When Voltaire was dying a priest went to him on his death bed and said, “You should renounce the Devil.” Voltaire replied, “This is no time to be making enemies.”
Everybody laughed. He died. Now he and his' new "friend" are stuck in there. Guy was trying to do a last sick burn and ended up burned for eternity. What a dumbass.
@@matheusdardenne you really think what he said in that one moment was the defining factor of his eternal fate? I can't imagine what your perception of god must be to even consider this as true
I got over my fear of Hell (Christian background) by realizing that a truly loving God can easily stop Atheism. Atheists are not zealously against God, they just want evidence. The same way (if we take the biblical stories) - Thomas wanted evidence and supposedly got some).
True, but we have to recognise that that would take away one of God’s chief desires for us, free will. We’d be forced to love him, and not love him out of true love. He’d rather we choose us in faith and not solely in evidence.
@@scottsponaas I can easily debunk your objection by asking you: If I know that god exists can I still „choose“ to go hell?. God can reveal himself to me if he exists, my knowledge of his existence wouldn’t magically force me to love god. As for praying to god and asking him to reveal himself, I‘m not praying to something I have no reason to believe exists. You can say that for anything. Ask x to reveal himself to you, it doesn’t have to be god. And the consequence can be different. Ask dracula for a blood sacrifice or he will kill you. Dracula has super ears so dont worry, he will hear you. How does that sound? Not moved? The same goes for me when you replace x with god and the consequence is heaven or hell.
@@buffendene9996 The Christian God, through faith, just as you came to the conclusion that no God exists through faith. I reject Judaism for its ethnic supremacy, Islam for its barbarity. Granted I haven’t studied extensively about other religions but I feel comfortable where I am. I believe in my God because he calls us to forgive others and love others, granted, many Christians don’t actually do that, but that’s my belief and that’s how I try to live.
@@buffendene9996 You didn’t actually debunk anything there, just presented an alternate opinion 😂. We are not going win a debate here, but I do actually believe what I’m saying here so the thought of you actually having to experience hell horrifies me, especially considering everything you’re saying sounds like the arguments I used to make before I humbled myself (as I suggested to do). I used to do stand up comedy and crack jokes about how ridiculous it was to assume there was a “man in the sky” controlling everything. If you stop and realize that you’re making a fool’s bet (I.e Pascal’s wager) you’ll realize you stand to gain nothing in your unbelief, but risk everything. So again I urge you. Consider the possibility that you’re wrong, humble yourself, and honestly ask God to reveal Himself to you. He will. I already said a prayer for you and whenever you’re ready, just do the same. I can’t make you, nor will He. You’re clearly very intelligent. Now be curious. God bless 🙏
This reminds me of when I learned in my islamic class that all non muslims go to hell, then I had to go to lunch break, with my mostly christian friends. Fucked me up so hard, I remember turning not to cry.
It’s novel to actually see someone who has been honest about their Covid positive results, I hope you recover as soon as possible and thanks for the ‘response’ video :)
@@20july1944 I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around how you think you’re in the right about morality, while you're actively wishing grave bodily harm upon someone else. Genuinely unbelievable, and yet you probably believe you’re more moral than him.
Yeah, I had a pretty severe headache and body pains and fatigue, but I never bought into the idea that it was an instant killer that will hospitalise you no matter what. I would have rather avoided it but eh life goes on, at least I didn’t get any long lasting side effects.
I think learning the history of the idea of hell can also help a person overcome the fear of it. Understanding where the idea came from, why people came up with it in the first place, and how it has evolved over time was quite helpful for me.
I feel like 15 years after becoming an atheist the fear of hell has finally broken me. I'm seriously considering taking Pascal's Wager, despite all its flaws. I just can't deal with even that 0.01% chance that hell is actually real.
@@MsJavaWolfFYI you would still be sent to Hell if you only believed out of fear. In fact you would certainly be sent there because you are lying to not only yourself but God for God knows what is truly in your heart. Either way...good luck 😂
@@JamesHartley-Shaw The Bible doesn't really say that believing out of fear is wrong. The God of the Bible is not a God of philosophers. It even says "Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom".
I’m a fairly new atheist and grew up in a Roman Catholic family as well, so my perception of “hell” is similar to what yours was. Hearing your story of overcoming the fear of hell brings me great comfort and brings my heart at ease because now I can stop having this voice in the back of my head telling me that I’m going to go to hell and will have to endure eternal suffering. Thank you.
Eternity implies and endless BEFORE as well as an endless AFTER. If you haven't already been there forever, it's not likely that you will end up there forever.
You can also research gehenna. It's a beautiful public park lol. The word "hell" is not a Greek word. And it's not a Jewish word. So how did it end up in the bible lol. Purposefull mistranslation is how it ended up there. The word Matthew uses for hell is "gehenna" it's a park outside jerusalum. There are other words for hell but they just mean a grave or graveyard, or are greek concepts of the pagan afterlife such as hades
@@jessicamessica2271 In the bible, Jesus don't talk about hell saying literally "Hell". He says, "They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:42
@mawhel You don't spend eternity in Hell. If you once weren't in hell, you didn't spend eternity in there. But the Bible never says "eternity in hell"; it says "(...) where the fire never goes out. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:43-44. This means that your stay in hell endures forever, but it doesn't mean you have always been in hell, to mean literally "eternity.".
@brayanxd8442 yeah, unless you see the whole thing as a parable. In which it could mean anything. It could even refer to the burning of rome depending on how you interpret Jesus's endless riddles.
i see no problem you can say religious stuff and not belive like you say oh my god when something happens it's just like a curse you're not gonna start sex if you say fuck
Really respect the way you conduct yourself, and I must say you're the atheist (and the vegan) that I've paid the most attention to in the last two years. Grateful to hear that you're better, and wishing you a full recovery from Covid-19!
It was such a good experience as a christian to watch this video. You told your oponion and thoughts very kindly and in a very understandable, intellectual way. Truly a great video.
Yes it is. This is why I think if god wants to punish us, this world is hell and heaven at the same time. So all pain in this world is because we are unjust. I can understand why people are atheist. But why most not even ask, if maybe the worlds pain is just and thats why we should ask, what can we do to be better persons, so god dont have to punish us anymore? Its alwayw this "christianity is wrond". Yes it is. But this doesnt mean there cant be a true religion.
Tbh i would prefer not to live nor die, like just not becoming into existence, i'm really scared of dying tbh, hence if i know this, i wouldn't want to be born at all
Well "Satan" isn't even a fallen angel, in the sense of falling from grace. In the story of Jewish religion, ha'satan/satan, was not even a proper noun. Satan was first a verb, an idea. Later turned into a consciousness, but not a deity. He was designed to tempt people. You can clearly see such occurrences with Yahweh making a bet with Satan in one story and in other instances where Yahweh doesn't want to change Satan's ways. Christians rebranded Satan (like they did for a bunch of things) and then later on even some of them even pushed a non Jewish hell. Hell, which isn't in Jewish faith, and it is a mistranslation of 4 words (3 Greek words and 1 Jewish word). It comes from a self titled fiction called Dante's Inferno, of the Paradise Lost series. Lucifer just means light bearer in Latin and isn't tied to Satan. Even the fake unoriginal misinterpreted "Jesus" (Greek name and J doesn't exist in Hebrew) called himself Lucifer, light bearer. And then what about just blaming former abuses, brainwashing, the fake and very profitable drug "war", and evil forces instead of a person (who supposedly is under the control of "Satan" and is hurting).
Marriage is an absurd system in itself. People just gotta learn how to accept that prenups should be in action from the get-go or legally separate funds and possessions as much as possible to avoid legal theft (mostly women stealing from men). In America, according to statistics, about 50% of marriages end in divorce and no more than 7% of marriages last long term.
Noah's Ark is a really fucking stupid story. 😂 Flood stories in mythology are nothing new. The oldest flood myth story known is the Epic Poem of Gilgamesh. 1) Impossible story - Hawaii had rain for longer and no flood. That was from August 30th, 1993 to August 27th, 1994. That's 247 days compared to "40 days and 40 nights". No trace of evidence in mountains for this "global" flood in mountains and so forth by archaeology. Cultures existed during this time (like no culture recorded a moon splitting in two by "Prophet" Muhammad). Sloths come from the Americas and sleep all but 4 hours a day. So much for walking all that time and then crossing a giant ocean without boats. Kangaroos? Crossing waters. Dinosaurs that are millions of years old but humans are only hundreds of thousands of years old. How did the Bible say firstly that animals were made first and then humans and then later says humans were made first and then animals (contradicts itself). If the second claim is the one they're sticking with, then impossible. Humans are like 250k or so years old. Dinosaurs go back millions upon millions upon millions ago. The t-rex and a handful of dinosaurs would probably make humans go extinct. Satan (who is rebranded in Christianity) put the dinosaur bones to trick us? Free dating is very accurate and we have trees dating millions of years old. So the trees are older than an acclaimed 10k year or younger earth (dating by an age of 1 day equating to 1000 years), how? Did the trees get magically placed here? How come trees weren't mentioned to magically go here? The boat size cannot hold millions and it was smaller than the Titanic. Enough food and water? All that poop and pee? What humans are left and why do so many cultures exist? A Sumerian boat (for the oldest spiritual writing known as The Epic Poem of Gilgamesh) was made and found to be more sturdy of design than Noah's Ark. In recent (2021) mainstream news, the Noah's Ark replica is unfit for voyage even though it was made exactly as described in the Bible and it has no damages to it. There's even a finish location for "Noah's Ark" in the Bible but no boat was ever found. The Creation "Museum" of Ken Ham has loads of unscientific and unhistorical claims. Christians even applauded and were shown visually in the crowd to be intrigued by Bill Nye (who isn't a scientist). Furthermore, on a major Christian website, Bill Nye got 93% of the votes for a poll asking who was the winner of the "debate". Bill Nye even missed a handful of explanations and still did a wonderful job at wrecking Ken Ham. 2) Why not just take away free will. They're gonna do it all over again. 3) It was a part of your plan to begin with. 4) You know the future and again, it was a part of your plan. You're everywhere and hear all thoughts so prayer is just begging. 5) Should have just killed everyone and left it at that. 6) No evidence for Noah's Ark itself. 7) Most of the Bible is proven bullshit anyways (history, science, self contradictions, unoriginal content, mistranslations, many versions, misinterpretations, forgeries, missing books, etc.). Most Jews like myself (I'm mixed) aren't religious. Einstein, Sagan, Daniel Radcliffe, and many other Jews weren't/aren't religious. Many of the religious ones admit to doing parts for cultural reasons but admit to not actually believing in it. Thankfully, much of the religions are illegal or at least not tolerated well since (Old and New Testament) pushes slavery, sexism, racism, genocide, homicide, animal abuse, etc. Furthermore, because I say that the god of Abraham is bullshit, doesn't mean I say there's no god or no spirit. It doesn't mean I accept Hinduism either, as there's plenty of bullshit there too. #Agnostic #FreeThinker #AntiTheist #Spiritual #IANDS #MonroeInstitute
god is a father and forgiving..... we should not fear hell...but ourselves.... hell is if you decide to hurt others or yourself on purpose......why would you do that.....
@@elternero6624 What advise are you giving man? We should fear ourselves? 🤔 Hell is not only for people who hurt others but also for billions of people who are non christians and don't accept Jesus Christ as their lord & saviour. The Bible says the good actions of good non Christians don't matter, what matters is repentance, GRACE and accepting Christ.
Not meaning to rain on your parade, but sending you or Alex to hell is good by definition. Alex assumed that the goodness and love from the christian god are measured by our standards and the bible clearly says and shows that it shouldn't be. With god's blessing everything is moral, except eating shrimp, not believing, and making love to a man if you're also a man, then you are abominable and as evil as a rapist and a murderer and you deserve death. In other words, if a loving god exists, it's not the christian god and christians mostly don't believe in the god of the bible but a romanticized version of that and that god is still evil, hateful, and abusive by our standards. Hell would also serve no purpose other than to scare people out of being honest and having integrity and to warp the morality and to encourage vindictive behaviour, hatred, and bigotry in the followers who are still alive and have no way of showing if it exists or not. So it would be a complete waste of energy to make such a place when that god can simply lie like it always does. Then again, the perpetual lying god is also said to have said it's a place where god isn't, so he might just be the sadist who is in hell, feeding off of the pain of unbelievers. But I just have one question: is it loving to require and encourage people to believe anything based on thinking errors and fallacies like all gods, religions, and other scam artists do?
@@elternero6624 _"...hell is if you decide to hurt others or yourself on purpose......why would you do that....."_ That's a very loose interpretation of "gnashing of teeth" and "a lake of fire". Anyway. He is not forgiving. Hell is eternal, with no chance to better yourself and be forgiven. My father was a dick who didn't pay much attention to me, but at least he wasn't as stupid, unforgiving, and evil as your god is.
I was brought up as a muslim. I used to deal with my fear of hell long after i lost my faith. But in the end i realized that if I don't believe in God, then being afraid of hell makes no sense. That's how I overcame it. But when you're indoctrinated to be afraid of hell it's a hard fear to get rid of. Islam has this notion of hell that you will burn forever. Your body will regenerate constantly and you will burn up again. And this process goes on for eternity. So as a kid I was terrified. I used to have nightmares etc. But now a decade later I kind of find it laughable if that makes sense.
@@al-kimiya6962 he probably became an atheist by himself, no one hammers atheism into little children's heads with threats of punishment for disbelieving instead of arguments and evidence, only the religious do that
@@EternalGaze8 A very good attempt at analyzing a very difficult concept(free will) to define ! Of course someone else can *never* have the "EXACT same experiences as you" , nor the exact same programming, and the exact same brain circuitry is unlikely. The parameters of the human brain are personally unique.
@@EternalGaze8 Now the philosophical illiterate new atheists will teach me what "no free will" means with their nonsensical ruminations. Whatever you said doesn't make sense in the least bit, neither this is what Alex means when he says 'there's no free will', he talks about determinism.
Whenever you get the time, and obviously if it's something you're still insterested in doing, please plan some more podcasts. The way you discuss and challenge your guests is second to none. Get well soon. 👍
Sorry to hear you got sick. I am glad you are feeling better! For me it took time to get over the fear of hell as I reasoned my way out of my fears. Keep up the good work!
All I know for sure is I had no pain before I was born. And I'm sure when I die I will return once again to that very same state....and I find that comforting. I also have very low expectations in life!
As far as the word atheist, whatever people change it to or refer to it as ... it will likely still hold a negative connotation. Due to the fact that religion unfortunately has such a big influence on language. Words like vegan. Feminist. Humanist. Also can have negative connotations regardless of the actual meaning. I dont think the word needs to change or be used less, more that the representation needs to be better.
Hi there, just wondering if you are atheist? If so, what do you think about all the incredible functions and processes in the human body, all the amazing animals and plants, the order in the universe and earth, the precision of so many variables for life to flourish on earth, etc.. do you believe that all these things point to intelligence or a ‘Creator’ or ‘Designer’ behind everything in the universe and on earth? Anyway don’t have to reply, just thought that maybe you are atheist so that’s why I am curious about your thoughts on what is written above.. by the way, you might find some of the videos on the playlist on my channel interesting or maybe even life-changing regardless of what your beliefs are.. anyway all the best!
@@Younis1446 You didn’t ask me,but I’m also an atheist and my answer would be that if nature was any simpler it wouldn’t exist because the “survival of the strongest”rule can apply to plants or other things surrounding us,it would be the “existence of the fitting and complex enough”. To exist in an environment with strict requirements and hard conditions causes the existing things to be complicated because else they couldn’t manage it. Btw,one of the things I like about religion is the admiring of nature and saying it’s so beautiful that it’s Proof of god.As I said I don’t believe that but it’s kinda wholesome
@@AHAHAHHAHA Hi there, thanks for sharing your thoughts.. i appreciate that you took some time out to express your thoughts.. By the way, I thought you might find three videos on the playlist on my channel interesting.. the three videos are the 8th, 9th, and 10th videos on the playlist on my channel.. the titles of the video are 'Butterfly that looks like leaf', 'Amazing Precision in Creation' and 'Atom - The Amazing Structure (Miracle of Quran)'.. feel free to watch the videos if you would like to you! And yes i love the beauty of nature and am amazed by the incredible creatures that live on earth! Anyway all the best to you!
@Joseph There is no _burden of proof_ for anyone on the non-existence of _hell._ Since there is no evidence for any such place (except the village of *Hell, Norway,* of course) until someone proves it's real - it's not!
@Joseph First: This is wrong because I dont have to prove everything. Because its like someone comes to you and says "I need a dollar or I starve" and there would be no reason to not do this, because even if he lie, you dont need that dollar, noone else need it, etc (just for the example to think there would be nor reason. I dont know by now a better example). I only have to prove things if it could be bad to beliefe in them. Mostly its bad, but there is no "always you have to proof everything". And what I say is not enough to explain anything why this is right. Just sayin. Second: There is a clear proof that there cant be a hell. Its like if I want to proof that Einstein in age of 40 dont believes in Santa Claus. So I only have to proof that hell is a stupid and not just concept to proof that a infinite intelligent and just god will not do it. And there are MUCH stupid things in the concept of hell. I will not explain everything by now. And I will not explain those I tell enough to understand everything. Some examples: I. If god is just, then to kill someone this one has to be a murderer. Because only 1 to 1 is just, no exaggerationis just. So if god is there you can only die because of you getting a murderer (In ANY way this could be, aktive AND passive murder). So why you should get a punishment after you got youre punishment? And now there are many reasons why it is not just to not to use the ultimate punishment, death. For example because some people would just get used to the pain so they are happy because they will live forever. So hell would be for some people who want to die because of the pain a literal hell, for those who just want to live forever, even if they have pain forever its a type of heaven. For examlpe I would like to live in this type of hell. II. If there is a punishment after death, why there is pain in this life? And death? There is no possible outcome that could explain logical how to split this correct so that some punishment you get know, and some later. III. It is not just to punish someone for things in the past. Its even said in bible that god dont do it. There is written "If a bad guy gets good, all bad things he made are worthless. If a good guy gets bad all good things he made are worthless." So it always have to be a punishment for what you are know. How could this include hell? You go to hell and then because of the pain, you get the best person ever, than go to heaven and then you get the worst person ever, then to hell and so on. This is stupid. IV. The concept of a just reality gives you the ability to exactly know if youre good or bad by what youre pain is and so you can repent until youre dead and this is the point were you cant repent. This is just. The concept of hell makes a mess of the knowlegde of what you are. The concept of hell was invented so that this is a mess, its logical chaos. The people dont wanted to accept the just reality jesus told, because this would show EVERYONE who EVERYONE is. To have hell after death is totally bullshit and its proven that there cant be hell because its a bullshit concept and its not just. And got wont do this like Einstein would not believe in Santa Claus. To not accept this as proof would be a misuse if logic. Otherwise you have to proof everything and this would be a misuse of youre time.
Fun fact: the first person to have ever created the idea of good people going to the good place, and bad people going to the bad place was Zoroaster, so if anything (if they think that hell is possible), all things being equal, people should bet the most on the existence of the Zoroastrian hell.
Fortunately, my parents were atheists, so I never had a fear of hell. By the time I came across the doctrine of hell, I realized it was a terror tactic.
Do you know there is no God, or just copied what your parents thought? To me, the best evidence against God would be a cosmology model that doesn't require one.
Two weeks ago I watched a few videos on veganism, including one of yours - and read the first chapter of Animal Liberation - and became vegan the same day. I still disagree with some typical pro-vegan arguments, but I realized there's no good reason to harm animals for food, and that was that. Thanks, Alex.
@@artsyabin8145 same. But it comes and goes. Actually praticing stoicism (read and apply the Manual by Epictetus, anything else is either false or more convoluted than it need be) is extremely powerful. I never accepted to be part of either the YOLO tribe or the randomness nihilist advocates (*). There's a voice inside you that tells you do not settle for meaninglessness. It shares its name with a musical style associated with Detroit. Yet it is exhausting finding meaning, justice and harmony in this world, amirite ? I should know, this cost me several stint in the psych ward. Problem of evil etc. Well at this point I am finding that metempsycosis is actually something to consider. It might be the 'missing piece'. (*) Can anyone still doubt that cynicism is most morally bankrupt? I mean come on. Cynicism is counter-logic in action, it should be synonym with 'evil'. What are you good for when your poster boy Diogenes' whole shtick was "I don't care" and yet was the biggest attention whore of his century.
When I get scared about going to hell I just think to myself 'well if I deserve to go to hell then so be it' and I calm down. Now the only thing I sometimes get scared of being bored for eternity haha.
@@Pllayer064 yeah actually thinking about the pain gives me some relief about that, I know i don't get bored when I'm in pain here, my brain is concentrated in that at least
The Roman church is EXPERT at using fear as a control strategy. The best decision of my life was to write a letter to the bishop of my baptismal diocese RENOUNCING my forced baptismal done to me as an infant. I felt totally liberated! I recommend taking such a positive step rather than merely "lapsing."
Hey Alex! I m a catholic and I ve been following you for a long time. You are an awesome youtuber and made me think a lot along my life. I loved your reflection on hell, I had to deal with those thoughts as well and that lead me up to a similar answer. The key is to follow your conscience and being coherent with what you believe, act according to what you believe to be truth and always keep on looking for truth and good. I think the perfectly just and good God could never ask anyone more than that. That truth seeking led me to think that we have to put the love to the other in the center. Peace❤ Greetings from Argentina!
Have you ever read any lives of the saints? Check out Don Bosco, Padre Pío, St st Alphonsus Liguori… feed yourself with good and Holy things. Keep seeking. Often we get confused and give up, but this isn’t a subject to give up on.
Alex O'Connor, I've been watching your videos for quite a while and enjoy your incisive mind. I'm mostly an autodidact, with some college. The reason I'm writing is because of how many obvious things I overlooked. I'm Irish-descent on my father's side (puertorican on the distaff) and a fellow ex-catholic. The fact that your both of these went right over my head.....but now I know. The CHURCH didn't get into my head too much, when I was 12 I started to question the whole catholic 'affair' and in a year I was an atheist. Reading the Bible Plato Epictetus Descartes and Nietzsche helped😃 But the Bible was morally repulsive to me from the start (I asked for a bible as a confirmation gift). You keep my mind sharp and for that I'm grateful JIM Oaxaca, Mexico
You know when a child tells their parents that they’re scared of monsters under the bed, and the parent says “don’t worry, there’s no such thing as monsters”? Christian religions basically do the equivalent of saying “yes, they are real and you should be really scared of them”. That is some messed up, child abusing shit right there.
If God exists, it isn't "child abuse" to tell children to be aware and wary of Him. Since you don't know whether God exists or not, would you agree it would be worth approximating that likelihood with reliable things like science?
@@20july1944 If monsters exist, surely we should make children aware of them? Does that sound silly to you? If so, why? And yes, science is very reliable, as opposed to the Bible, which is not.
The way you just explained hell is exactly what I been telling atheist for the longest time.. First time I've heard one actually get it finally, good stuff man 👍
Ive gone through a similar struggle. I actually feel bad sometimes that i want the death of my body to be the end. Telling other people about my belief that eternal suffering after death is a horrific idea usually results in discomfort or eye-rolling mockery. Its weird. Watching you is helpful because you give a vocabulary to my intuitions. I often have epiphanic moments when i watch your videos that sound like this: “Ah! Thats how you say that idea!”
I understand this completely, I went through a stage where I was completely terrified of hell. As morbid as it sounds, when I die I just want to stay dead, I don’t want there to be any consciousness or anything.
The thing is, even if you deserve to be in hell that doesn’t mean it stops from sucking for YOU. My fear of burning for eternity doesn’t go away because It’s justified. I would still be burning for eternity. (Big fan of your work btw)
Yeah I agree. His reasoning on this one was a bit weird. If I committed premeditated murder, I would deserve to go to prison but that doesn’t mean I’ll be happy or content to end up there even if I reasoned that it’s what I deserve.
I went through a bit of the post-deconversion fear of hell thing, but it was mostly of my own making, not what the (Anglican) church taught me about. Once I reasoned that most of the ideas of hell seemed a little too unrealistic to be, well, real, I then reasoned that, actually, I do not know what awaits us after death. Yeah, I know, it seems like being dead would be like not having been born yet, or being under anesthesia for an operation, but... not knowing, I reasoned that it might be possible to pass momentarily through a phase in which we seem stuck in a pre-death state, kind of like having our clock stopped. we'd go on to full death and that phase would be over, but it might seem to us that in that temporary state we were in was with us for eternity. Finally, I realized that it was unreasonable to live in fear of something I could not at least reasonably think was possible, or even likely. Pretty much all thought we have about what death is like has come from people that have not yet died. And, no, a state of "near death" is not actually a state of "death".
Oh this is good and one of my favorite subjects to talk about. When I was a Christian before I became an atheist I was full of fear and guilt. Even though I did all the necessary things to be "saved" I knew I wasn't going to stop doing the things that were considered "sin". So I was pretty sure I was going to hell anyway. Now, after I finally started using my reason and logic and got some scientific understanding under my belt and discarded the insanity of religion all that disappeared. The fear and guilt for doing things that are basic human needs and desires completely went away. And the fear of hell went with it. When I accepted the fact that this life is all I will ever have and that death wasn't some boogeyman, I wasn't scared anymore. My fear of dying and going to a place of eternal punishment went away like a puff of smoke. It was truly amazing. A gift, actually, from myself to myself. Emancipating myself from this doctrine of fear and guilt was the best thing I've ever done. I'm a happier, healthier and calmer person now. I accept life on life's terms. I've been able to realize the beauty and brevity of this wonderful thing called life and I will no longer waste another second being afraid of an imaginary afterlife or some divine dictator controlling it. I wish I could describe the feeling of freedom it gave me. I can get very emotional talking about it. Growing up in the abusive and terrifying environment I did added with the indoctrination of Christianity and then allowing it to be perpetuated long into my adulthood in an abusive and mostly miserable 22 year marriage that was rife with Christian insantity, letting go of all that was a life changing moment. I would recommend it to anyone struggling with a religious background. Let it go. Think for yourself. Research the ridiculous claims of religion and religious teachings. Discard it totally and you will be happier and even content. Try it and see. Much love.
It's not only about what's good for the individual, don't be so selfish, Christianity worked for society as a whole. We're seeing a rise in suicide, crime, and degeneracy, as Christianity is being removed. The scientific Hawthorne effect evidences God as a positive force for society. The fear of hell is needed to prevent the most stupid of evil criminals, who don't care about your laws, carrying out heinous crimes.
@@HoratioKJV that might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Show me your sources that say we're seeing a rise in suicide crime and degeneracy because Christianity is being removed. Where are those studies? You made that up. Lol move along foolish. And stop lying for your imaginary god. If he was so powerful he wouldn't need you to lie for him. And please show me your sources that say Christianity is being removed. And make it fuckin snappy please.
@@Skeptic78 O' fool, be not quick to anger. Year, Church participation, Homicides 1964 6% 296 2018 1.9% 769 Sources: Criminal Statistics UK Gov, Home Office Church of England Research & Statistics Now show me statistical sources to the contrary. P.s. your impolite nature adds +1 to the degeneracy.
@@HoratioKJV Year, Number of Vegetarians, Homicides 1964 0.4% 296 2018 4.5% 769 Shit, not eating animals kills people! Jokes aside, you are just ridiculous. I must assume you are trolling
@@schnitzelhannes6431 The difference is Christianity and law are interlinked on matters of human murder and justice. The number of vegetarians in the West has increased as religiosity has declined too. It would not be wrong to suggest animal welfare may have increased alongside the rise of vegetarianism/veganism. Correlation is not causation, but it's not always not causation. Think for yourself.
Congrats on your full time youtube! Hope the sick doesnt kick your butt too hard. Boo to all the hate you're getting for what comes down to basically not being dogmatic enough. A few of us have been on the receiving end of that, try not to let it get to you dont be afraid to reach out for support. I'd love to chat with you more on philosophy and free will, some really interesting conversations to be had there. Feel better soon!
Any absolutist god would call himself "perfectly just" in his revelation to his subjects, just like any autocratic ruler calls himself uniquely perfect and just. That doesn't mean that's the truth, nor that your concept of justice would coincide with his. Justice would simply mean whatever they want it to mean. If the universe truly is ruled by an authoritarian and vengeful god as presented in the Bible, then us atheists or simply those who don't want to worship such a god are screwed. As Bertrand Russel said, you don't tend to find such vindictive fury in those of moral excellence. If the Christian god does exist, it seems more likely that he's as tyrannical as the Bible makes him out to be, rather than that hell is empty because no one truly deserved to be there.
This is my issue with CS's take on the topic. I'm glad he found peace in the idea, but it seems wholly underwhelming to me (I guess thats a pun) If I believe my father to be a good man (To the point that I define him as such) but then I find out that he did something truly terrible... CS seems to think that either the things my father did were either good OR my father never existed. My idealized IDEA of my father might not exist, but clearly the entity that is my father does exist. Like wise, the Christian God can exist without the Christians being right about him being just.
I am an absolutely benevolent manager of a ghost house. Whoever enters my house will leave the house. And i warrant that everyone will be scared, and there are lots of bizarre atractions, such as dying and rising gods, swamp monsters, schopenhauer trying to wrap the universe into a condome and on and on. Btw you can keep the coffin or the urn as a gift.
I wonder why the shallow comments get the most likes while the well-thought, measured responses are under appreciated. I wonder if most followers of CosmicSkeptic would be able to represent his views accurately
but we may not represent his views. I for once, don’t agree with everything he has said, but I’m subscribed because his content is interesting. And people can like whatever they decide to. Whether it’s more shallow or a well elaborated opinion. I don’t think it’s for the likes, in the first place. Anyone is free to comment whatever they want.
holy shit Alex you have completely won me over as to how ruthlessly, brutally honest you are regarding your own intellectual community. That is just mind blowing to me. Doesn't matter what your or my opinions are, I think you are absolutely gonna go places young man. Please keep it up.
16:43, I genuinely love the smirk Alex gives before he advertises the promotion, he knows it's something the audience has been familiarised with already, yet slightly knows he's the notorious 'RUclipsr' and it's now part of the job. Alex, you sliver tongued devil you! I'm laughing, annoyed but thoroughly entertained!?
Curious this discussion about the problems of the word atheist. I´m portuguese and i think the portuguese language (and other similar latin based ones) handles it a little bit better than english. The most common word to describe the person who's not convinced that God exists here is "Ateu" ("Atheos" in english). Even though we have the word "Ateísta" (the corresponding word to "Atheist") and it can be used with the same meaning as "Ateu", it's mostly reserved for the case of the people who are convinced that God does not exist or even to describe someone who is openly an opponent of god. For exemple, some people might use the word "Ateísta" do describe the Devil or Count Dracula, not because they don't believe God exists, on the contrary they know he exists and openly oppose him. So do you think it would be useful if english speaking people started using the word "Atheos" to describe the simple non believer like you (and my self i must say) or in the end, as you said, it's just a word and what really matters is the actual reality of the belief? Cheers and a good and fast recovery for you. Edit: PS. I think this makes sense because the suffix "ist" usually implies an activity, ex: pianist, someone who plays the piano, but non-belief in God is actually a non activity so "Atheos" would be more accurate than "Atheist".
It is always safe to assume that and Latin word that made it into English got messed up along the way. English is not a Romance language, but it tried really hard to join the club.
Ok so genuine question. I’ve read a ton of the criticism of Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens. It all seems to come down to the fact that they have not studied theology. I just wonder, if theism is so demonstrably untrue, and I believe it is, why would they be required to be well versed on theology in order to debate whether god exists? Maybe it’s the fact that those guys were so instrumental in helping me get out from under Christianity or maybe I’m still just learning to think differently, being pretty new to this ideology but it just doesn’t make sense to me atm.
One does not need to study everything written about Bigfoot to reject the idea that they exist. Theists use that argument as sort of a reverse argument from authority. Basically, claiming that they don’t know enough about religion to criticize it. Only the theology “experts” should be allowed to discuss the subject. It’s also used as a weak attempt to shift the burden of proof.
@@BrianGay57 right, totally agree! I’m just wondering why there is criticism coming from other non theists about it. It just seems a weird thing to get hung up on and in-fight about is all.
in fact, not even if (as Alex said in the video) "christianity were true" would we be justified in expecting god to be perfectly loving and perfectly just... Not sure what those philosophical studies are teaching him, but it wasn't at all convincing. :-s
Or better yet how do you define God's justice? What if something that to us seems unjust, is perfectly just in God's definition of the term? I mean does the Bible not say that if one does not accept Jesus, they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven? So, that means if you do not believe in Jesus or Christianity, you'd be damned to hell. To God that's justice, is it not? Idk.
“Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.” - Marcus Aurelius
@@animuradyan6127 The entire issue struggles when addressing the idea of free will. In the Christian notion that we are fallen human beings, it is said that we have a broken moral compass and that God, or rather the rules outlined in the Bible are the perfect moral compass. But then we arrive at the question of free will and see that everything is causal, including belief. People transform into monsters (murderers, rapists) becauss their moral compass is corrupted. For example, a little kid might bully other kids because his father is abusive. In this case, the father corrupts the kid, and the kid might stay a bully, or turn into a killer, his whole life unless another person tries to change their morally corrupt moral compass. How might someone appeal to a bully that they are doing something wrong? They may appeal to their sense of empathy, or the person that they were before they were abused. In other words, they appeal to the pure moral compass they were born with. But a Christian might appeal to a biblical morality by pointing to the Bible. But why should you trust the Bible as the perfect moral compass rather than the one you were born with? You have no reason to believe that unless someone convinces you, like with an appeal to emotion. Therefore the whole issue of morality is actually bound to the moral compass being convinced into you. You might be raised well and develop the moral compass you were born with. Or, you might be raised extremely badly and corrupt your moral compass. Or, you might change your moral compass because of what a book says. You see, people are molded into a life tragectory, some more evil, some less, by the standard of empathy. Evil is really an error in the code of humanity.
Dang, sorry to hear you got covid and glad it didn't get serious. Also, it's wonderful you got over your fear of hell. Fears can come up again, but they won't be as troubling as they once were. Once you've beaten them once, they get easier. Hope it all goes well for you, mate.
15:03 Hey Alex, I know you said you don't really have an opinion on abortion but consider this. Babies are not sentient up until about 20 weeks into pregnancy, they don't feel pain and they can't make a subjective opinion. I don't really see how not conceiving a baby is any less moral than killing a fetus in it's early stages. Even though fetus will become a full grown human being, at it's early stages it's still a chunk of cells incapable of any cognitive ability. Most vegans who argue that animals are deserving of life argue in favour of sentience and ability to feel suffering and pleasure, the discussion becomes more tricky when the fetus starts showing signs of sentience at about 20 weeks of pregnancy..... I know it's an unpopular opinion and if this comment gets any sort of attention it's probably gonna be negative but to anyone reading this; consider my comment as an opinion and try to go through it without appealing to emotion fallacy: "but babies have little hearts and their fingers are starting to show, you are killing a baby!!!"
Outside of America and Catholic countries (also Northern Ireland), the idea that abortion should be legal before around 24 weeks and generally illegal after (except in rare circumstances) is not a particularly controversial one anymore in western democracies. Abortion used to be debated regularly in British Parliament after it was legalized in 1967 (5 times in 15 years) and it used to be a hot button issue, but not so much these days, so I wouldn't say it's a particularly unpopular position to take. The way I look at it banning such things as the morning after pill would be ridiculous, but so would allowing anyone to abort a child on the cusp of being born. That means there is some point of time in between where abortion transitions from being legal to illegal. The only debate left to be had is when, and even that is mostly settled in a bunch of countries these days.
@@kaze.14 I agree but I said it's more tricky because I'd be perfectly fine with someone getting an abortion after 20 weeks if for example a woman is raped, underage, isn't able to get an abortion up until more than 20 weeks of pregnancy (for example she's locked up somewhere and finaly escapes), has severe financial problems where she can barely sustain herself, if the child has some health risk and they weren't able to diagnose it earlier,... I know some people don't agree with this but in those cases I think abortion is preferable. If you are unable to insure fresh food on the table you should probably go through abortion and no, orphanage or foster home is not a good alternative.
This isn’t really an unpopular opinion, most people who I have seen take a stance on abortion feel this way as well, but of course it depends on what side of RUclips or Twitter or whatever you are on
@@ikindoflikemangoes4951 Most of people I know agrees that abortion should be legal, I just refered to it as an unpopular opinion because the internet is generally split on it.
It's a common misconception that Satan is the Overseer of punishment in Hell. Hell, in fact, is Satan's place of punishment. In any case, I appreciated this video.
You say that like there is a general truth to it, but something that only exists as far as believers say it does, exists in exactly the shape the believer thinks. Not in an "esotheric make believe the world as you like it" kind of way, but an "as far as your convinced it does affect you" way. And since anyone claiming to be an Christian has, for the most part, as good a claim to the title, people believing in some kind of duality between god an the devil are as right as anyone, even if their interpetaiton is not as historic.
@@ACT1ON_JACKSON That is not true, we can prove the existence of bunnies because they're fucking everywhere (pun unintended, but realized as I was writing it). So the possibility of a bunny, hare or rabbit hiding eggs it stole from another creature is possible, but incredibly slim. Satan is as real as Homer Simpson, that is, fiction.
@@wtr3059 Do you know what does not exist? Everything that everybody thinks. Thoughts do not exist. Colors do not exist. Odors, flavors, sounds, textures all do not exist. What you understand as existence is an intricate simulation constructed by the brain when it translates patterns of neuronal activations. I find it entertaining when secularists think they have things “scientifically figured out” when they don’t even have a firm grasp of what “reality” really is. Hell, even nature invented motors billions of years before humans even existed, and they have the audacity to assume they know how ANYTHING works. I’m not even a Christian, and I can see how flimsy these “arguments” are.
Thank you for this, Alex. I’m 53, have been married for 27 years, and have two children (the Oxford comma was for you, man). I wasn’t raised in accordance with any particular religion nor made to go to church except for funerals and weddings. In America, the cultural conditioning is so great that even I have feared death and hell for all my life, regardless of how ridiculous my intellect told me that such a fear was both unreasonable and harmful. It’s a lot better today, but hearing your well thought out approach had an impact on me and I thank you for helping me organize my thoughts better than if I had done so in a vacuum.
Capital Punishment is like back yard eggs. It might be justifiable under the best of circumstances (or it might not), but the path there is so narrow and slippery that it's just not worth going there.
Well that's kinda sloppy. Capital punishment necessarily involves putting a sentient being to death. You can have back yard eggs without hurting a killing the hen. Plus back yard eggs are not really the problem right now xD
God didn't tell you to fear the devil he told you to fear God. That is this crack heads problem. He's not listening. He doing whatever he wants. I'm calling him a crackhead because he has the logic of a crackhead.
@@Sierra-cl9xr so you need no one else to fear. If your greatest fear is fearing God, the creator here to write all, what else is there to fear? You don't need to fear the devil fear the creater who created that. You definitely would not have spent your childhood like this person if you had known the real loving word.
@@Dreaming-11 I am not sure if he feels superior. But I do think a bit of his criticism is unwarranted. Sam for example has a degree in philosophy and has written a philosophy book, engages with some of the most prominent philosophers out there like Peter Singer. Doesn't make him a professional philosopher for sure, but enough to be taken seriously. I hope CosmicSkeptic is not too dismissive of the new athiests due to them being "theologically inadequate" which I thought was a silly thing to say. They don't only discuss the existence of god but many other problems of religion and dogmactic belief A discussion would be interesting!
@@MrCHI2cool I mean, he kind of comes off like that actually. Even in this video, he claims that those guys have almost no theological substance to their arguments. I completely disagree and it perplexes me that Alex holds this position.
For me when I realized the whole "spiritual realm" and all that supernatural stuff seemed to never actually been observed by any human (which didn't stop people from writing about it), hell just dissolved away with all the rest of it. There really was no getting over it, it just became legend to me. Like Merlin in King Arthur. Ask any believer to demonstrate the supernatural, and you are met with excuses every single time.
When young I was a believing Catholic but the threat of hell never worried me -I instinctively knew the doctrine was ridiculous -what did worry me however was the end of the world stuff when the stars would start falling down -that I found terrifying as things like meteor strikes and planetary collisions are a very real cosmic possibility.After all a big meteorite the size of Mt Everest led to the extinction of the dinosaurs -i remember every now and then i would go outside just to make sure the end was just not about to happen!
I think the discussion about the definition of atheism is a helpful one. It's clear to me now how much the "debates" I used to (and rarely still do) get into weren't really about the core ideas being discussed but about the language used to discuss them. As it turns out, I ended up being more interested in the philosophy of language than I am in many of the core ideas we debate because that is the real game. When you control language, you essentially control everything. Knowing how to change how someone understands certain words or bits of language is like knowing how to effectively load dice to create a long term advantage. Control isn't my aim but it's certainly the aim of others and so I find knowing the power of language is very useful.
Being one of the first to comment, I'd like to take this moment to express my gratitude as you have just posted a new video, especially with the fact that you're a full time youtuber now in mind! Congratulations for the graduation!
I do appreciate your honestly and transparency about struggling with abortion. Many people have a simplistic (our outright immoral) view on this subject, so your due-diligence is appreciated in a space filled with so much nonsense, and from both sides.
@cleverest: "Many people have a simplistic (our outright immoral) view on this subject [abortion]. > Maybe because it is pretty simple: A) Agreeing to have sex - protected or unprotected - is not agreeing to a pregnancy. B) No one has the right to the body (blood, bone marrow, organs etc.) of someone else, even if her/his life depends on it. Why should we privilege a zygote/embryo/fetus? C) The "result" - no birth, no baby - is the same for abortion, ((un)noticed) miscarriage, failed impregnation, successful contraception & abstinence, but only the abortion is controversial. D) Even though a woman consents to (sex or) a pregnancy, she can withdraw her consent any time & end the process. E) Oocytes & sperms are "alive" too & have also the "potential" to become a new person, but no one is advocating on their behalf. I wonder why. F) If you are against abortions you are pro forced pregnancies.
"Knock knock." "Who's there?" "It's me, Jesus... Let me in." "Let you in why?" "So I can save you." "Save me from what?" "From what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in."
Actually to your concern of the cost incurred to house prisoners for life vs just executing them, it is actually FAR cheaper to house a prisoner for a life sentence with no parole than it is to execute them. Reason being that if the state wants to enact the biggest punishment possible (Death) they must prove with 100% certainty that they deserve it, giving the defendant plenty of appeals to exhaust the court’s resources. They end up spending about $1.2 million more on average than if the prisoner had been given life in general population.
As a fan of your content for years now, I have to say I have two disagreements/inquiries with this video. 1.) I don’t see how one can label the Christian god as “perfectly moral” when even by the Bible’s own definitions of morality he does not make the cut. If the Christian god were real, morality would have nothing to do with human suffering and everything to do with whatever this deity decides is moral in the moment. 2.) I don’t understand the jab at the four horseman due to their theological incompetence. In reality, their revolution was mostly refuting lackluster claims of reality from the Bible, not as much about bringing forth a replacement for the void that was left behind from the deconstruction of one’s theism. I dont think they need be expert theologians in order to apply logic and reason in a manner that highlights logical fallacies in the biggest belief systems in the world. They just needed to know enough about science, logic, and the universe to put supernatural claims in a “checkmate” position, and I think that is what made them so great.
I really appreciate Alex's sincere, deep thoughts on the range of topics he evaluates. He's challenged my thinking on a lot of things and I appreciate that. Alex, if you read this, one thing I would really like to understand better is your statement at 10:36. From your perspective as an emotivist without a belief in free will how could anyone NOT live a just life? If we're all just doing stuff then really there is no justice. I'm recalling what you've said about emotivism basically saying murder is bad = "boo murder".
If hell did exist, why would it need to be burning and torturous? Who designed it to be that way? Wouldnt the ultimate suffering be being separated from that god? Why would there be a need to burn u on fire? Wait, we wont have bodies. What is being burned on fire then? Why would that loving god design a place to burn our non-bodies on fire? Questions that stripped me of my fear of hell.
Probably will have bodies. Indestructible bodies without blood. The fire may not be visible, it’s probably going to just be very hot. Oh and people will crave death, but remember, ceasing to exist is a good gift if you’re in hell. Except the source of all good is gone, and a new heart is given, so that even if repentance will get you out of hell you wouldn’t repent, you would also understand why you’re there and you won’t think it’s unfair, you just wouldn’t want your loved ones to come to this place.
@@alil6547 so they claim, anyway. Is some of it for just following the 'wrong' version of God, when He CHOSE for there to be, other versions, of god/gods, say? Or even of Himself? It can't all be put down to human acts alone, all these, ah, schisms. A watched pot boils better, than one left unattended, etc etc. And given sin and evil and ignorance, began in a realm supposedly pervaded by this all goodness, anyway, I guess many still have valid questions, indeed.
@@alil6547 have you died and been to your own hell to be able to report this information (verifiably) .. if not, it sounds like you are completely making this up. which is very common.
When Voltaire was dying a priest went to him on his death bed and said, “You should renounce the Devil.”
Voltaire replied, “This is no time to be making enemies.”
Are you an atheist? Assuming so, is your atheism based on science?
A good quote. I may be wrong, but I seem to remember reading that Voltaire never said this, but something similar.
Everybody laughed. He died. Now he and his' new "friend" are stuck in there.
Guy was trying to do a last sick burn and ended up burned for eternity. What a dumbass.
@@matheusdardenne you really think what he said in that one moment was the defining factor of his eternal fate?
I can't imagine what your perception of god must be to even consider this as true
@@PattyManatty not at all. But if you have the slightest idea who Voltaire was, you know your objection to my J-O-K-E was stupid.
I got over my fear of Hell (Christian background) by realizing that a truly loving God can easily stop Atheism. Atheists are not zealously against God, they just want evidence. The same way (if we take the biblical stories) - Thomas wanted evidence and supposedly got some).
True, but we have to recognise that that would take away one of God’s chief desires for us, free will. We’d be forced to love him, and not love him out of true love. He’d rather we choose us in faith and not solely in evidence.
@@scottsponaas I can easily debunk your objection by asking you: If I know that god exists can I still „choose“ to go hell?. God can reveal himself to me if he exists, my knowledge of his existence wouldn’t magically force me to love god. As for praying to god and asking him to reveal himself, I‘m not praying to something I have no reason to believe exists. You can say that for anything. Ask x to reveal himself to you, it doesn’t have to be god. And the consequence can be different. Ask dracula for a blood sacrifice or he will kill you. Dracula has super ears so dont worry, he will hear you. How does that sound? Not moved? The same goes for me when you replace x with god and the consequence is heaven or hell.
@@tsarnicholasii274 You come through which god exactly with faith?
@@buffendene9996 The Christian God, through faith, just as you came to the conclusion that no God exists through faith. I reject Judaism for its ethnic supremacy, Islam for its barbarity. Granted I haven’t studied extensively about other religions but I feel comfortable where I am. I believe in my God because he calls us to forgive others and love others, granted, many Christians don’t actually do that, but that’s my belief and that’s how I try to live.
@@buffendene9996 You didn’t actually debunk anything there, just presented an alternate opinion 😂.
We are not going win a debate here, but I do actually believe what I’m saying here so the thought of you actually having to experience hell horrifies me, especially considering everything you’re saying sounds like the arguments I used to make before I humbled myself (as I suggested to do). I used to do stand up comedy and crack jokes about how ridiculous it was to assume there was a “man in the sky” controlling everything. If you stop and realize that you’re making a fool’s bet (I.e Pascal’s wager) you’ll realize you stand to gain nothing in your unbelief, but risk everything.
So again I urge you. Consider the possibility that you’re wrong, humble yourself, and honestly ask God to reveal Himself to you. He will. I already said a prayer for you and whenever you’re ready, just do the same. I can’t make you, nor will He. You’re clearly very intelligent. Now be curious. God bless 🙏
I remember around the age where I hit puberty I felt disgusted in myself for having had sexual thoughts and feared that I was going to be sent to hell
can relate
Look around, you have been.
nobody feels like that ever much less puberty
Me too. I was guilty and scared all the time.
@@crystalgiddens7276 so if im reading this right ur saying u speak for everyone? And that after puberty u never had an dirty thoughts? Idk bout that
This reminds me of when I learned in my islamic class that all non muslims go to hell, then I had to go to lunch break, with my mostly christian friends. Fucked me up so hard, I remember turning not to cry.
aww :(
its sad how Islam, Christianity and Judaism all have the same God yet oppose each other
Islam is a lie, Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven!
@@user-we9pm4tk7z They don't have the same God. Do not lie.
@@electrical_cord, that would make the most sense.
@@sasukeoutlaw9047 They don’t? I had the impression they did.
It’s novel to actually see someone who has been honest about their Covid positive results, I hope you recover as soon as possible and thanks for the ‘response’ video :)
@@20july1944 i hope you stop wishing chronic, life threatening conditions onto people you dont even know because you gained a single ounce of morality
@@20july1944 I can’t even begin to wrap my mind around how you think you’re in the right about morality, while you're actively wishing grave bodily harm upon someone else. Genuinely unbelievable, and yet you probably believe you’re more moral than him.
@@20july1944 yeah, I’m pretty sure his morality is on point. You might do well to look into this for yourself :)
Yeah, I had a pretty severe headache and body pains and fatigue, but I never bought into the idea that it was an instant killer that will hospitalise you no matter what. I would have rather avoided it but eh life goes on, at least I didn’t get any long lasting side effects.
@@20july1944 What is reconsidering his mortality supposed to achieve? Will he suddenly become immortal?
I got over my fear of hell by realizing that I'm already here. Glad you're feeling better, amigo
Sometimes I feel this planet must be some other world's hell...
You got a surprise coming my friend.
@@captainjacksparrow1518 Good - I love surprises.
@@k-3402 Lol. I like surprises too. Definitely wanna go where you're headed friend.
Mucho bueno...Hermano...
I think learning the history of the idea of hell can also help a person overcome the fear of it. Understanding where the idea came from, why people came up with it in the first place, and how it has evolved over time was quite helpful for me.
I feel like 15 years after becoming an atheist the fear of hell has finally broken me. I'm seriously considering taking Pascal's Wager, despite all its flaws. I just can't deal with even that 0.01% chance that hell is actually real.
@MsJavaWolf
Same 😰
Could you tell me more pls ? Or share vidéos ??
@@MsJavaWolfFYI you would still be sent to Hell if you only believed out of fear. In fact you would certainly be sent there because you are lying to not only yourself but God for God knows what is truly in your heart. Either way...good luck 😂
@@JamesHartley-Shaw The Bible doesn't really say that believing out of fear is wrong. The God of the Bible is not a God of philosophers. It even says "Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom".
I’m a fairly new atheist and grew up in a Roman Catholic family as well, so my perception of “hell” is similar to what yours was. Hearing your story of overcoming the fear of hell brings me great comfort and brings my heart at ease because now I can stop having this voice in the back of my head telling me that I’m going to go to hell and will have to endure eternal suffering. Thank you.
Eternity implies and endless BEFORE as well as an endless AFTER. If you haven't already been there forever, it's not likely that you will end up there forever.
You can also research gehenna. It's a beautiful public park lol. The word "hell" is not a Greek word. And it's not a Jewish word. So how did it end up in the bible lol.
Purposefull mistranslation is how it ended up there. The word Matthew uses for hell is "gehenna" it's a park outside jerusalum.
There are other words for hell but they just mean a grave or graveyard, or are greek concepts of the pagan afterlife such as hades
@@jessicamessica2271 In the bible, Jesus don't talk about hell saying literally "Hell". He says, "They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Matthew 13:42
@mawhel You don't spend eternity in Hell. If you once weren't in hell, you didn't spend eternity in there. But the Bible never says "eternity in hell"; it says "(...) where the fire never goes out. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:43-44. This means that your stay in hell endures forever, but it doesn't mean you have always been in hell, to mean literally "eternity.".
@brayanxd8442 yeah, unless you see the whole thing as a parable. In which it could mean anything. It could even refer to the burning of rome depending on how you interpret Jesus's endless riddles.
As a and atheist southerner (southern United States), I always struggle on what to say when someone is sick. I am hoping for a swift recovery for you!
@HQS why would I turn back to something I do not believe in?
Don't you guys have already anglicized the german word "Gesundheit" to say bless you?
@Richdragon it’s hard sometimes!
@HQS was never there
i see no problem
you can say religious stuff and not belive
like you say oh my god when something happens
it's just like a curse
you're not gonna start sex if you say fuck
5:01 the reason why I fear Hell is because of that drawer
YES - BUT ALSO WE NEED IT BACK
we need the drawer back!! lol
@Cosmic Observer lmaoo yess
I think you mean 4:20
Under my bed
Really respect the way you conduct yourself, and I must say you're the atheist (and the vegan) that I've paid the most attention to in the last two years. Grateful to hear that you're better, and wishing you a full recovery from Covid-19!
It was such a good experience as a christian to watch this video. You told your oponion and thoughts very kindly and in a very understandable, intellectual way. Truly a great video.
"...i hope it's not too cringe" help that was cute. and also get well soon, thanks for the video, it was interesting.
*too
@@RanEncounter done ;) thanks for gracing me with your immeasurable knowledge on the English grammar ;)
@John-Paul Hunt go easy on the drugs, bud
@John-Paul Hunt sir please stop typing gibberish you’re scaring the hoes
When did cringe become an adjective?
I just realized how silly the concept of hell was, and that was it. Good to see Alex back
What makes it "silly"? I'm curious.
@@20july1944 the fact that this crack head don't believe in it and that's it, I guess. Lol
he should have the fear of God.
not only silly. an absurd and cruel I would say
Yes it is.
This is why I think if god wants to punish us, this world is hell and heaven at the same time. So all pain in this world is because we are unjust.
I can understand why people are atheist. But why most not even ask, if maybe the worlds pain is just and thats why we should ask, what can we do to be better persons, so god dont have to punish us anymore?
Its alwayw this "christianity is wrond". Yes it is. But this doesnt mean there cant be a true religion.
"Why are we still here? Just to suffer?"
I'd say it is for us to be sorted by our responses, and to learn.
Why do you think?
Tbh i would prefer not to live nor die, like just not becoming into existence, i'm really scared of dying tbh, hence if i know this, i wouldn't want to be born at all
@@jayann5705 Yes, there is grim truth there. I choose to seek my own continued existence in reasonable comfort, as is possible if theism is true.
@@20july1944 I mean Heaven practically allows both free will and only joy.Why can't we learn there?
@@Vld45 Hell is for punitive justice IF it exists, no matter what teaching/rehabilitative roles it may also have.
I’m a Christian and I just love hearing Alex speak. He’s so smart, so articulate, and has the unbeatable British accent. Thank you for your channel!
Very nice! Welcome aboard! :3
Indeed, I love his accent.
Well "Satan" isn't even a fallen angel, in the sense of falling from grace. In the story of Jewish religion, ha'satan/satan, was not even a proper noun. Satan was first a verb, an idea. Later turned into a consciousness, but not a deity. He was designed to tempt people. You can clearly see such occurrences with Yahweh making a bet with Satan in one story and in other instances where Yahweh doesn't want to change Satan's ways. Christians rebranded Satan (like they did for a bunch of things) and then later on even some of them even pushed a non Jewish hell. Hell, which isn't in Jewish faith, and it is a mistranslation of 4 words (3 Greek words and 1 Jewish word). It comes from a self titled fiction called Dante's Inferno, of the Paradise Lost series. Lucifer just means light bearer in Latin and isn't tied to Satan. Even the fake unoriginal misinterpreted "Jesus" (Greek name and J doesn't exist in Hebrew) called himself Lucifer, light bearer. And then what about just blaming former abuses, brainwashing, the fake and very profitable drug "war", and evil forces instead of a person (who supposedly is under the control of "Satan" and is hurting).
Marriage is an absurd system in itself. People just gotta learn how to accept that prenups should be in action from the get-go or legally separate funds and possessions as much as possible to avoid legal theft (mostly women stealing from men). In America, according to statistics, about 50% of marriages end in divorce and no more than 7% of marriages last long term.
Noah's Ark is a really fucking stupid story. 😂 Flood stories in mythology are nothing new. The oldest flood myth story known is the Epic Poem of Gilgamesh.
1) Impossible story - Hawaii had rain for longer and no flood. That was from August 30th, 1993 to August 27th, 1994. That's 247 days compared to "40 days and 40 nights". No trace of evidence in mountains for this "global" flood in mountains and so forth by archaeology. Cultures existed during this time (like no culture recorded a moon splitting in two by "Prophet" Muhammad). Sloths come from the Americas and sleep all but 4 hours a day. So much for walking all that time and then crossing a giant ocean without boats. Kangaroos? Crossing waters. Dinosaurs that are millions of years old but humans are only hundreds of thousands of years old. How did the Bible say firstly that animals were made first and then humans and then later says humans were made first and then animals (contradicts itself). If the second claim is the one they're sticking with, then impossible. Humans are like 250k or so years old. Dinosaurs go back millions upon millions upon millions ago. The t-rex and a handful of dinosaurs would probably make humans go extinct. Satan (who is rebranded in Christianity) put the dinosaur bones to trick us? Free dating is very accurate and we have trees dating millions of years old. So the trees are older than an acclaimed 10k year or younger earth (dating by an age of 1 day equating to 1000 years), how? Did the trees get magically placed here? How come trees weren't mentioned to magically go here? The boat size cannot hold millions and it was smaller than the Titanic. Enough food and water? All that poop and pee? What humans are left and why do so many cultures exist? A Sumerian boat (for the oldest spiritual writing known as The Epic Poem of Gilgamesh) was made and found to be more sturdy of design than Noah's Ark. In recent (2021) mainstream news, the Noah's Ark replica is unfit for voyage even though it was made exactly as described in the Bible and it has no damages to it. There's even a finish location for "Noah's Ark" in the Bible but no boat was ever found. The Creation "Museum" of Ken Ham has loads of unscientific and unhistorical claims. Christians even applauded and were shown visually in the crowd to be intrigued by Bill Nye (who isn't a scientist). Furthermore, on a major Christian website, Bill Nye got 93% of the votes for a poll asking who was the winner of the "debate". Bill Nye even missed a handful of explanations and still did a wonderful job at wrecking Ken Ham.
2) Why not just take away free will. They're gonna do it all over again.
3) It was a part of your plan to begin with.
4) You know the future and again, it was a part of your plan. You're everywhere and hear all thoughts so prayer is just begging.
5) Should have just killed everyone and left it at that.
6) No evidence for Noah's Ark itself.
7) Most of the Bible is proven bullshit anyways (history, science, self contradictions, unoriginal content, mistranslations, many versions, misinterpretations, forgeries, missing books, etc.).
Most Jews like myself (I'm mixed) aren't religious. Einstein, Sagan, Daniel Radcliffe, and many other Jews weren't/aren't religious. Many of the religious ones admit to doing parts for cultural reasons but admit to not actually believing in it. Thankfully, much of the religions are illegal or at least not tolerated well since (Old and New Testament) pushes slavery, sexism, racism, genocide, homicide, animal abuse, etc. Furthermore, because I say that the god of Abraham is bullshit, doesn't mean I say there's no god or no spirit. It doesn't mean I accept Hinduism either, as there's plenty of bullshit there too.
#Agnostic #FreeThinker #AntiTheist #Spiritual #IANDS #MonroeInstitute
This fear can be crippling for many of us. I am happy for you Alex and this inspires me too ❤️
god is a father and forgiving..... we should not fear hell...but ourselves.... hell is if you decide to hurt others or yourself on purpose......why would you do that.....
@@elternero6624 What advise are you giving man? We should fear ourselves? 🤔 Hell is not only for people who hurt others but also for billions of people who are non christians and don't accept Jesus Christ as their lord & saviour. The Bible says the good actions of good non Christians don't matter, what matters is repentance, GRACE and accepting Christ.
Not meaning to rain on your parade, but sending you or Alex to hell is good by definition. Alex assumed that the goodness and love from the christian god are measured by our standards and the bible clearly says and shows that it shouldn't be. With god's blessing everything is moral, except eating shrimp, not believing, and making love to a man if you're also a man, then you are abominable and as evil as a rapist and a murderer and you deserve death.
In other words, if a loving god exists, it's not the christian god and christians mostly don't believe in the god of the bible but a romanticized version of that and that god is still evil, hateful, and abusive by our standards. Hell would also serve no purpose other than to scare people out of being honest and having integrity and to warp the morality and to encourage vindictive behaviour, hatred, and bigotry in the followers who are still alive and have no way of showing if it exists or not. So it would be a complete waste of energy to make such a place when that god can simply lie like it always does. Then again, the perpetual lying god is also said to have said it's a place where god isn't, so he might just be the sadist who is in hell, feeding off of the pain of unbelievers.
But I just have one question: is it loving to require and encourage people to believe anything based on thinking errors and fallacies like all gods, religions, and other scam artists do?
@@elternero6624 _"...hell is if you decide to hurt others or yourself on purpose......why would you do that....."_
That's a very loose interpretation of "gnashing of teeth" and "a lake of fire". Anyway. He is not forgiving. Hell is eternal, with no chance to better yourself and be forgiven. My father was a dick who didn't pay much attention to me, but at least he wasn't as stupid, unforgiving, and evil as your god is.
I was brought up as a muslim. I used to deal with my fear of hell long after i lost my faith. But in the end i realized that if I don't believe in God, then being afraid of hell makes no sense. That's how I overcame it. But when you're indoctrinated to be afraid of hell it's a hard fear to get rid of. Islam has this notion of hell that you will burn forever. Your body will regenerate constantly and you will burn up again. And this process goes on for eternity. So as a kid I was terrified. I used to have nightmares etc. But now a decade later I kind of find it laughable if that makes sense.
So are you not indoctrinated into atheism now? And if free will doesn't exist as Alex believes then ultimately everyone's indoctrinated.
@@al-kimiya6962 he probably became an atheist by himself, no one hammers atheism into little children's heads with threats of punishment for disbelieving instead of arguments and evidence, only the religious do that
@@al-kimiya6962 'indoctrinated into atheism' the ignorance of you people never ceases to amaze
@@EternalGaze8 A very good attempt at analyzing a very difficult concept(free will) to define !
Of course someone else can *never* have the "EXACT same experiences as you" , nor the exact same programming, and the exact same brain circuitry is unlikely.
The parameters of the human brain are personally unique.
@@EternalGaze8 Now the philosophical illiterate new atheists will teach me what "no free will" means with their nonsensical ruminations.
Whatever you said doesn't make sense in the least bit, neither this is what Alex means when he says 'there's no free will', he talks about determinism.
Whenever you get the time, and obviously if it's something you're still insterested in doing, please plan some more podcasts. The way you discuss and challenge your guests is second to none. Get well soon. 👍
Glad you're on the up and up Alex. I'll pray for your speedy recovery! ;)
Sorry to hear you got sick. I am glad you are feeling better! For me it took time to get over the fear of hell as I reasoned my way out of my fears. Keep up the good work!
It is amazing to see the changes over the years in your ideas, I have been here from the start of you channel. Super relatable, have a great day!
All I know for sure is I had no pain before I was born.
And I'm sure when I die I will return once again to that very same state....and I find that comforting.
I also have very low expectations in life!
How do you know you'd no pain before you were born?
As far as the word atheist, whatever people change it to or refer to it as ... it will likely still hold a negative connotation. Due to the fact that religion unfortunately has such a big influence on language.
Words like vegan. Feminist. Humanist. Also can have negative connotations regardless of the actual meaning. I dont think the word needs to change or be used less, more that the representation needs to be better.
Hi there, just wondering if you are atheist? If so, what do you think about all the incredible functions and processes in the human body, all the amazing animals and plants, the order in the universe and earth, the precision of so many variables for life to flourish on earth, etc.. do you believe that all these things point to intelligence or a ‘Creator’ or ‘Designer’ behind everything in the universe and on earth? Anyway don’t have to reply, just thought that maybe you are atheist so that’s why I am curious about your thoughts on what is written above.. by the way, you might find some of the videos on the playlist on my channel interesting or maybe even life-changing regardless of what your beliefs are.. anyway all the best!
@@Younis1446 You didn’t ask me,but I’m also an atheist and my answer would be that if nature was any simpler it wouldn’t exist because the “survival of the strongest”rule can apply to plants or other things surrounding us,it would be the “existence of the fitting and complex enough”.
To exist in an environment with strict requirements and hard conditions causes the existing things to be complicated because else they couldn’t manage it.
Btw,one of the things I like about religion is the admiring of nature and saying it’s so beautiful that it’s Proof of god.As I said I don’t believe that but it’s kinda wholesome
@@AHAHAHHAHA Hi there, thanks for sharing your thoughts.. i appreciate that you took some time out to express your thoughts.. By the way, I thought you might find three videos on the playlist on my channel interesting.. the three videos are the 8th, 9th, and 10th videos on the playlist on my channel.. the titles of the video are 'Butterfly that looks like leaf', 'Amazing Precision in Creation' and 'Atom - The Amazing Structure (Miracle of Quran)'.. feel free to watch the videos if you would like to you! And yes i love the beauty of nature and am amazed by the incredible creatures that live on earth! Anyway all the best to you!
Are the functions of the body not explained by evolution?
Perfect timing! I was just thinking about hell.
Get well soon, Alex.
You were probably contemplating something a crackhead would think about and not the way the book intended for you to think about it. So sad. Lol
There is no hell. And life after death. But god is punish us in THIS world. For a big propability.
@Joseph the burden of proof is on the theists
@Joseph
There is no _burden of proof_ for anyone on the non-existence of _hell._
Since there is no evidence for any such place (except the village of *Hell, Norway,* of course) until someone proves it's real - it's not!
@Joseph First: This is wrong because I dont have to prove everything. Because its like someone comes to you and says "I need a dollar or I starve" and there would be no reason to not do this, because even if he lie, you dont need that dollar, noone else need it, etc (just for the example to think there would be nor reason. I dont know by now a better example). I only have to prove things if it could be bad to beliefe in them. Mostly its bad, but there is no "always you have to proof everything". And what I say is not enough to explain anything why this is right. Just sayin.
Second: There is a clear proof that there cant be a hell. Its like if I want to proof that Einstein in age of 40 dont believes in Santa Claus. So I only have to proof that hell is a stupid and not just concept to proof that a infinite intelligent and just god will not do it.
And there are MUCH stupid things in the concept of hell. I will not explain everything by now. And I will not explain those I tell enough to understand everything.
Some examples:
I. If god is just, then to kill someone this one has to be a murderer. Because only 1 to 1 is just, no exaggerationis just. So if god is there you can only die because of you getting a murderer (In ANY way this could be, aktive AND passive murder). So why you should get a punishment after you got youre punishment? And now there are many reasons why it is not just to not to use the ultimate punishment, death. For example because some people would just get used to the pain so they are happy because they will live forever. So hell would be for some people who want to die because of the pain a literal hell, for those who just want to live forever, even if they have pain forever its a type of heaven. For examlpe I would like to live in this type of hell.
II. If there is a punishment after death, why there is pain in this life? And death? There is no possible outcome that could explain logical how to split this correct so that some punishment you get know, and some later.
III. It is not just to punish someone for things in the past. Its even said in bible that god dont do it. There is written "If a bad guy gets good, all bad things he made are worthless. If a good guy gets bad all good things he made are worthless." So it always have to be a punishment for what you are know. How could this include hell? You go to hell and then because of the pain, you get the best person ever, than go to heaven and then you get the worst person ever, then to hell and so on. This is stupid.
IV. The concept of a just reality gives you the ability to exactly know if youre good or bad by what youre pain is and so you can repent until youre dead and this is the point were you cant repent. This is just. The concept of hell makes a mess of the knowlegde of what you are. The concept of hell was invented so that this is a mess, its logical chaos. The people dont wanted to accept the just reality jesus told, because this would show EVERYONE who EVERYONE is.
To have hell after death is totally bullshit and its proven that there cant be hell because its a bullshit concept and its not just. And got wont do this like Einstein would not believe in Santa Claus. To not accept this as proof would be a misuse if logic. Otherwise you have to proof everything and this would be a misuse of youre time.
My logic: even if you believe in the Christian God, you can still go to another religion's hell.
I know. No one ever considers this as if the Christian religion is the only religion with a hell. There are many different versions.
Fun fact: the first person to have ever created the idea of good people going to the good place, and bad people going to the bad place was Zoroaster, so if anything (if they think that hell is possible), all things being equal, people should bet the most on the existence of the Zoroastrian hell.
My logic: the Christian God is the only God.
Also my logic: There’s therefore only one hell.
@@loladeopeyemi9754 ok then this isnt your conversation.
@@loladeopeyemi9754 Says every single religious person with different beliefs than yours.
Fortunately, my parents were atheists, so I never had a fear of hell. By the time I came across the doctrine of hell, I realized it was a terror tactic.
Do you know there is no God, or just copied what your parents thought?
To me, the best evidence against God would be a cosmology model that doesn't require one.
@@20july1944 to me, I don't think I know; I just don't believe anyone who says they do
Ah hah!!! You're an atheist because your parents indoctrinated you!!
@@20july1944To me, the best evidence against magical creator Leprechauns would be a cosmology model that doesn’t require them.
Many Xians beliefs make more sense when viewed as propaganda. Why invent hell? Because it keeps people terrified and obedient.
It's refreshing to watch a consistent atheist that actually does the work and doesn't straw man Christianity to death. Earned my sub for sure
Hope you get well as soon as possible. You are an amazing creator.
Your propic is Megumin, she is so cute
@@otaku_gamerita Sir, are you aware she's 14?
Two weeks ago I watched a few videos on veganism, including one of yours - and read the first chapter of Animal Liberation - and became vegan the same day. I still disagree with some typical pro-vegan arguments, but I realized there's no good reason to harm animals for food, and that was that. Thanks, Alex.
@Marcos Estevez Exactly.
@Vegan Soldier Will do. Thanks.
I hope you have a swift and thorough recovery!
It’s good to see you stopped fearing hell, I on the other hand am still afraid of your drawer.
Glad you're feeling better Alex, welcome back to the RUclips realm. Solid video as always.🌱🌠
I lost my fear of Hell but now it's been transferred to irrationally fearing earthly torment
I relate so hardly
@@artsyabin8145 same. But it comes and goes. Actually praticing stoicism (read and apply the Manual by Epictetus, anything else is either false or more convoluted than it need be) is extremely powerful. I never accepted to be part of either the YOLO tribe or the randomness nihilist advocates (*). There's a voice inside you that tells you do not settle for meaninglessness. It shares its name with a musical style associated with Detroit. Yet it is exhausting finding meaning, justice and harmony in this world, amirite ? I should know, this cost me several stint in the psych ward. Problem of evil etc. Well at this point I am finding that metempsycosis is actually something to consider. It might be the 'missing piece'.
(*) Can anyone still doubt that cynicism is most morally bankrupt? I mean come on. Cynicism is counter-logic in action, it should be synonym with 'evil'. What are you good for when your poster boy Diogenes' whole shtick was "I don't care" and yet was the biggest attention whore of his century.
When I get scared about going to hell I just think to myself 'well if I deserve to go to hell then so be it' and I calm down. Now the only thing I sometimes get scared of being bored for eternity haha.
yeah, me too (for the boredom thing) but I just think "well if im dead I wont have the ability to be bored anyways"
@@benc.3128 honestly, yeah! I guess it's just kinda hard to imagine not existing haha
Well you won't get bored when the shaitans peel off your skin and feed it to you again and again
@@Pllayer064 yeah actually thinking about the pain gives me some relief about that, I know i don't get bored when I'm in pain here, my brain is concentrated in that at least
@@Pllayer064Two years late, but what a loving God. He created that man knowing his ultimate fate was an eternity of pain.
The Roman church is EXPERT at using fear as a control strategy. The best decision of my life was to write a letter to the bishop of my baptismal diocese RENOUNCING my forced baptismal done to me as an infant. I felt totally liberated! I recommend taking such a positive step rather than merely "lapsing."
Hey Alex! I m a catholic and I ve been following you for a long time. You are an awesome youtuber and made me think a lot along my life. I loved your reflection on hell, I had to deal with those thoughts as well and that lead me up to a similar answer. The key is to follow your conscience and being coherent with what you believe, act according to what you believe to be truth and always keep on looking for truth and good. I think the perfectly just and good God could never ask anyone more than that. That truth seeking led me to think that we have to put the love to the other in the center. Peace❤ Greetings from Argentina!
Have you ever read any lives of the saints? Check out Don Bosco, Padre Pío, St st Alphonsus Liguori… feed yourself with good and Holy things. Keep seeking. Often we get confused and give up, but this isn’t a subject to give up on.
@@seanpetersen9326 Thank You!
Alex O'Connor, I've been watching your videos for quite a while and enjoy your incisive mind. I'm mostly an autodidact, with some college. The reason I'm writing is because of how many obvious things I overlooked. I'm Irish-descent on my father's side (puertorican on the distaff) and a fellow ex-catholic. The fact that your both of these went right over my head.....but now I know. The CHURCH didn't get into my head too much, when I was 12 I started to question the whole catholic 'affair' and in a year I was an atheist. Reading the Bible Plato Epictetus Descartes and Nietzsche helped😃 But the Bible was morally repulsive to me from the start (I asked for a bible as a confirmation gift). You keep my mind sharp and for that I'm grateful JIM Oaxaca, Mexico
You know when a child tells their parents that they’re scared of monsters under the bed, and the parent says “don’t worry, there’s no such thing as monsters”? Christian religions basically do the equivalent of saying “yes, they are real and you should be really scared of them”. That is some messed up, child abusing shit right there.
If God exists, it isn't "child abuse" to tell children to be aware and wary of Him.
Since you don't know whether God exists or not, would you agree it would be worth approximating that likelihood with reliable things like science?
When I was a kid I thought the god stuff was like Santa and the easter bunny fake lol
@@VaxzaLimeIsCool Is that what you think now?
@@20july1944 If monsters exist, surely we should make children aware of them? Does that sound silly to you? If so, why? And yes, science is very reliable, as opposed to the Bible, which is not.
@@vooveks Good.
Speaking scientifically, how do you explain our universe?
The way you just explained hell is exactly what I been telling atheist for the longest time.. First time I've heard one actually get it finally, good stuff man 👍
Ive gone through a similar struggle. I actually feel bad sometimes that i want the death of my body to be the end. Telling other people about my belief that eternal suffering after death is a horrific idea usually results in discomfort or eye-rolling mockery. Its weird. Watching you is helpful because you give a vocabulary to my intuitions. I often have epiphanic moments when i watch your videos that sound like this: “Ah! Thats how you say that idea!”
I understand this completely, I went through a stage where I was completely terrified of hell. As morbid as it sounds, when I die I just want to stay dead, I don’t want there to be any consciousness or anything.
You have been missed... look after yourself and get well soon!
The thing is, even if you deserve to be in hell that doesn’t mean it stops from sucking for YOU. My fear of burning for eternity doesn’t go away because It’s justified. I would still be burning for eternity. (Big fan of your work btw)
Yeah I agree. His reasoning on this one was a bit weird. If I committed premeditated murder, I would deserve to go to prison but that doesn’t mean I’ll be happy or content to end up there even if I reasoned that it’s what I deserve.
I wish your recovery well. Keep the work up, it’s wonderful
I went through a bit of the post-deconversion fear of hell thing, but it was mostly of my own making, not what the (Anglican) church taught me about. Once I reasoned that most of the ideas of hell seemed a little too unrealistic to be, well, real, I then reasoned that, actually, I do not know what awaits us after death. Yeah, I know, it seems like being dead would be like not having been born yet, or being under anesthesia for an operation, but...
not knowing, I reasoned that it might be possible to pass momentarily through a phase in which we seem stuck in a pre-death state, kind of like having our clock stopped. we'd go on to full death and that phase would be over, but it might seem to us that in that temporary state we were in was with us for eternity.
Finally, I realized that it was unreasonable to live in fear of something I could not at least reasonably think was possible, or even likely. Pretty much all thought we have about what death is like has come from people that have not yet died. And, no, a state of "near death" is not actually a state of "death".
I hope you start feeling better soon, wishing you a speedy recovery
Oh this is good and one of my favorite subjects to talk about. When I was a Christian before I became an atheist I was full of fear and guilt. Even though I did all the necessary things to be "saved" I knew I wasn't going to stop doing the things that were considered "sin". So I was pretty sure I was going to hell anyway. Now, after I finally started using my reason and logic and got some scientific understanding under my belt and discarded the insanity of religion all that disappeared. The fear and guilt for doing things that are basic human needs and desires completely went away. And the fear of hell went with it. When I accepted the fact that this life is all I will ever have and that death wasn't some boogeyman, I wasn't scared anymore. My fear of dying and going to a place of eternal punishment went away like a puff of smoke. It was truly amazing. A gift, actually, from myself to myself.
Emancipating myself from this doctrine of fear and guilt was the best thing I've ever done. I'm a happier, healthier and calmer person now. I accept life on life's terms. I've been able to realize the beauty and brevity of this wonderful thing called life and I will no longer waste another second being afraid of an imaginary afterlife or some divine dictator controlling it.
I wish I could describe the feeling of freedom it gave me. I can get very emotional talking about it. Growing up in the abusive and terrifying environment I did added with the indoctrination of Christianity and then allowing it to be perpetuated long into my adulthood in an abusive and mostly miserable 22 year marriage that was rife with Christian insantity, letting go of all that was a life changing moment. I would recommend it to anyone struggling with a religious background. Let it go. Think for yourself. Research the ridiculous claims of religion and religious teachings. Discard it totally and you will be happier and even content. Try it and see. Much love.
It's not only about what's good for the individual, don't be so selfish, Christianity worked for society as a whole. We're seeing a rise in suicide, crime, and degeneracy, as Christianity is being removed. The scientific Hawthorne effect evidences God as a positive force for society. The fear of hell is needed to prevent the most stupid of evil criminals, who don't care about your laws, carrying out heinous crimes.
@@HoratioKJV that might be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Show me your sources that say we're seeing a rise in suicide crime and degeneracy because Christianity is being removed. Where are those studies? You made that up. Lol move along foolish. And stop lying for your imaginary god. If he was so powerful he wouldn't need you to lie for him.
And please show me your sources that say Christianity is being removed. And make it fuckin snappy please.
@@Skeptic78 O' fool, be not quick to anger.
Year, Church participation, Homicides
1964 6% 296
2018 1.9% 769
Sources:
Criminal Statistics UK Gov, Home Office
Church of England Research & Statistics
Now show me statistical sources to the contrary.
P.s. your impolite nature adds +1 to the degeneracy.
@@HoratioKJV
Year, Number of Vegetarians, Homicides
1964 0.4% 296
2018 4.5% 769
Shit, not eating animals kills people!
Jokes aside, you are just ridiculous. I must assume you are trolling
@@schnitzelhannes6431 The difference is Christianity and law are interlinked on matters of human murder and justice. The number of vegetarians in the West has increased as religiosity has declined too. It would not be wrong to suggest animal welfare may have increased alongside the rise of vegetarianism/veganism. Correlation is not causation, but it's not always not causation. Think for yourself.
Thanks for checking up and letting us know you are still with us. Hope you recover soon. Stay strong!
Congrats on your full time youtube! Hope the sick doesnt kick your butt too hard.
Boo to all the hate you're getting for what comes down to basically not being dogmatic enough. A few of us have been on the receiving end of that, try not to let it get to you dont be afraid to reach out for support. I'd love to chat with you more on philosophy and free will, some really interesting conversations to be had there. Feel better soon!
Hope it does
Take care of yourself man! Love to hear your ever evolving views, that's the point of education
Any absolutist god would call himself "perfectly just" in his revelation to his subjects, just like any autocratic ruler calls himself uniquely perfect and just. That doesn't mean that's the truth, nor that your concept of justice would coincide with his. Justice would simply mean whatever they want it to mean. If the universe truly is ruled by an authoritarian and vengeful god as presented in the Bible, then us atheists or simply those who don't want to worship such a god are screwed.
As Bertrand Russel said, you don't tend to find such vindictive fury in those of moral excellence.
If the Christian god does exist, it seems more likely that he's as tyrannical as the Bible makes him out to be, rather than that hell is empty because no one truly deserved to be there.
This is my issue with CS's take on the topic. I'm glad he found peace in the idea, but it seems wholly underwhelming to me (I guess thats a pun)
If I believe my father to be a good man (To the point that I define him as such) but then I find out that he did something truly terrible... CS seems to think that either the things my father did were either good OR my father never existed. My idealized IDEA of my father might not exist, but clearly the entity that is my father does exist.
Like wise, the Christian God can exist without the Christians being right about him being just.
I am an absolutely benevolent manager of a ghost house. Whoever enters my house will leave the house.
And i warrant that everyone will be scared, and there are lots of bizarre atractions, such as dying and rising gods, swamp monsters, schopenhauer trying to wrap the universe into a condome and on and on.
Btw you can keep the coffin or the urn as a gift.
Well said
@@discodecepticon well said.
Exactly
I wonder why the shallow comments get the most likes while the well-thought, measured responses are under appreciated. I wonder if most followers of CosmicSkeptic would be able to represent his views accurately
Almost always people misrepresent or don’t understand a lot of public speakers
but we may not represent his views. I for once, don’t agree with everything he has said, but I’m subscribed because his content is interesting. And people can like whatever they decide to. Whether it’s more shallow or a well elaborated opinion. I don’t think it’s for the likes, in the first place. Anyone is free to comment whatever they want.
holy shit Alex you have completely won me over as to how ruthlessly, brutally honest you are regarding your own intellectual community. That is just mind blowing to me. Doesn't matter what your or my opinions are, I think you are absolutely gonna go places young man. Please keep it up.
his covid cough was anything but ruthlessly brutal honesty
I agree. I’ve never seen a RUclipsr as big as Alex who can brave the possible pushback from his viewers all for the sake of intellectual honesty.
Get well soon mate. May your immune system and medication get you back to full health as soon as possible.
16:43, I genuinely love the smirk Alex gives before he advertises the promotion, he knows it's something the audience has been familiarised with already, yet slightly knows he's the notorious 'RUclipsr' and it's now part of the job. Alex, you sliver tongued devil you! I'm laughing, annoyed but thoroughly entertained!?
silver tongued devil is apropos
Come to America!
We would love to have you Alex.
You are a voice we very much need. I'm so grateful I can listen to you freely.
why are his ad-transitions always so damn funny and smooth. you can see his grin when he does it: HE KNOWS!
its the only thing youtubers can control about their ads lol
I was here when CosmicSkeptic only had a couple of thousand of subs. Alex has really grown over the years. A lot more mature
Curious this discussion about the problems of the word atheist. I´m portuguese and i think the portuguese language (and other similar latin based ones) handles it a little bit better than english. The most common word to describe the person who's not convinced that God exists here is "Ateu" ("Atheos" in english). Even though we have the word "Ateísta" (the corresponding word to "Atheist") and it can be used with the same meaning as "Ateu", it's mostly reserved for the case of the people who are convinced that God does not exist or even to describe someone who is openly an opponent of god. For exemple, some people might use the word "Ateísta" do describe the Devil or Count Dracula, not because they don't believe God exists, on the contrary they know he exists and openly oppose him. So do you think it would be useful if english speaking people started using the word "Atheos" to describe the simple non believer like you (and my self i must say) or in the end, as you said, it's just a word and what really matters is the actual reality of the belief? Cheers and a good and fast recovery for you.
Edit: PS. I think this makes sense because the suffix "ist" usually implies an activity, ex: pianist, someone who plays the piano, but non-belief in God is actually a non activity so "Atheos" would be more accurate than "Atheist".
It is always safe to assume that and Latin word that made it into English got messed up along the way. English is not a Romance language, but it tried really hard to join the club.
Great to see you back Alex, hope you feel better soon!
So good to see you again. Hope you feel better son. Vegan love and respect.
Ok so genuine question. I’ve read a ton of the criticism of Harris, Dawkins, and Hitchens. It all seems to come down to the fact that they have not studied theology. I just wonder, if theism is so demonstrably untrue, and I believe it is, why would they be required to be well versed on theology in order to debate whether god exists? Maybe it’s the fact that those guys were so instrumental in helping me get out from under Christianity or maybe I’m still just learning to think differently, being pretty new to this ideology but it just doesn’t make sense to me atm.
One does not need to study everything written about Bigfoot to reject the idea that they exist.
Theists use that argument as sort of a reverse argument from authority. Basically, claiming that they don’t know enough about religion to criticize it. Only the theology “experts” should be allowed to discuss the subject.
It’s also used as a weak attempt to shift the burden of proof.
@@BrianGay57 right, totally agree! I’m just wondering why there is criticism coming from other non theists about it. It just seems a weird thing to get hung up on and in-fight about is all.
@@BrianGay57 yeah, kinda felt like that was what Alex just did. Maybe I missed his point.
@@thSpeedyTurtle yeah same. I’m totally fine being wrong here I just haven’t heard it explained in quite a satisfying way yet you know?
Why I think you have to study it..so in argument you don't make a false claim or a strawman when arguing with the theist..
What scares me more is what if God is unjust? There's no rule that says God has to be just and it kinda sucks.
in fact, not even if (as Alex said in the video) "christianity were true" would we be justified in expecting god to be perfectly loving and perfectly just... Not sure what those philosophical studies are teaching him, but it wasn't at all convincing. :-s
@Jerren Brewster even assuming that the Bible is inspired by God, an unjust God could simply lie. So quoting the Bible proves nothing.
Or better yet how do you define God's justice? What if something that to us seems unjust, is perfectly just in God's definition of the term? I mean does the Bible not say that if one does not accept Jesus, they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven? So, that means if you do not believe in Jesus or Christianity, you'd be damned to hell. To God that's justice, is it not? Idk.
“Live a good life.
If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by.
If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them.
If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.”
- Marcus Aurelius
@@animuradyan6127 The entire issue struggles when addressing the idea of free will. In the Christian notion that we are fallen human beings, it is said that we have a broken moral compass and that God, or rather the rules outlined in the Bible are the perfect moral compass. But then we arrive at the question of free will and see that everything is causal, including belief.
People transform into monsters (murderers, rapists) becauss their moral compass is corrupted. For example, a little kid might bully other kids because his father is abusive. In this case, the father corrupts the kid, and the kid might stay a bully, or turn into a killer, his whole life unless another person tries to change their morally corrupt moral compass. How might someone appeal to a bully that they are doing something wrong? They may appeal to their sense of empathy, or the person that they were before they were abused. In other words, they appeal to the pure moral compass they were born with. But a Christian might appeal to a biblical morality by pointing to the Bible. But why should you trust the Bible as the perfect moral compass rather than the one you were born with? You have no reason to believe that unless someone convinces you, like with an appeal to emotion.
Therefore the whole issue of morality is actually bound to the moral compass being convinced into you. You might be raised well and develop the moral compass you were born with. Or, you might be raised extremely badly and corrupt your moral compass. Or, you might change your moral compass because of what a book says. You see, people are molded into a life tragectory, some more evil, some less, by the standard of empathy. Evil is really an error in the code of humanity.
Best wishes, I hope you recover fully and quickly.
I’m Christian; I love hearing Alex’s points: he’s so articulate, calm and he makes good arguments.
Dang, sorry to hear you got covid and glad it didn't get serious. Also, it's wonderful you got over your fear of hell. Fears can come up again, but they won't be as troubling as they once were. Once you've beaten them once, they get easier.
Hope it all goes well for you, mate.
We have missed you! Welcome back and get well soon brother.
I am so glad that you are okay bro... Loads of Love ❤❤❤
15:03 Hey Alex, I know you said you don't really have an opinion on abortion but consider this. Babies are not sentient up until about 20 weeks into pregnancy, they don't feel pain and they can't make a subjective opinion. I don't really see how not conceiving a baby is any less moral than killing a fetus in it's early stages. Even though fetus will become a full grown human being, at it's early stages it's still a chunk of cells incapable of any cognitive ability. Most vegans who argue that animals are deserving of life argue in favour of sentience and ability to feel suffering and pleasure, the discussion becomes more tricky when the fetus starts showing signs of sentience at about 20 weeks of pregnancy.....
I know it's an unpopular opinion and if this comment gets any sort of attention it's probably gonna be negative but to anyone reading this; consider my comment as an opinion and try to go through it without appealing to emotion fallacy: "but babies have little hearts and their fingers are starting to show, you are killing a baby!!!"
Outside of America and Catholic countries (also Northern Ireland), the idea that abortion should be legal before around 24 weeks and generally illegal after (except in rare circumstances) is not a particularly controversial one anymore in western democracies. Abortion used to be debated regularly in British Parliament after it was legalized in 1967 (5 times in 15 years) and it used to be a hot button issue, but not so much these days, so I wouldn't say it's a particularly unpopular position to take.
The way I look at it banning such things as the morning after pill would be ridiculous, but so would allowing anyone to abort a child on the cusp of being born. That means there is some point of time in between where abortion transitions from being legal to illegal. The only debate left to be had is when, and even that is mostly settled in a bunch of countries these days.
@@kaze.14 I agree but I said it's more tricky because I'd be perfectly fine with someone getting an abortion after 20 weeks if for example a woman is raped, underage, isn't able to get an abortion up until more than 20 weeks of pregnancy (for example she's locked up somewhere and finaly escapes), has severe financial problems where she can barely sustain herself, if the child has some health risk and they weren't able to diagnose it earlier,...
I know some people don't agree with this but in those cases I think abortion is preferable. If you are unable to insure fresh food on the table you should probably go through abortion and no, orphanage or foster home is not a good alternative.
@@kaze.14 How are you defining sentience?
This isn’t really an unpopular opinion, most people who I have seen take a stance on abortion feel this way as well, but of course it depends on what side of RUclips or Twitter or whatever you are on
@@ikindoflikemangoes4951 Most of people I know agrees that abortion should be legal, I just refered to it as an unpopular opinion because the internet is generally split on it.
It's a common misconception that Satan is the Overseer of punishment in Hell. Hell, in fact, is Satan's place of punishment. In any case, I appreciated this video.
Satan is as real as the Easter bunny 🐰
You say that like there is a general truth to it, but something that only exists as far as believers say it does, exists in exactly the shape the believer thinks. Not in an "esotheric make believe the world as you like it" kind of way, but an "as far as your convinced it does affect you" way. And since anyone claiming to be an Christian has, for the most part, as good a claim to the title, people believing in some kind of duality between god an the devil are as right as anyone, even if their interpetaiton is not as historic.
@@ACT1ON_JACKSON That is not true, we can prove the existence of bunnies because they're fucking everywhere (pun unintended, but realized as I was writing it). So the possibility of a bunny, hare or rabbit hiding eggs it stole from another creature is possible, but incredibly slim. Satan is as real as Homer Simpson, that is, fiction.
So in these stories. God created hell? And put Satan there?
@@wtr3059 Do you know what does not exist? Everything that everybody thinks.
Thoughts do not exist. Colors do not exist. Odors, flavors, sounds, textures all do not exist.
What you understand as existence is an intricate simulation constructed by the brain when it translates patterns of neuronal activations.
I find it entertaining when secularists think they have things “scientifically figured out” when they don’t even have a firm grasp of what “reality” really is.
Hell, even nature invented motors billions of years before humans even existed, and they have the audacity to assume they know how ANYTHING works.
I’m not even a Christian, and I can see how flimsy these “arguments” are.
Thank you for this, Alex. I’m 53, have been married for 27 years, and have two children (the Oxford comma was for you, man). I wasn’t raised in accordance with any particular religion nor made to go to church except for funerals and weddings. In America, the cultural conditioning is so great that even I have feared death and hell for all my life, regardless of how ridiculous my intellect told me that such a fear was both unreasonable and harmful. It’s a lot better today, but hearing your well thought out approach had an impact on me and I thank you for helping me organize my thoughts better than if I had done so in a vacuum.
I actually got over hell before having fully deconverted... I think it was one of the things that made it possible for me to walk away.
Capital Punishment is like back yard eggs. It might be justifiable under the best of circumstances (or it might not), but the path there is so narrow and slippery that it's just not worth going there.
Such a great comparison
Great comparison 👍
Whats? 😆
Well that's kinda sloppy. Capital punishment necessarily involves putting a sentient being to death. You can have back yard eggs without hurting a killing the hen. Plus back yard eggs are not really the problem right now xD
....back yard eggs?
I’m about as afraid of hell and the devil as I am of the underworld and Hades
God didn't tell you to fear the devil he told you to fear God. That is this crack heads problem. He's not listening. He doing whatever he wants. I'm calling him a crackhead because he has the logic of a crackhead.
@@myshownvjhope Yikes.
@@myshownvjhope why would one want to fear an all loving and all good god
@@speedfastman yes, to you and your entire lifestyle. Crackhead logic. The truth hurts. Lol
@@Sierra-cl9xr so you need no one else to fear. If your greatest fear is fearing God, the creator here to write all, what else is there to fear? You don't need to fear the devil fear the creater who created that. You definitely would not have spent your childhood like this person if you had known the real loving word.
I believe in free will and I don’t believe in fate. Nothing is set in stone because there is nothing ahead of you. Just the present and past
I have absolutely loved your development, reflection and arguments.
Thank you for sharing your mind :)
Get well soon!
Would love if you had Sam Harris on the podcast, and got into atheism, his philosophy, and other relevant topics.
Yes please!
Good idea, CosmicSkeptic thinks he is so superior to the new atheists. Well, if it is that so, that is his chance to prove it or get embarrassed...
@@Dreaming-11 I am not sure if he feels superior. But I do think a bit of his criticism is unwarranted. Sam for example has a degree in philosophy and has written a philosophy book, engages with some of the most prominent philosophers out there like Peter Singer. Doesn't make him a professional philosopher for sure, but enough to be taken seriously.
I hope CosmicSkeptic is not too dismissive of the new athiests due to them being "theologically inadequate" which I thought was a silly thing to say. They don't only discuss the existence of god but many other problems of religion and dogmactic belief
A discussion would be interesting!
@@MrCHI2cool I mean, he kind of comes off like that actually. Even in this video, he claims that those guys have almost no theological substance to their arguments. I completely disagree and it perplexes me that Alex holds this position.
@Jamal Ramadan You already know how stupid you sound, so I won’t bother letting you know.
For me when I realized the whole "spiritual realm" and all that supernatural stuff seemed to never actually been observed by any human (which didn't stop people from writing about it), hell just dissolved away with all the rest of it. There really was no getting over it, it just became legend to me. Like Merlin in King Arthur. Ask any believer to demonstrate the supernatural, and you are met with excuses every single time.
When young I was a believing Catholic but the threat of hell never worried me -I instinctively knew the doctrine was ridiculous -what did worry me however was the end of the world stuff when the stars would start falling down -that I found terrifying as things like meteor strikes and planetary collisions are a very real cosmic possibility.After all a big meteorite the size of Mt Everest led to the extinction of the dinosaurs -i remember every now and then i would go outside just to make sure the end was just not about to happen!
Christian here
Hope you get well soon
Love your music too. Great work 💪You are very gifted and you have done super at bringing your best out!
I think the discussion about the definition of atheism is a helpful one. It's clear to me now how much the "debates" I used to (and rarely still do) get into weren't really about the core ideas being discussed but about the language used to discuss them. As it turns out, I ended up being more interested in the philosophy of language than I am in many of the core ideas we debate because that is the real game. When you control language, you essentially control everything. Knowing how to change how someone understands certain words or bits of language is like knowing how to effectively load dice to create a long term advantage. Control isn't my aim but it's certainly the aim of others and so I find knowing the power of language is very useful.
Greetings from Tamil Nadu India.
Very nice Alex . I like it very much.❤
You’re awesome Alex, keep being that way.
Be well, Alex.
Being one of the first to comment, I'd like to take this moment to express my gratitude as you have just posted a new video, especially with the fact that you're a full time youtuber now in mind! Congratulations for the graduation!
Yooooo I'm the person who asked the last question, really appreciate you answering!
Once you got away from that freaky drawer, it was inevitable that you'd get over your fear of hell.
I do appreciate your honestly and transparency about struggling with abortion. Many people have a simplistic (our outright immoral) view on this subject, so your due-diligence is appreciated in a space filled with so much nonsense, and from both sides.
@cleverest: "Many people have a simplistic (our outright immoral) view on this subject [abortion].
> Maybe because it is pretty simple:
A) Agreeing to have sex - protected or unprotected - is not agreeing to a pregnancy.
B) No one has the right to the body (blood, bone marrow, organs etc.) of someone else, even if her/his life depends on it. Why should we privilege a zygote/embryo/fetus?
C) The "result" - no birth, no baby - is the same for abortion, ((un)noticed) miscarriage, failed impregnation, successful contraception & abstinence, but only the abortion is controversial.
D) Even though a woman consents to (sex or) a pregnancy, she can withdraw her consent any time & end the process.
E) Oocytes & sperms are "alive" too & have also the "potential" to become a new person, but no one is advocating on their behalf. I wonder why.
F) If you are against abortions you are pro forced pregnancies.
Not the delta variant I hope 🥺 get well soon ♥️ 🌱
Hell? Bring it on. I grew up in Phoenix Arizona. The winters are nice.
"Knock knock."
"Who's there?"
"It's me, Jesus... Let me in."
"Let you in why?"
"So I can save you."
"Save me from what?"
"From what I'm going to do to you if you don't let me in."
Actually to your concern of the cost incurred to house prisoners for life vs just executing them, it is actually FAR cheaper to house a prisoner for a life sentence with no parole than it is to execute them. Reason being that if the state wants to enact the biggest punishment possible (Death) they must prove with 100% certainty that they deserve it, giving the defendant plenty of appeals to exhaust the court’s resources. They end up spending about $1.2 million more on average than if the prisoner had been given life in general population.
It is still good to kill murderers and traitors and spies, no matter the cost.
As a fan of your content for years now, I have to say I have two disagreements/inquiries with this video.
1.) I don’t see how one can label the Christian god as “perfectly moral” when even by the Bible’s own definitions of morality he does not make the cut. If the Christian god were real, morality would have nothing to do with human suffering and everything to do with whatever this deity decides is moral in the moment.
2.) I don’t understand the jab at the four horseman due to their theological incompetence. In reality, their revolution was mostly refuting lackluster claims of reality from the Bible, not as much about bringing forth a replacement for the void that was left behind from the deconstruction of one’s theism. I dont think they need be expert theologians in order to apply logic and reason in a manner that highlights logical fallacies in the biggest belief systems in the world. They just needed to know enough about science, logic, and the universe to put supernatural claims in a “checkmate” position, and I think that is what made them so great.
Are you an atheist, or just critiquing whatever you're critiquing?
Maybe rewatch the video
Any examples you want to provide for your claim?
The second point you touched. I started wondering what he meant by that on the video. I think you should do another video debunking the Horsemen then.
But being able to put them in a checkmate is the skill of debate and the hilarious wittiness of some of em it’s just priceless
I really appreciate Alex's sincere, deep thoughts on the range of topics he evaluates. He's challenged my thinking on a lot of things and I appreciate that.
Alex, if you read this, one thing I would really like to understand better is your statement at 10:36. From your perspective as an emotivist without a belief in free will how could anyone NOT live a just life? If we're all just doing stuff then really there is no justice. I'm recalling what you've said about emotivism basically saying murder is bad = "boo murder".
The title said “as a lapsed catholic”. For a hot minute I was trying to understand what made the cosmic skeptic become a catholic again.
"Be not afraid" said Alex.
ThEn ArE yOu TrYiNg To SaY yOu ArE sOmE sOrT oF mOrAl ArBiTtEr. -Muhammad Hijab.
If hell did exist, why would it need to be burning and torturous? Who designed it to be that way?
Wouldnt the ultimate suffering be being separated from that god? Why would there be a need to burn u on fire?
Wait, we wont have bodies. What is being burned on fire then?
Why would that loving god design a place to burn our non-bodies on fire?
Questions that stripped me of my fear of hell.
Probably will have bodies. Indestructible bodies without blood. The fire may not be visible, it’s probably going to just be very hot. Oh and people will crave death, but remember, ceasing to exist is a good gift if you’re in hell. Except the source of all good is gone, and a new heart is given, so that even if repentance will get you out of hell you wouldn’t repent, you would also understand why you’re there and you won’t think it’s unfair, you just wouldn’t want your loved ones to come to this place.
@@alil6547 so they claim, anyway. Is some of it for just following the 'wrong' version of God, when He CHOSE for there to be, other versions, of god/gods, say? Or even of Himself?
It can't all be put down to human acts alone, all these, ah, schisms. A watched pot boils better, than one left unattended, etc etc.
And given sin and evil and ignorance, began in a realm supposedly pervaded by this all goodness, anyway, I guess many still have valid questions, indeed.
@@alil6547 How do know this?
@@alil6547 have you died and been to your own hell to be able to report this information (verifiably) .. if not, it sounds like you are completely making this up. which is very common.
Liking & commenting only for that SMOOTH transition into the spon-con *chef's kiss*