Update: "Mark" came clean in comments, pronouncing that he's an atheist who is deliberately prank calling. He repeatedly states that he will only stop if we devote 75% of the show to theist callers. He is now banned from this blog for all the previous posts in which he's lied.
I think mark is like George from Dunmore, they think they have unbeatable arguments until there arguments are beat then they begin to have a type of mental breakdown as displayed in there calls.
Excellent show. I am a bit baffled that the people that flew planes into the WTC were not mentioned, nor was anything mentioned regarding that event. It gives me hope, for lack of a better word, that life will go on. I had a 280 character summary of my favorite highlights from the show but after looking over it, it looked like a spoiler for each of the callers, what I enjoyed about them and Jen and Matt's responses. I really, really enjoyed this show tonight. Thank you, to everyone involved.
~ TAE videos actually inspired me to visit Austin(I do not live in Texas), and I was not at all disappointed - great metro area! Thank you, Matt & Jen, for crushing ignorance and nonsense aways. Cheers, DAVEDJ ~
Hey Mark. Where ya been, bud? We've been looking all over for ya. Sent out a search party and everything. But they all got kinda drunk. Sorry, Mark. Anyhow, it's good to have ya back, Mark. Alrighty, I'm gonna Mark this search solved. Don't disapear like that again, bud. Ya had us worried.
The first caller left out the fact that crucifixion wasn't reserved just for Jesus. It was a fairly common method of torture and execution in olden times.
@TempleOfInanna2 Einstein didn't believe in God. He actually got super pissed when people didn't get that his famous quotes mentionning God or miracles were just metaphorical, such as "God doesn't play dice", which really meant "A physical phenomenom cannot be guided by randomness". It is basically a poetic license to hit right on the point he's trying to make with an elegant formula.
RE: Sean in the Bronx’s comments (at around the 53:15 mark) about repentance after death being unacceptable. That the Christian god doesn't allow repentance after death is a feature of the religion that underscores the notion that Christianity is a man-made construct created by folks who were desperate to control human behavior in *this* life.
mzenji This demonstrates the absurdity of hell. It is punishment for the sake of punishment. It has no recouperative effects. If any of the hell business were true, it would only demonstrate how vindictive and evil such a deity would be. For me, all of this means one thing...as Noirepiphone has said, it's all manmade.
It's obvious Mark is trolling but in what way? He seems generally sincere in his questions/statements. Is he trying to throw softballs to TAE or is he trying to stump them and failing? He seems too well informed to be just fucking around...
I love the ridiculousness of the "prophecy" thing. Considering that the Old Testament is already not historically accurate or a valid source for information from a historian standpoint, and the same is true for the NT, what would make it seem so miraculous that in a book, something happens in a later chapter that was supposedly forshadowed in an earlier chapter, with no outside evidence to support either claim and a huge group who reject that their "prophecy" (which isn't accurate enough to be one) was fulfilled. Here is an example of a genuine prophecy; "In the year of 2030 the people will unite and join forces with Sealand to create a new empire under its flag." It's specific, nobody is working towards it at the time of making the prophecy, and it cannot occur under many circumstances. (in fact, it's nearly impossible). This is not a prophecy: "In many years time a man will come and do good things to people, be called a leader attempt to subvert his government and be punished for this" It's too vague, can be achieved a million ways by many different people, and chances are someone is already working towards it.
The Bible *does* say that the earth is 6000 years old. It gives the genealogy from Adam to Jesus, around 4000 years, and it says that Adam was born the same week as the universe. If you say that none of this is literal, you have to wonder why the Bible was so specific in giving the ages of 900 year old people.
If god is real and he wants all of his beloved children to spend eternity in heaven why doesn't he give each person a preview of heaven and hell and leave each person with an artifact to prove the experience was not just an imaginary thing so they can use this as real evidence and base their decision on that real proof. In fact we are expected to take all th on faith and faith is not the pathway to the truth but merely gullibility.
+JOHN MENUIS If god is real and he wants all of he beloved children to spend eternity in Heaven, why did he create Hell in the first place? The idea that an eternal, omnipotent, omniscient being is so pathetically needy that it requires its children to kiss its ass, or else it will have them abused forever, is just so bizarre. How can anyone think that makes sense??
Quick Thought: If "being alive" and awareness are some proof for a soul. Then its fair to say that other animals (being alive and aware) should also have some sort of soul and are in need of a savior for THEIR sins...?
you can not, of the 5000 greek text there not 2 that are identical . therefor the greek tekst are wothless they are copies of copies of copies. if you can read more than the english langauge you will quckly find that the bibel differes in depending of langauge.
no one doubts the authenticity of the 5000 + Greek manuscripts - but they are copys of copys of copys - well knowen mistake that is widely ignored is that the greek mistranslate the word for virgin from the Hebrew and Aramaic scrips - the orginal word means young girl not virgin - so the "virgin" Mary is just the "young girl" Mary , so if they would make that mistake , how reliable is the translation ? and there are still no orginal authors to any of the greek scripts ...
Hearing Geoge's "proof" reminds me of the Left Behind series. Basically how fiction can be based on knowing writings and making them fit as prophesy. IE making the left behind series based on Revelation.
@Beth Did you seriosly just use the "its just a theory" argument? You also believe non-life(dirt) produced life (man), but it was magic. "...the wild speculation of evolution" + "Human being are extremely gullible" = major irony
@srtounez Too late yo, he already is. Click the first link in the description, Mark has always been an atheist calling in because he felt they weren't getting enough theist callers. They talked with him on their website and he's been banned from the site and the program for lying to them.
He heh. I was just thinking that Matt with one half of his brain "handcuffed" behind his back and still winning the debate would be a pretty good t-shirt.
@MutR lol dude, I typed that before his bit was done, and once I heard I started laughing! I recognized the voice right away!! That was so funny on my side xD
I agree with you, the truth shall set me free. I know that all the gods we name and define are fictitious. I am free. I am moral and for every moral act I do it makes me more moral then any Christian for one simple reason, I am Kind and generous because I know it is the right thing to do, not because of any hope for a reward, or fear of eternal damnation, but simply because I want to.
First, yes it does, not exactly 6000 perhaps, but the genealogy does not allow for billions of years of Earth History. Also, it is Billions of years, not millions. About 4 billions years is the best estimate for the age of the Earth. And the universe is roughly 14 billion years old. Just throwing that out there.
RE: The alleged "prophecy" in Psalms 22 ... The Bible doesn't mention bulls and dogs up on Golgotha, does it? Beyond that, the psalm states "... the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations." This doesn't appear to square with Jesus' declaration (in John 18:36) that his kingdom was "not of this world."
I skipped the parts where it lists all the names and who begets who, but other than that it can be quite interesting considering the fact how much of an impact the book has on people and life.
We do know that the stars and the planets were not formed immediately after the Big Bang; there was a large period of time between it and the birth of the first stars. We can tell by seeing the light from these stars and how much closer it is than the radiation from the Big Bang. We've pretty much figured out how the planets formed, actually, and we're still seeing it happen all the time. Not sure where you heard we weren't. What exactly do you mean by 'as the Higgs-Boson suggests?'
Theistic reasoning...there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the world....but there's only one star with life on it, just so that the Hebrew war god could pull off a plan to rescue a minority of earth humans from the consequences of his own hatred.
Hey, do you guys think Mark from Austin is a Poe? I remember a couple of months ago, Matt D. had him nearly renouncing religious dogmatism on the air and now he keeps calling back with different names/voices.
@beetlebomb1 not more, less. They missed 3 weeks in a row. They just added them now. Go to blip TV if you want them the day they are on TV. Its in the video description.
Keep in mind that any atheist condemnation of a god is necessarily hypothetical and is only done for the sake of argument within the bounds of a particular theology. To condemn characters and/or actions within the Bible is perfectly legitimate because to the best of our knowledge, it is simply a book, and its contents are open to all manner of criticism. Criticism of this kind is criticsm of religion, not of the god(s) that any particular religion supports.
Ronald is a wonderful caller. It's like he's just woken up out of the Matrix. RONALD: I'm aware! Like, I have awareness. There's a thing in my head that's aware! JEN: Yeah, it's your brain. RONALD: But why am I aware? MATT: Because you have sensory organs.
@MrApostleLee I just heard about a South American company that makes bullet proof clothing. One of their best selling lines of clothing is priest vestments.
@ArchhereticK You should look up the Trolley Problem on wikipedia- studies done on that (and similar) problem(s) suggest that, in general, people may disagree with you depending on the circumstances. :)
As a militant atheist Jainism is a branch of Buddhism that I fully encourage people to join and become extremists in... The more extremist a Jainist gets, the less of a danger they are to anyone.
Prophetic language is somewhat stylized, and it may seem vague unless you are aware of the preceding histories. The sign of the last days have been happening for years. I suggest a video or website on the last days or the end times if you would like to know more. You could read Ekz. 38, but without knowing which countries are now the modern ones, it wouldn't mean much.
You guys should pay more attention to the chat room during episodes as we can tell you when Mark calls in and Matt can say "You're done!" far quicker. :)
Something i forgot to add regarding "Have you ever tried searching the Bible for its truths instead of trying to find contrived errors". You find truth by trying to find evidence to the contrary, not by looking for clues that confirm what you already regard as true.
@PixelSlayer247 Same here, the age of 10 for me. At 6, I started asking tough questions of my priest and he helped me drop all imaginary friends. By ten, it was pretty clear cut. I cannot understand how any adult can still hold onto such tripe. Having Matt full of ammunition is definitely a scary notion for a theist like 'Mark' or 'George' or whatever name he's using.
Update: "Mark" came clean in comments, pronouncing that he's an atheist who is deliberately prank calling. He repeatedly states that he will only stop if we devote 75% of the show to theist callers. He is now banned from this blog for all the previous posts in which he's lied.
To all of you thinking this is not Mark from the stone church in austin, IT IS MARK - his voice is so distinct, it can't be anybody else.
Came to the comments looking to see if ppl knew George was Mark from stone church lol.. Ppl know I'm glad to see
Christa Stempel true
And with what seems to be mocking a speech impediment...shameful.
Absolutely Mark from Austin Stone.
Wow, the more I watch this show, the more I wish I never was a Christian. So many wasted years... thank no god for this show lol
so glad this program exists.
Mark the troll episodes:
726, 686, 693, 695, 696
I think mark is like George from Dunmore, they think they have unbeatable arguments until there arguments are beat then they begin to have a type of mental breakdown as displayed in there calls.
Will Ferrell Nice to have a list. Thanks. There are also compilation vids.
Will Ferrell How do we know he's a troll?
LOL!!.
mike dixie rect
I'm honestly curious, I don't know this. guy. Know need to be like that. How do we know he's a troll?
This show deserves to be on a standard network. It exposes Theists for what they are. Scared and very confused.
"We have nothing to be afraid of." *nervously laughs*
Excellent show. I am a bit baffled that the people that flew planes into the WTC were not mentioned, nor was anything mentioned regarding that event.
It gives me hope, for lack of a better word, that life will go on.
I had a 280 character summary of my favorite highlights from the show but after looking over it, it looked like a spoiler for each of the callers, what I enjoyed about them and Jen and Matt's responses. I really, really enjoyed this show tonight. Thank you, to everyone involved.
how can a " pope" be taken seriously by ADULT HUMAN BEINGS?...It is a skit from Monty Python
13:00 "George"/"Mark"
21:45 Ronald, Woodbridge VA
30:30 Greg, Knoxville TN
35:00 Breanna, Tucker GA
49:35 Sean, Bronx NY
56:00 Seth
“Go away, prophecy boy”
Best line of any episode
~ TAE videos actually inspired me to visit Austin(I do not live in Texas), and I was not at all disappointed - great metro area!
Thank you, Matt & Jen, for crushing ignorance and nonsense aways. Cheers, DAVEDJ ~
" How so many Biblical prophecies have been fulfilled, and being fulfilled to this day." No biblical prophecy has ever been fulfilled.
26:06 Always a great idea to quote Jung when you know nothing about Jung.
Hey Mark. Where ya been, bud? We've been looking all over for ya. Sent out a search party and everything. But they all got kinda drunk. Sorry, Mark. Anyhow, it's good to have ya back, Mark.
Alrighty, I'm gonna Mark this search solved.
Don't disapear like that again, bud. Ya had us worried.
Haha the guy at fourteen minutes in..I recognize his voice. It the creatard Mark. The one who invited em to church
Too many atheists?
Wanna hear a sentence NOBODY has ever said? Too few Christians.
Jeebus Crust, Mark from Austin Stone! Lol
Ok now I know Mark from Stonecutters Church really is Dane Cook, case closed
Lmao, I also said the same thing! Lol it sounds just like Dane!
The first caller left out the fact that crucifixion wasn't reserved just for Jesus. It was a fairly common method of torture and execution in olden times.
Oh my! The first caller is hilarious!
I love how this show just immediately puts bulllsh*t in it's place.
@ 24:00 Ronald from Woodbridge, Va. says he has " something in my head", not much Ronald, not much.
@TempleOfInanna2 Einstein didn't believe in God. He actually got super pissed when people didn't get that his famous quotes mentionning God or miracles were just metaphorical, such as "God doesn't play dice", which really meant "A physical phenomenom cannot be guided by randomness". It is basically a poetic license to hit right on the point he's trying to make with an elegant formula.
I keep laughing because that callers voice keeps reminding me of Eddie from Crank Yankers
this is the first time I've seen a video of u guys, but I am so glad I've discovered u guys. u guys are great! keep these shows coming!
"What? You're gonna stone me anyway! Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah!"
Mark was like Ruben from the earlier shows, I’m sure that guy was a troll also
RE: Sean in the Bronx’s comments (at around the 53:15 mark) about repentance after death being unacceptable.
That the Christian god doesn't allow repentance after death is a feature of the religion that underscores the notion that Christianity is a man-made construct created by folks who were desperate to control human behavior in *this* life.
Good point - you would think that after I spent 1000 years in a burning hell.. I would at least get a parole hearing!
mzenji
This demonstrates the absurdity of hell. It is punishment for the sake of punishment. It has no recouperative effects. If any of the hell business were true, it would only demonstrate how vindictive and evil such a deity would be. For me, all of this means one thing...as Noirepiphone has said, it's all manmade.
that intro by matt was one of the best sum up of religion i have ever heard, im gonna take that and use it.
Great show.
Thank you so much Atheist Experience!
I am better than ANY god. I like that. Yeah, it feels good. The best part is that it's true.
damn right your better than, Yahweh or Allah.
Thanks! I'll look into it! I appreciate the information!
It's obvious Mark is trolling but in what way? He seems generally sincere in his questions/statements. Is he trying to throw softballs to TAE or is he trying to stump them and failing? He seems too well informed to be just fucking around...
So he is a well informed fake on the bullshit of religion lol
Is the first caller Mark from stone church? he sure sounds like him
Nailed it.
"You know you're a tool right?" That's my favourite Matt quote.
The Bible was written 500 years after JC was meant to be kicking about. So how is it a prophecy? And why did the prophecy of Tyre not come true?.
21:18 "You're too scared to talk about it"
...am I the only one who thinks it sounds like this guy is on the verge of tears?
Aaaaaaand the first caller is Mark.
"Go away prophecy boy..." Best quote ever.
I love the ridiculousness of the "prophecy" thing. Considering that the Old Testament is already not historically accurate or a valid source for information from a historian standpoint, and the same is true for the NT, what would make it seem so miraculous that in a book, something happens in a later chapter that was supposedly forshadowed in an earlier chapter, with no outside evidence to support either claim and a huge group who reject that their "prophecy" (which isn't accurate enough to be one) was fulfilled.
Here is an example of a genuine prophecy;
"In the year of 2030 the people will unite and join forces with Sealand to create a new empire under its flag."
It's specific, nobody is working towards it at the time of making the prophecy, and it cannot occur under many circumstances. (in fact, it's nearly impossible).
This is not a prophecy:
"In many years time a man will come and do good things to people, be called a leader attempt to subvert his government and be punished for this"
It's too vague, can be achieved a million ways by many different people, and chances are someone is already working towards it.
"there are too many atheists on the atheist experience show" - PRICELESS :D
The Bible *does* say that the earth is 6000 years old. It gives the genealogy from Adam to Jesus, around 4000 years, and it says that Adam was born the same week as the universe. If you say that none of this is literal, you have to wonder why the Bible was so specific in giving the ages of 900 year old people.
lol. the name "godless bitches"really crack me up everytime i hear it
It's amazing how often dowsers point to land next to the creek.
The fact that so many of us believe(d) Mark (George) was a true xian demonstrates how adept he is at trolling. He's a decent actor.
+Brad Panter Hi Brad!
Brad Grady hi, Brad!
Thanks for posting!
If god is real and he wants all of his beloved children to spend eternity in heaven why doesn't he give each person a preview of heaven and hell and leave each person with an artifact to prove the experience was not just an imaginary thing so they can use this as real evidence and base their decision on that real proof. In fact we are expected to take all th on faith and faith is not the pathway to the truth but merely gullibility.
+JOHN MENUIS If god is real and he wants all of he beloved children to spend eternity in Heaven, why did he create Hell in the first place? The idea that an eternal, omnipotent, omniscient being is so pathetically needy that it requires its children to kiss its ass, or else it will have them abused forever, is just so bizarre. How can anyone think that makes sense??
+JOHN MENUIS because it [the god thing] is a fairy tale intended to calm children and old folks
Quick Thought: If "being alive" and awareness are some proof for a soul. Then its fair to say that other animals (being alive and aware) should also have some sort of soul and are in need of a savior for THEIR sins...?
"too many atheists on the show"
classic!
haha! Matt called out Mark! I knew it was him the second I heard his voice!
Great show as always. Thanks for uploading.
I have trouble understanding Ronald from VA. I was unawayer of Junkian psychology until he asked about it.
you can not, of the 5000 greek text there not 2 that are identical . therefor the greek tekst are wothless they are copies of copies of copies. if you can read more than the english langauge you will quckly find that the bibel differes in depending of langauge.
It sounds so obviously like him.
no one doubts the authenticity of the 5000 + Greek manuscripts - but they are copys of copys of copys - well knowen mistake that is widely ignored is that the greek mistranslate the word for virgin from the Hebrew and Aramaic scrips - the orginal word means young girl not virgin - so the "virgin" Mary is just the "young girl" Mary , so if they would make that mistake , how reliable is the translation ? and there are still no orginal authors to any of the greek scripts ...
Hearing Geoge's "proof" reminds me of the Left Behind series. Basically how fiction can be based on knowing writings and making them fit as prophesy. IE making the left behind series based on Revelation.
@Beth Did you seriosly just use the "its just a theory" argument?
You also believe non-life(dirt) produced life (man), but it was magic.
"...the wild speculation of evolution" + "Human being are extremely gullible" = major irony
@srtounez Too late yo, he already is. Click the first link in the description, Mark has always been an atheist calling in because he felt they weren't getting enough theist callers. They talked with him on their website and he's been banned from the site and the program for lying to them.
"Dowsing is nonsense" simple and beautifully true.
That El Arroyo owner must be a millionaire by now
He heh. I was just thinking that Matt with one half of his brain "handcuffed" behind his back and still winning the debate would be a pretty good t-shirt.
George sounds like Mark
@MutR lol dude, I typed that before his bit was done, and once I heard I started laughing! I recognized the voice right away!! That was so funny on my side xD
Wow... no wonder that first caller's voice sounded so familiar.
I agree with you, the truth shall set me free. I know that all the gods we name and define are fictitious. I am free. I am moral and for every moral act I do it makes me more moral then any Christian for one simple reason, I am Kind and generous because I know it is the right thing to do, not because of any hope for a reward, or fear of eternal damnation, but simply because I want to.
@EliteDoomer That first caller sounded like that guy from Stone Church? Who was it? Someone from Stone Church in Austin.
@PhysicsMajor2014 When did he admit that he was fake? Is it on one of these videos? I'd love to find it.
First, yes it does, not exactly 6000 perhaps, but the genealogy does not allow for billions of years of Earth History.
Also, it is Billions of years, not millions. About 4 billions years is the best estimate for the age of the Earth. And the universe is roughly 14 billion years old. Just throwing that out there.
Russell said in an episode (I forget which one) that Mark of the Austin Stone Church admitted to being an atheist troll.
RE: The alleged "prophecy" in Psalms 22 ... The Bible doesn't mention bulls and dogs up on Golgotha, does it?
Beyond that, the psalm states "... the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations." This doesn't appear to square with Jesus' declaration (in John 18:36) that his kingdom was "not of this world."
I skipped the parts where it lists all the names and who begets who, but other than that it can be quite interesting considering the fact how much of an impact the book has on people and life.
@trainswee you posted a comment to me?
"you mean like we were formed over millions of years?"
why did you remove it?
If I don't look directly at the screen, just see it out of the corner of my eye, it looks like Matt's wearing an X-wing pilot uniform.
How true, and is exactly my point. The fact that the book has been proved accurate more often than not seems to escpe them completely, however.
@Beth
As a follow up, do you understand why something is call a theory in science?
We do know that the stars and the planets were not formed immediately after the Big Bang; there was a large period of time between it and the birth of the first stars. We can tell by seeing the light from these stars and how much closer it is than the radiation from the Big Bang.
We've pretty much figured out how the planets formed, actually, and we're still seeing it happen all the time. Not sure where you heard we weren't.
What exactly do you mean by 'as the Higgs-Boson suggests?'
Theistic reasoning...there are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of the world....but there's only one star with life on it, just so that the Hebrew war god could pull off a plan to rescue a minority of earth humans from the consequences of his own hatred.
Hey, do you guys think Mark from Austin is a Poe?
I remember a couple of months ago, Matt D. had him nearly renouncing religious dogmatism on the air and now he keeps calling back with different names/voices.
3:35 thanks for that Matt, I needed a good hearty laugh.
That intro by Matt was beautiful.
Very good point.
who in the hell is this Chris Lanken (sp) guy that keeps coming up?
i must have missed something somewhere!
That is the best theme song, of any show, ever!
@Account4TheMusic
Didn't you get the memo? Matt married Beth and Russel married Lynnea the next day if I remember correctly.
@TheAtheistExperience I love how you put Mark in quotations as if you couldn't really be sure about his name anymore.
@beetlebomb1 not more, less. They missed 3 weeks in a row. They just added them now. Go to blip TV if you want them the day they are on TV. Its in the video description.
Keep in mind that any atheist condemnation of a god is necessarily hypothetical and is only done for the sake of argument within the bounds of a particular theology. To condemn characters and/or actions within the Bible is perfectly legitimate because to the best of our knowledge, it is simply a book, and its contents are open to all manner of criticism. Criticism of this kind is criticsm of religion, not of the god(s) that any particular religion supports.
Ronald is a wonderful caller. It's like he's just woken up out of the Matrix.
RONALD: I'm aware! Like, I have awareness. There's a thing in my head that's aware!
JEN: Yeah, it's your brain.
RONALD: But why am I aware?
MATT: Because you have sensory organs.
@MrApostleLee I just heard about a South American company that makes bullet proof clothing. One of their best selling lines of clothing is priest vestments.
Oh Please proceed, tell me more of what you hear in church on Sunday.
@ArchhereticK You should look up the Trolley Problem on wikipedia- studies done on that (and similar) problem(s) suggest that, in general, people may disagree with you depending on the circumstances. :)
As a militant atheist Jainism is a branch of Buddhism that I fully encourage people to join and become extremists in... The more extremist a Jainist gets, the less of a danger they are to anyone.
The phone system must be really bad if the hosts can't tell when Mark from Stone Church is on the phone.
I stg I was like it's obviously him doing like a new jersey accent or something lmfao
Prophetic language is somewhat stylized, and it may seem vague unless you are aware of the preceding histories. The sign of the last days have been happening for years. I suggest a video or website on the last days or the end times if you would like to know more. You could read Ekz. 38, but without knowing which countries are now the modern ones, it wouldn't mean much.
You guys should pay more attention to the chat room during episodes as we can tell you when Mark calls in and Matt can say "You're done!" far quicker. :)
Something i forgot to add regarding "Have you ever tried searching the Bible for its truths instead of trying to find contrived errors".
You find truth by trying to find evidence to the contrary, not by looking for clues that confirm what you already regard as true.
@PixelSlayer247 Same here, the age of 10 for me. At 6, I started asking tough questions of my priest and he helped me drop all imaginary friends. By ten, it was pretty clear cut. I cannot understand how any adult can still hold onto such tripe. Having Matt full of ammunition is definitely a scary notion for a theist like 'Mark' or 'George' or whatever name he's using.