5 years, and I’m basically ready to skedaddle now. Lol
I hate it when color blindness is assumed to mean I see in grey scale. I suppose there might be an extremely rare form of it where that is true. However for the vast majority of color blind people including myself it is more like color challenged. My form is known as Red/Green color blindness (confusion). What happens is that if an single object is either green or red I see it as green or red but if a red object is somewhere in a group of green objects I will not be able to find it. Strange, right. The other thing is 'blended" colors like purple which I see a blue (the red gets lost) or a pale yellow-green which I will see a simply yellow. OK rant over. I will re-watch the video now setting aside the true definition of my type of vision.
Thats exactly how I am. But whenever I mention Im colorblind to friends they hold up stuff or point to something asking what color is it. It doesn’t quite work like that, not for me at least.
I wonder what would happen if a group of red-green colourblind people, for example, grow up together isolated from everyone else, but then one day they venture out into the outside world and discover that there are entire new colours that they or their ancenstors have never seen before.
Now what if there are colours that even non-colourblind people can't see, and one day we discover those colours albeit still unable to see them?
I think I'm thinking too much now lol, ever since I stumbled across theramintrees I've been thinking a lot.
@@larsswig912 The colors the human eye can perceive, relate directly to how the different conically-shaped light-sensitive cells react to various wavelengths of light and to how that light reaches these cells. If your cone cells behave differently or you have more/different kinds of cone cells, you experience different colors.
For example, the famous painter Monet had his cataract surgically removed, after which he suddenly painted with a lot more blue. The lens in human eyes filters out some UV light that the cone cells can detect. By changing the clouded lenses with artificial ones, this UV light was no longer filtered out of what he saw, making him see everything with a more blueish tint.
There's apparently also speculation about some women being tetrachromats, meaning they have four different cone cells, rather than three. This is because there are two similar genes on the X chromosome that each encode the pigment for a similar, but slightly different cone for green light. Women who have both versions should therefore be able to distinguish more colors than average in the green/red region.
Among animals, there's plenty of examples of animals being able to see further into the UV or IR range than humans can. Bees, to name just one, can see more of the UV range. You should look up pictures of flowers taken with UV-sensitive cameras.
The sad bit about this is that so far, you can't make people perceive more or new colors. You can only enhance the contrast of the image by filtering out some wavelengths to make it easier to tell the colors apart (that's what those color-correcting glasses for colorblind people do) or you can use false colors (used all the time in astrophysics, where images are often taken in the UV, X-ray or microwave part of the color spectrum and are then recolored using blue, green and red).
Lttlemoi
Mantis shrimp can see thousands of colours
You have protanopia! It’s the most common form of color blindness greens and reds are challenging and because of that it can affect other colors like purple bc they have red in it
My uncle is in fact colorblind and can only see in gray scale
i’ve been staring at that fuzzy image for 10 minutes and i still can’t see anything send help
This was one of the key videos that led to my deconversion.
Ah, hearing that Nocturne in the background was lovely :) I remembered learning it years back, but haven't played it since. I scrolled to the description to see if there was a link I could follow to the version, and, behold, the man himself had performed it! It's a lovely rendition.
Besides the gorgeous music, I appreciate all of your content. I've been out as an atheist to my family and friends since I was 15, and it had been difficult to articulate exactly why I didn't believe any of it (being 15, and all). Unfortunately, my parents thought that I must be going through a phase, and made it mandatory for me to attend church weekly, go to youth group weekly, sing with them in choir for events like Christmas, and lead prayers at dinner nightly until I was 18. I'm 21 now, and I'm finally about to move out of here and lead a life far, far away from this toxic way of life. Finding your channel over the last few days has been vindicating, seeing you debunk all of these myths and such. I feel well-armed now, if my parents decide to come after me again in yet another argument about my lack of faith. Thank you so very much :)
Thank you. This abridged version of the Chopin piece might make purists scowl, but it's the part that's always swept me away.
@@TheraminTrees Prayers for you.🙏
I was never a strong believer. I went to church on occasion, never really discussed god with my family. Then my dad put me though confirmation. At first I was excited. I thought I believed, tried to force myself to feel a divine connection. Begged for anything from above. But there was nothing. Death happened and life went on. Prayer changed nothing. Taking part in the rituals felt good because it was community, not because it was divine. Communion was just bread, thats all it ever was. Then we started reading and discussing the bible. That is when my faith fully slipped away. I threw away my cross and bible and the feeling was incredible, I was giddy. I felt free. I have never looked back. It was the confrontation that set me free.
Great video as usual! I saw the Derren Brown presentation you mentioned and was amazed by the power of Natalie's experience. I don't think it will make ALL believers question their own experience; it's too easy for them to say "that was faked" or "my experience was real even if hers wasn't". Dr. House said that if you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people, but I think and hope that the truth is somewhere in the middle, and that steady prodding with strong and clearly expressed arguments like this video will keep the tide turning.
KrisBlueNZ Ironically, in the discussions I've had about Derren Brown's F&F since it was broadcast, the question of whether the conversion experience was genuine has led to some of the most productive exchanges - because it really lifts the lid on the whole subject of bias. It's a springboard - not a dead end. Like you, I don't subscribe to the 'can't reason with religious people' generalisation. As a former religious person myself, there was nothing wrong with my reasoning skills - it was just that I was actively discouraged from using them on religion.
I was literally just talking with the pastor @ the church I lead music at about this. Is telling someone a comforting lie really worth the life time of disillusionment. I’ve been thinking through a lot of this faith stuff. I’m glad I found your videos. You have brought to light a lot of stuff I thought about, but I never went much further because I believed I was doing good. Being raised by single mother really made me susceptible to manipulation. The world is a cold place, but I would rather know the cold hard truth than a comforting lie.
ty*
Thanks.
I just resigned from my worship leader position. It’s difficult. All my friends are Christian.
I just care about what is true. I need consistency.
Also, It’s hard to know where to go in life, but I guess it has really always been me making the decisions.
It’s so odd to not consider god when taking steps in life.
I find myself still wanting to use the same “system” but with less of the superstition.
I don’t want to trade one god for another.
@@benbenben123ben been deconstructing my Christian indoctrination over the past year. God is within. My faith in God is more so now my faith in the sufficient grace of how He designed me and my design potential. I will never ever truly trust anything or any organized religion outside of myself.
For I Think, Perceive, Am Conscious, Therfore I AM. (The only thing one can truly ultimately trust, if God's not found there then he's not there...)
I believe in some sort of global fundamental consciousness and I am "of" and "as" that consciousness through NO Intermediaries. I AM Made In His Image
That is all that is somewhat intuitively true. Nothing else should be trustworthy.
You have everything thing you need within you. You are NOT Broken. You Are simply Finite of which Imperfections of perception intention and self orientation are natural results. We simply need more understanding to further Evolve which is clearly largely the meaning of life. If one believes they are desperate and in need, then they will be. That was the biggest psychological damage done to me by religion ironically. The cognitive dissonance and God not resolving it directly no matter how desperate I was, was the last straw.
@Theodor Willis
Ok. Just because stupid choices lead to bad outcomes doesn’t mean there is a god.
Also, correlation does not equal causation.
Also, which god are you trying to defend?
How are you going to prove that the real god is your god?
@Theodor Willis
Sorry, but your personal experience isn’t evidence.
People have hallucinated crazier things.
Look dude, I was a worship leader in a couple different churches for 8 years. I saw all the interworkings of how churches operate.
I’ve heard all the bull you’re telling me, and I’ve said to others myself.
The fact is that faith is flimsy. It’s a poor cover from the perpetual downpour of real life and facts.
I grew up in a desert, so I grew a fondness with rainbows since they appeared after it rained, which was a very rare occurrence. Now I live somewhere with a lot of rain, so rainbows aren't that spectacular anymore.
This is unbelievably clear & minblowingly insightful. Many thanks!
Glad you enjoyed, Yousif.
But he got colourblindness wrong. Many colourblind people have dichromatic, not monochromatic, vision.
@@TheRojo387isn’t monochromatic vision a valid type of colourblindness though?
They can see things, but not colour.
I wouldn’t say that’s wrong, just not 100% representative.
If anything, the dichromatic colourblindness would either complicate or expand the metaphor.
But if monochromatic vision actually doesn’t exist, then I will take back my comment.
Everything you create leaves me awe inspired. Thank you for taking the time to bring us such incredible work!
This video insults me! How dare you say such things about me!
I'm colorblind!
But can you see color?
Same
@@usefulbobcat if he believes harder he can
lmao you dont try hard enought to see it, i expected better of you!
Do you believe people who claim to see different colors where you only see one and the same color?
" I didn't find rainbows beautiful at all"
Hello I am here to file a slander suit against you on behalf of my client, one mister "The Frog". What you have said is damaging to his music sales and must be taken down.
Dr steel 🤝
As a committed arainbowist, I contest this. However I have to admit Mr. frog is kinda cute.
It's my understanding that your client uses rainbows as a connecting device, and that their appearance in no way affects that functionality. Therefore, the defendant's stated opinion should not adversely degrade the efficacy of said rainbows in fulfilling their purpose to him. Your case has no merit.
Again, you describe so well my own deconversion experience. Trying to hang on to faith, I read the Bible more. Also, I watched people. The ones we were supposed to watch out for, the bad ones--the atheists, Unitarians, philosophers--the freethinkers evidenced much more of the virtues the Christians claimed were theirs. Christians did not show a higher spiritual or moral high ground, rather the reverse.
Diane Gillespie
Yes, that can come as a shock...we don't eat babies. Did you also experience those arguing for their religion were projecting their own fears on to you?
I remember watching that video you were mentioning at the end of your video. It was at a time during my transition from religion, and it was a bit unsettling seeing how these things worked in me at one point. All of your videos are always so well put-together. It's always a treat seeing them pop up in my feed.
Finally someone told me how to look at a stereogram. I always thought they were a scam because nobody seemed to be able to explain what they've done in order to see the image. All I got was "if you look at it for long enough, you'll see it" which to me was essentially saying that my mind will generate images from chaos as a means to brighten up the boredom of staring at a picture of TV noise for a long period of time.
Nice video, but the pixies in my garden didn't appreciate it when I told them they weren't needed to open the flowers :/
Thank you so much for spending your valuable time to prepare this amazing presentation! I appreciate your time!
Bender Bending Rodriguez Thanks - glad you enjoyed it.
How'd I miss this? I didn't even know you still made videos. Another work of genius.
I asked once what my Christian friend (who subscribed to the "everybody knows my god, some just hate him" thing) thought of people who had never heard of their god and show no recognition when they are first told. My friend took a long time to answer, and it was very circular.
@Theodor Willis you mean 2 right? A mom and dad?
@Theodor Willis I don't know, there's more proof that I was created from a pair doing the sideway monster mash than an omnipotent being creating me for the sole purpose of being discarded to Hell for not believing it exists.
My doctor told me I was colourblind. It really came out of the 🍊.
lmao
I've been off RUclips for a very long time and I was a follower of yours years ago. Great to come back to the community and see you're still producing fantastic content.
Please kindly remember, even the fluffy "Good Samaritan" story cannot be attributed to Christian Values, as the SAMARITAN was not a CHRISTIAN!
That was a story told by Christ to explain how we should act. There was no Samaritan who did those things. No human has a monopoly on charity and care for another since we believe these are baked into the human heart. Jesus was criticizing the Pharisees here for their lack of that same charity.
I think you slightly missed the point of a parable...
that's actually the point of the story. Sumerians where the ancient enemy of the Jews and anyone at the time would have known that. It's about how kindness isn't about tribalism but the story has since been twisted around. It's like if a Natzi saved a Jews life out of kindness one time during ww2 and three thousand years later "Natzi" just became a short hand for "good person".
This channel is great, i wish more of this was common knowledge. Some of the best philosophy/phycology content I've seen on youtube! It gives me great things to think about, and helps with some of my own ideas, and thoughts on matters.
I am religious, but I try to see all the sides of view. Thank you for these videos.
@Adrian EUxADY Well, I feel like they're biased, but with my view along with the view he presents, I can see the whole argument.
Me too.
what's this? A theist that's actually reasonable? No way!
You are being very reasonable and civil about this and for that I thank you to the bottom of my heart. Always be a good person and keep doing what you’re doing, Brennan.
@@brennanpike2951 Why do you feel as if they are biased, when he seems to present all his opinions and arguments from objective realities which he has derived from logic and evidence?
The thunder analogy is one ive used often. That people thought a god had to create thunder and lightening. But through experimentation it's been discovered that water can and does build up a static charge (Kelvin Water Dropper) and that charge can be quite powerful from even a relatively small amount of water. If you believe it takes a god to create lightening then you can become a god via a KWD. But even now people attribute processes they dont understand to the supernatural, no matter how illogical or un-instantiated their belief is.
Thats the problem, a religious person will look at something they dont understand and say its because of god, a scientist will do experiments and try to fimd out how it works
@@Helperbot-2000 and most of the religious person cannot take any challanges thrown to their statement / believe,
While us, the curious people, would always love our statement to be analyzed and challanged.
Ps: I hope I didn't mispell "challange"
This is remarkable work. It hits right at home and as much as it is beautiful it is also uncomfortable, even to me as an atheist. You have my utmost respect, TheraminTrees. Thank you.
I must say, Mr. Trees, this was a hard-hitting video covering a wide variety of topics. As always, great content with a meaningful impact.
The thing that annoys me most about Christians is when they use a quote from the Bible during an argument.
“Actually, Billy Bob 69 : 420 said, “do not waste your time on sandwiches, as burgers are the American way”
Like wtf?
Fr
would be wacky if people cited gameplay elements in doom and doom wads like that
"as demonstrated in shrieking teeth e2m5, your windows aren't wide enough, and are thus heretic works of the wicked world"
@@ConsarnitTokkori yeah!! i'll starting doing that
The view count on this doesn't reflect how well this was written and put together. Thank you for the time you put into it
I hope this video is a sign that you're back to making videos on a regular basis again. I'm not sure why you stopped but I always loved your videos, your video on the no true Scotsman fallacy helped me win a quiz on identifying logical fallacies in my college critical thinking class five years ago because we hadn't been taught that one yet.
For some reason that memory and your videos have always stuck with me, I think it's because this channel was my first glimpse at critical thinking in action, sure I'd been doing it in college out of interest but you showed me the importance and application of it in real world discussion.
Anyway, this is a very long way of saying that I hope you're back to stay.
Obsidiax 'I hope this video is a sign that you're back to making videos on a regular basis again.'
-I do have an ongoing personal commitment to make these videos - when I'm away for any time, it's just a sign that other demands in life are peculiarly pressing. Believe me, I could quite happily make videos full time - I'm constantly several videos behind where I'd like to be.
'your video on the no true Scotsman fallacy helped me win a quiz on identifying logical fallacies in my college critical thinking class five years ago because we hadn't been taught that one yet.'
-Brilliant! That made me chuckle.
When I was a Christian, I remember asking a question in a cell group: Could Yahweh command man to sin?
The answer given was of course no. Then I brought up one example:
God commanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Which if Abraham truly did, then he would have committed the sin of murder. And if he didn't, he still committed it, as such were the standards that Jesus had imposed.
It didn't change whether the act was performed. Abraham had intended it, thus sin was in his heart.
I remember many deflections. Saying that that event was meant to mirror Jesus as the son dying. But they never answered the question as to whether or not God had commanded it.
I remembered being said to be "bordering on heresy" for my questions. It really solidified to me how much the Christian response is a deflection to questions.
And I didn't even bring up Hosea, whom God commanded to marry a harlot, thus committing the sin of adultery. Even had a few children with her.
I also love how you pointed out the hypocrisy with the Good Samaritan. How did I not see that before?
Your voice is so soothing man.
You and Darkmatter remain my best atheistic mentors in leaving religion.
Thanks sir, you rock!
You out did yourself on this one. Clear, concise and well ordered. I can't say enough about your willingness to put essays together for the public so that you can inject reason into society. I think your sereies should also come in different languages. Do you use patrion? I'm willing to donate for all of your hard work.
truvelocity Cheers truvelocity ;8) A few folks've mentioned patreon to me recently - so looking into it. Certainly be up for making a lot more videos if there was enough support for me to devote the necessary time.
TheraminTrees I would support also. I think if we can get you a shout-out on one of the bigger channels, it could definitely be viable.
Edit: scratch that, I see you already have a pretty healthy number of subscribers
mistert800 Thanks - that would be much appreciated.
Something I find incredibly interesting is how trying to convince someone of things like benefits of exercise/self-improvement is incredibly similar to preachers attempting to convince someone of their religion.
If someone says "I haven't seen any changes in the gym," all you can really say in response is "you haven't done it long enough, these things take a lot of time" or "you are slacking off too much, and need to try harder". Even with the actual proof of self improvement working, it can still be dismissed with assertions like "It may have just worked for them (they were somehow special)" or false assumptions about "bad genetics" or just being "un-talented".
I used to try to convince my siblings to start self improvement, and this would often result in heated arguments and debates over the necessity of the practice. Arguments like "I am fine now, why would I care about those benefits?" and "I don't care about those things" often popped up. All I could really say in reply was "you might think you are fine now, but the reality is that you could be so much better and happier if you did these things". This was based on my own previous situation. I did everything as they did, thinking I was fine the way I was, and just as many do I would in and out of depressive cycles. I started self improvement, and eventually all of that changed. Looking back on it, I sounded just like a fanatic preacher trying to save them, and the weirdest part is that self improvement is factually based, and I have been experiencing the benefits for myself since.
the practice has evidence, it has reasoning, I can explain why the benefits occur and why they don't, and yet it simultaneously has the problem of being something that truly requires "faith" in order to achieve. The faith that, while you don't see many changes in the gym, or while you aren't feeling that much more confident talking with people, those skills will eventually become better if you keep doing it. This faith is incredibly hard to keep up though, since you wouldn't know it was true until you either saw someone else go through the entire process (and even then you can still just assume that they were different than you are), or did the whole thing yourself, blindly lifting those weights and eating a lot with the assumption that eventually you will become bigger, more confident, and happier.
It sounds like some sort of fakery. Like some sort of thing that you are told, just so you start self improvement, only to find out after a week (which is not enough time to see results in most areas) that you feel and look the same. This is around the time when most people give up, or quit their new years resolutions, or retire from whatever else they are trying to achieve. It is a factual practice, and yet it sounds like some sort of religious voodoo.
I eventually gave up trying to convince them. They did believe what I was doing was "A good thing to do," but they didn't believe that it would benefit them in particular, and just thought that I was somehow "born different, and tailored to benefit from it". If one of them said "I don't care about having big muscles," I would counter with "Its not just about muscles, its about being proud of the way you look, feeling good every time you look down and see what you have built, feeling more confident with the knowledge that you look and are strong, about feeling fresh and energized throughout the day,"
If they said "I don't care about being good at talking to people," I would counter with "Its not just that, its being able to lift others up when they are down, or make new friends more easily, or get rid of the overwhelming fear of social embarrassment,"
but it was no use. Those things were all feelings, and they had never experienced any of it. What I was describing might as well have been a fantasy world. They just couldn't see the value of putting all that work into something like that. I knew it would benefit them, this was a certainty, and yet it was impossible to show them in an efficient manner why. Maybe if it wasn't coming from someone related to them they would understand, I don't know. I am now a lot better at offering advice, and knowing WHEN to offer that advice, but it still saddens me to think that if I ever had to convince someone of something big, it would likely just sound like a lie. These videos are great, and they really make me think about stuff like this. Thanks a ton.
wow
You’ve put into words what years of my life have felt like, yes as the preacher side of things.
I think one thing self-improvement has that strongly parallels religion is the ‘doctrine of fulfillment’.
Self-improvement assumes you value the things it is selling you. It’s basically like advertisement, where they say ‘you want this’ and then you want it.
Except, human beings are individuals at heart. Due to a wide variety of experiences, genetics, environments, family, friends, cultures and even down to our very emotions, we’re all too different to be wired for the exact same things. It’s a wonder any desires have been identified at all.
But the fact that desires have been broadly identified has led such discovery being abused as ‘the answer’, which basically extrapolates more information than is actually available.
In simpler terms, ‘some humans have been found to like X, therefore all humans should like X’ is the philosophy of self-help gurus, and with that philosophy, they sell X (where X is a letter representing whatever you want it to be) to people, but go further saying ‘X will solve all your worries and set you on the future path to greatness’.
They abuse desire to sell their product.
Not all marketers are like this. Some are honest and consumers have just been previously brainwashed.
Others are just innocent of the bad they might be doing with their marketing.
But self-improvement as a whole is a double edged sword that, in the pursuit of simplifying life as a means to make it easier, risks narrowing people to the possibilities that could actually save them.
@@Mysteriousmachine1 I didn't think anybody had seen or cared about this comment, and had honestly forgotten about it, so thank you.
I have learned far more since then, and I can safely say that there have been situations where I have been able to influence people in a positive direction, but that was only through my own actions and my own progress. They saw the example I had set, the things I had achieved, and then they wanted to take a shot at it. I had to be a living breathing example before there was belief.
Most of the things I am talking about as far as self improvement is concerned are universal things that would benefit all people (or at least most). Things like exercise, diet, socialization, mastery of skills/ hobbies, having goals and defining what you actually want to have, etc. The messed up part is that, like you said, some people might not value those things. I feel like they would find that value if they tried, but you cant progress very far without believing in the practice, without having faith, so it just loops back in on itself.
Its a real shame that so many of these gurus just try to make a quick buck instead of promoting ideas that would actually work for the majority.
This man makes quality analogies
why are your videos so artistically consistent? the cgi elements, the music, the tone. you dont miss a shot my friend, im pretty hooked. will binge watch every video now :D
As a theist, I found this so good I gave it a thumbs up. Well done!
What an amazing video! I've just recently discovered your channel and I'm so glad I did. The narration and music is wonderful but most importantly the subject matter is superb and well done.
Moving on to the next video……
"You secretly believe in Yahweh. You're just angry with him."
Yeah, this narcissistic nonsense makes me angry.
Loved that you put your own image in that hidden picture thing! 7:03
9:40 that verse actually catalyzed my exit from christianity, because everyone i knew was using it to justify/defend hell.
I know it's not contributing to the actual topic, but as a colorblind person, I get these reactions:
- You've just never properly learnt recognizing the colors, you should practice them.
- You're fooling us.
- What color is this? ... that? ... and that? (pointing at several objects in the room)
- How did you get a drivers license? How do you manage traffic lights?
- Oh, now I understand why your clothes don't match.
Imagine getting that as a reaction to your atheism
This Channel makes RUclips Worthwhile
You have the smoothest voice I've ever heard. It's so easy to listen to.
Thank you for introducing me to Derren Brown. His work sounds fascinating, I'd love to look into it more.
Your content saves millions of lives,provides survivors with tools to help others escape or survive,we the people thank u💙💚💛💜💜❤💖
I always come back to this video because its brought up so much. Thank you for this!
I cant believe you made a stereogram of the TheraminTrees baby. My mind is blown rn. Before this video, i had no idea what a stereogram was. When you first mentioned it, I paused the video and spent like 15 minutes trying to see something, but couldnt. I then went on a 3 hour RUclips rabbit hole to learn how to see them (took 2 hours before i saw my first one, and the next hour was trying consecutively harder ones). The attention to detail on this channel is incredible. Thank you for this hidden easter egg, it was well worth the journey to get here. Im gonna finish the rest of this video now; i feel ive earned it.
Simply stunning video. Subscribed!
*****, it's all gold ... If you just subscribed today, you'll need to set aside some time to watch all of the Theremin Trees videos, plus all of the videos by Qualia Soup.
If you need you burn up some of your vacation days from work, well... then so be it!
***** I agree, i got into qualiasoups videos first, but they are perfectly equal in brilliance.
They change the game. I've watched their stuff so many times, and I still gain value from each watch.
***** that's racist.
***** they are brothers
I was trapped in the haven't-tried-hard-enough cycle my entire life. I tried so hard and it cost me my health and half my life's years, assuming, I live to an average age.
Same. God saved me ...the irony.
The shell comparison makes me think on the conversations I've had with my mom, with her falling back on (after all her regurgitated apologetics were easily proven wrong) her vague experience of being "pushed" towards being confirmed in church. I recounted how _I_ had also been pushed.
-towards that same confirmation, despite saying it out loud making me realize I had never actually read the majority of the bible for myself.
-towards drinking alcohol at the mass communion, leading me to puking my guts out in the bathroom afterwards, even though I knew I was weak to the stuff and shouldn't do it. I felt the "push" as thousands stared at me.
-straight out the door of church when I had finally read the bible and seen the irrational nonsense and indefensible evil in it. The strongest push of the 3.
She went back and forth, trying to ascribe them to either God or Satan, both or neither, whatever she could do to rationalize away the fact that my "feelings of being pushed" were no more evidence of the supernatural than hers.
MegaChickenfish
You may indeed be more intelligent and/or rational than your mom. So?
this video is incredible. i absolutely love the animation work. please keep it up!!!
All one must do to refute a theist that is advancing the "colorblind" theory of atheism is remind said theist that by advancing such a theory, they are in fact either _denying_ a core principle of their _own_ faith, or _affirming_ a belief that violates a core principle of their _own_ faith.
For example:
A Muslim advancing this theory is _denying_ that everyone has the inherent ability to acknowledge and accept that Allah is God _and_ that Muhammad is his prophet.
A Jew who is advancing this theory is _affirming_ that it is not possible (at least for some people) to recognize, follow, and obey God's law.
A Christian that is advancing this theory is _denying_ that everyone has the inherent ability to realize and accept Jesus as their savior, and thus _affirming_ that salvation is _inaccessible_ to everyone.
It's a bit more difficult when addressing this theory when the theory is advanced by a believer of a non-monotheistic religion. For example, Buddhism will readily admit that not all people are capable of reaching nirvana - at least not in their present life or manifestation/incarnation.
Regarding possible objections at 6:01 - all of these can be inverted and asked rhetorically back to the speaker (i.e., "you're trying to hard", "First you have to _disbelieve_ then you'll see", "Secretly you _do not_ believe, you're just angry with it", etc.)
Luke Skywalker hoaxed footage.
***** Actually, St. Augustine does state that salvation is inaccessible to most people, the sole exceptions being the so-called chosen ones. And Jews do believe they are the chosen people.
Daniel Sampaio
who cares what St. Augustine thought? As irrelevant to the subject at hand as either your or my opinion on the subject.
I disagree. St. Augustine is universally regarded as one of the greatest and most influential Christian thinkers, and one of the Great Doctors of the Church, the other being St. Thomas of Aquinas. We, on the other hand (well, I do not know who you truly are, but me at least) are not very influential (at least not at that level). If one of us says something it does not carry much weight, not very many people will listen to it. On the other hand, if St. Augustine says something, a lot of people will hear it and many will actually take his words as a guide for their actions and beliefs. In fact, St. Augustine's philosophy set the Church Doctrine for centuries on many topics, including the one at hand. So that's my point. It is in no contradiction to Catholic Doctrine to state that not everyone can be saved; quite on the contrary, St. Augustine would say that those who will be saved are already determined to be saved, from birth - they are the chosen ones. And if you are not a chosen one - says him - sorry, no matter what you do, you are not going to get into Heaven. However, he also said we do not know who are the chosen ones and who aren't, so leaving room for everyone to at least hope that they are among the chosen and so act accordingly, also precluding (at least in principle) hasty judgements, and, incidentally, also allowing for the "it's not up to me" response or similar ones.
In essence, I believe that St. Augustine's thought, whether you agree with it or not, or think it made a positive contribution or not, is still relevant, as he was a pivotal figure in the shaping of Western Thought.
Daniel Sampaio
what part of the bible did St. Augustine author? Oh right....
That baby-eating picture just got funnier and funnier the more it was on-screen. Oh, no! Help!
I am colourblind and the biggest mistake others make is to assume they already have an understanding of how I might see colour.
Most are surprised to find out that my colour perception is only hindered by a fraction and something like a rainbow is not an alien concept.
Thought this personal phenomenon seemed relevant and ironic given the content of this video.
Superb piece. Am loving this channel and the well tought out, balanced and precice methods of presentation. Great work!
I liked your video, and it would have been my favorite video on religion, if it had not been for the Derren brown part, I took the time out to watch both the first and second part of the show Fear and Faith, after you recommended the second part, and I could pretty much predict what was going to happen in the show, but I kept holding out in the hope that I was incorrect, which I was not, sadly. The whole show is a setup for religious people all leading up to the "religious convertion" of and atheist, which I 100% believe to be staged, not at all genuine. I understand that he is trying to show religious people that they were manipulated into their religious believe, but I do not believe in fighting bullshit, with bullshit, and I find Derren brown disgusting.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I also watched both parts of Fear & Faith following this video. I have no patience for "reality TV" writing and editing as it is, but I was particularly disturbed by the practices in the first half.
Thank you for this video. I am still struggling with this fear of God punishing me in some ways. It is horrible, and I am really fighting in my mind to completely let go and allow myself to be an atheist. It sounds insane :-/ I have been very Christian when I was a child (well, I was in a highly Christian environment at school and youth clubs, so...) and as a teenager I thought I had to convert my family so we could all be together in heaven. In my twenties thiiings started to fall apart buuut I was still a theist in some way. And now I am an atheist but with this nasty fear of God punishing me for not believing or for saying “blasphemous” things still lingering. Videos like these help, especially the pixie thing. :)
Best damn channel on RUclips!
I couldn't agree more. Not only are the videos so well made, but the guy is simply brilliant. The scope, depth, authoritative grasp of the logic. It's so stimulating.
Could not have said it better
Ooh, I just heard Chopin nocturn at the 1st few seconds of the video, A man of culture I see. U got my sub.