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Hello. I am an atheist. I define atheism as suspending any acknowledgment as to the reality of any particular god until sufficient credible evidence is presented. My position is that *_I currently have no good reason to acknowledge the reality of any god._* And here is why I currently hold to such a position. Below are 11 facts I must consider when evaluating the claim made by certain theists that a particular god exists in reality. To be clear, these are not premises for any argument which _concludes_ there to be no gods. These are simply facts I must take into account when evaluating the verity of such a claim. If any of the following facts were to be contravened at a later time by evidence, experience, or sound argument, I would THEN have good reason to acknowledge such a reality. 1. I have never been presented with a functional definition of a god. 2. I personally have never observed a god. 3. I have never encountered any person who has claimed to have observed a god. 4. I know of no accounts of persons claiming to have observed a god that were willing or able to demonstrate or verify their observation for authenticity, accuracy, or validity. 5. I have never been presented with any _valid_ logical argument, which also introduced demonstrably true premises that lead deductively to an inevitable conclusion that a god(s) exists in reality. 6. Of the many logical syllogisms I have examined arguing for the reality of a god(s), I have found all to contain a formal or informal logical fallacy or a premise that can not be demonstrated to be true. 7. I have never observed a phenomenon in which the existence of a god was a necessary antecedent for the known or probable explanation for the causation of that phenomenon. 8. Several proposed (and generally accepted) explanations for observable phenomena that were previously based on the agency of a god(s), have subsequently been replaced with rational, natural explanations, each substantiated with evidence that excluded the agency of a god(s). I have never encountered _vice versa._ 9. I have never knowingly experienced the presence of a god through intercession of angels, divine revelation, the miraculous act of divinity, or any occurrence of a supernatural event. 10. Every phenomenon that I have ever observed appears to have *_emerged_* from necessary and sufficient antecedents over time without exception. In other words, I have never observed a phenomenon (entity, process, object, event, process, substance, system, or being) that was created _ex nihilo_ - that is instantaneously came into existence by the solitary volition of a deity. 11. All claims of a supernatural or divine nature that I have been presented have either been refuted to my satisfaction or do not present as _falsifiable._ ALL of these facts lead me to the only rational conclusion that concurs with the realities I have been presented - and that is the fact that there is *_no good reason_* for me to acknowledge the reality of any particular god. I have heard often that atheism is the denial of the Abrahamic god. But denial is the active rejection of a substantiated fact once credible evidence has been presented. Atheism is simply withholding such acknowledgment until sufficient credible evidence is introduced. *_It is natural, rational, and prudent to be skeptical of unsubstantiated claims, especially extraordinary ones._* I welcome any cordial response. Peace.

What a strange thing to observe--people struggling to lay a foundation of how to believe in magic and invisible people. You're zooming out, but not far enough to see the error.

This was such an interesting listen. Taylor is my brother-in-law.

Trent, I loved listening to this. Amber has the patience of a Saint. It is so thoughtful, mature and definitely made me rethink my approach of my husband's and my relationship as it pertains to our faith and religion. Please tell your wife she is an amazing example. You weren't kidding about that granite though...lol. Her capabilities to respect your journey and her steadfastness to her own belief and faith is so commendable. I've seen women (and men) just give up and bend to their spouse to make things work versus open up, communicate and do the hard work. That approach makes the marriage "work" in the short term but is inauthentic and I've seen some marriage fall apart. Kudos to you both for being so open, vulnerable and willing to share this with others.

that's why I am not for Christianity, because it seems to be part of their religion to push it down everyone else's throats. The Sentinelese have their own beliefs, and you can tell it is a good one because they are in perfect harmony with nature.

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There's a lot of assumptions that I had before watching this. The maturity that this convo is approached caught me pleasantly by surprised

As a SDA Im so used to being peculiar to other Christians and conversations of Christianity. It's really relieving to hear a calm and a very respectful civil conversation about my faith in particular and more specifically why one may stray. This conversation needs to be discussed more and in a environment that's not as destructive as I have seen in the church

Current SDA member. It's definitely a interesting conversation to listen to

This video has shed light on an aspect on racism I was already aware of but never really paid attention to

How has this not been liked or commented on?

I was just referred to this podcast and thought this was a great discussion with a lot of more open-mindedness to questioning the core beliefs than I've come across as a former SDA. I also found it refreshing that your concepts take into consideration that the outside influences on what appears to be the religion and as someone who moved a lot I got to see how it was interpreted depending on what cultural influences were available. I hope to see more podcasts.

“The easy confidence with which I know another man's religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” Mark Twain

Well I've binged watched as far as I can go. I wish you peace on your deconstruction Journey. But that political conversation at the end is my cue to dip. Everyone's deconstruction/reconstruction journey is very much steeped in their own lens. It's such a personal thing. Politics is also a personal thing. It represents who you are personally. Much like Politics, the Bible is a hell of a thing depending on who you are when you pick it up. I'm not sure why he was disappointed or surprised. Jesus doesn't wash away whiteness. White evangelicals didn't have time to consider Trump's morality because they were, and still are, bathing in his white supremacist cesspool. Christianity does not fix that, it cloaks it. From Billy Graham to Paula White, sorry you got it twisted. From the KKK murdering Black sunday school children to Dylan Roof murdering Black folks in bible study..... Its always been that way. An intricate part of my faith deconstruction is my firm belief that white people would not be Christians at all if they knew what historical Jesus looked like.

Why am I just finding this channel? I really needed to smile and this video has really done it for me LOL. I get that you have been around for a year, but I'm going to have to binge watch all your videos now and catch up 😁

First off, 1:33:52 though. A loaded response, even if it wasn't intended. I had to pause the video just to process such a simple answer. Go back a few seconds to get the context. Second, you brothers may not be "interesting" per se, but the content of the discussion is what many Christians, and many Adventists are wrestling with, myself included. I'm sharing this thing everywhere, and I'm going back to the word of God for answers. Thank you for this insightful podcast!👍😊

John Chau goes with a 2,000 yr old book to teach a 70,000 yr old tribe how to think and live get the fuck out!! Leave peoples alone.meet jesus you first asshole.

I can very much relate to what you are saying. I was very active in church as a leader and a teacher. I went to Midwestern Baptist Seminary/College for a degree in Biblical Studies. Studying the bible was everything to me and anyone who didn't study daily wasn't worthy of calling themselves "christian". I started to question my belief after reading Brian McLaren's book "A New Kind of Christian" and from there I read "So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore" and others. My wife and I were having questions at the same time but separately and coming at things from different approaches. We were looking into other things like meditation, and other teachings like buddhism. So I guess you could say, we left the "faith" but we feel freer and more honest about who we are today than we did when we were tied to beliefs we were no longer sure of. I don't know what we do believe, may be we don't believe anything with certainty, but we're OK with that.

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet." Matthew 10:14. John Chau forced himself on Sentinelese. They didn't welcome him. They warned him TWICE. They could kill him earlier but they didn't. He was still arrogant and disrespectful and that's what got him killed.

He was an Asshole just a simple asshole.

One of the greatest sins you can commit is to disturb someone's peace. Those people are living a peaceful existence. Mr. Chau was arrogant to believe that his way of life was superior to a tribe that had been on the Island for 60K+ years. He could have killed them all, he didn't speak their language, and in any language, an arrow warning shot means "we don't want you here." The greatest thing Christians can do is to respect other and leave them alone. They are already living in peace and didn't need the word of a man who came to teach a people living in sin, killing, raping, lying, fornicating and so forth.

The good way to have everyone get to heaven is to stop preaching. So leave those who have nothing to do with your Religion alone. Just don't go there.

John Allen Chau, I believe his middle name is Allen.

To me, a spiritual quest (deconstruction) is a process that involves a lifetime of questioning everything and following it wherever it may lead you. As soon as you embrace a religious practice you have then settled on the “answers”. Answers that have come from somebody else’s thinking, generally a long time ago, from a period of time that does not address the larger challenges/questions we face today. Maybe the ultimate goal is simple. To enjoy the spiritual quest (deconstruction) for what it is, constantly questioning and challenging stories from the past, present, and future, while simply being happy in that pursuit.

You will never get a straight answers from Christians that have a "it's my way or the highway" mindset. Cognitive dissonance is something they mastered.

This brought back memories of the story of Nate Saint, a missionary to Ecuador who was killed in a similar manner in 1956. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nate_Saint From the article about John Allen, this was clearly a senseless and stupid risk. I consider myself a Christian, and this was just an idiotic thing for him to do. It's good to spread the word yes, but you also need to respect what another country is telling you and warning you about their own inhabitants! I just don't think he thought this through at all. Nate Saint did take a similar risk, but did not have the same kind of warnings etc as John did as far as I know. I wonder about the history of the tribe in Ecuador and whether they were as remote and at risk for disease etc. These two cases would make for an interesting comparison.

Glad to see your face. :D I was deconstructing slowly for quite a few years, although I didnt know thats what it was. It got really intense the past 5 months it so. I feel I'm in a really good place now. I am alone most of the time, which I enjoy, and that has given me loads of time to process letting go of what was my identity in Christianity. I know that this is a great privilege that I have. Good luck on your continued journey. Again, it is good to see you.

I, as a recovering Christian, enjoy your sarcasm. However, I can imagine why people in your life would feel the way they do. I think your core message is good. So, sarcasm or no sarcasm, I'm still listening.

Awesome podcast!

When he was describing his panic attack I was getting a flash back to a week ago when I went through the very same thing. It has been happening every now and then. I am still able to function at a minimal level, but it is miserable until it lifts away. I have been trying to focus on things that I love to do because thinking about my perception of reality is just so very big that I can only handle small amounts of it. This week has been okay. Great video.

Aww, was disappointed when this finished. Looking forward to Part 2 next week. 😊👍🏻

Shut up, you're helping me work through some things!

Good summation on the arguments that distort a clear and logical presentation of faith. Nonetheless, there is such a thing. To be sure, understand that 95% of human intellect operates off of faith as a means of perception. Now, you get to think about this: you can't drive down the street without taking BY FAITH the driver of the oncoming vehicle that he won't swerve into you and kill you. You take by FAITH that the very chair you are sitting in won't collapse the moment you sit. You didn't perform a psychological test on the driver of the oncoming vehicle , neither did you perform a stress test on the bolts of the chair nor even apply a wrench to make sure they were tight. Do people die in oncoming crashes and fall to the floor off of rickety chairs? It's not unheard of. In WHICH case it could be said there was no merit to the OBJECT of their faith and their faith was THEREFORE in vain. NONETHELESS, this is how human intellect largely operates day by day, even MINUTE by MINUTE. Think about what you are doing this very instance of putting your faith in your laptop as you continually read these words in FULL BELIEF that your power supply won't fail and the screen go blank - are your sure that in the next 5 minutes there is any merit to the OBJECT of your belief? SO>>>>>>the Scriptures say that 'without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD". Why is that? Ans: ALL THE MERIT is in the OBJECT of your faith! Yes boys and girls! God does not accept man's merit! All the merit belongs to GOD in Jesus Christ of WHO AND WHAT JESUS CHRIST WAS AND DID when he bore our sins on his own body on the tree. BELIEVE IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST and you SHALL BE SAVED!!!

I enjoyed this very much. The finding meaning and being okay with just existing part is kind of where I am at. Basically I have taken my values and took the God qualifier off of them. Obviously examining everything and not tossing it all out at once. That's me, though. Enjoyed the video. Great things to think about.

Soooooooo enjoyed this.

I have noticed that I reject so much of what I was raised on that anything that looks like it I immediately want to throw everything out. I went to a Free Will Baptist church. So conservative fundamental thinking which includes lots of exclusive ideology is something I will not put up with. Sometimes I think, because my belief in God is so different, that it isn't real and that I am only holding on to God so that I wont feel like a complete outsider. Then I remember why I have come to belive in God and that comforts me. It doesn't make me stop thinking and searching for answers, but it does keep me from having a huge existential crisis. Good videos. I have been waiting for part 2 to come out. 😃

Oh I like this discussion. I have a problem with expectations. I expect people to be where I am at and when I see that they aren't I can get frustrated. I am working on that. I agree with the pastor that my certainty of god doesn't mean that I believe everyone should be where I am in my journey, but again when my expectation is that they are in the same place I am disappointed and get frustrated. Also I believe what you said about spiritual matters being subjective. I know that my certainty is subjective because I have told my story to others and they have never had an experience like mine with God. I get that what I am receptive to is not what other are. And maybe its not for me to understand why that is. I will say that it was when I wasn't expecting to hear from God that God came to me. They met me where I was when I was in a receptive state of mind. (They is singular non-gender pronoun, not plural.)

At this moment I would say that my foundation is Christian mystic and I am building a Buddhist inspired temple on top. As a Christian I am to love my neighbor as my self even my enemy, but it isn't really explained, at least not how I can understand, how to do that. I found that Buddhism has helped me to understand what Christ means. How to love myself and in turn love others. I'm reading Thich Nhat Hanh's The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings. It has been helping me with a lot of things that I havent delt with.

So true,

The one thing I still struggle with is the self-censorship you humorously insert throughout the video. Everyone is watching.... If anything, it gets stronger after coming out to everyone as an atheist.

Over the past couple of years I have been seeking knowledge and insight into God from many sources and the other day I felt, as you said, the rug was pulled out from under me and my forward motion was halted. I felt that I have surrounded myself with "facts" and "knowledge" about God, but I haven't taken time to sort it all out. I guess what this is, is a time for me to take stock of what I am carrying around and to keep what I truly believe to be true and to let go of the rest so I can get my forward motion back. Basically I am asking my self, "What do I believe and why do I believe it and how does this affect my life?" Which are questions that I haven't been asking myself. I do think it is because of your videos that I am thinking about these things again. It does feel alot like 12 years ago when I started questioning the belief system that I was born into and I left that belief system. I think because I have become a part of a church again I have been comfortable with not asking these big questions, but God in all Her wisdom has forced me to stop and sort through everything. My idea of God isn't a typical Christian view in that I dont believe God to have a gender of which to refer to God, but that all genders apply. I didn't know pluralism was a thing, and it fits how I see the world, so thank you for introducing that concept.

I can handle the truth...."I am the way, the truth and the life".....So said Jesus. If you wander away from what Jesus taught directly, there is room for interpretation....and hence because people are who they are, disagreement and condemnation. No one religion holds the keys to the kingdom, so to speak. Only Jesus does. WE make things a lot harder than they need to be.

When does the comedy begin? Anyway, is this "comedian" certain about his pluralism, or could he be wrong about it?

Certainty is knowing without doubt. For me God is real, but I don't know everything about God so I cannot be certain of the whole picture of God. For me, certainty isn't a big deal and all religions are just as capable of knowing God as much as I am. Of course then comes the question, "How do you define God?" But that isn't the topic today. Anyway, I would say that no one person or religion can be certain of God, but we can believe that we are certain and limit ourselves from the totality of God.

In my opinion, neither of you need some external validity or framework to adhere to unwaveringly to find meaning, you have that looking back at you from across the table. We’re meant to be creative beings that are capable of creating our own meaning together without having to prescribe, adhere to, or reverence some external meaning making source. Your anguish seems to be the result of losing faith not in a God per se, but a loss on how you previously sought meaning - external, absolute, definitive. It seems like that is what you are searching for in what you call deconstruction, a new objective truth to backfill the loss. Just my opinion but you don’t need it. Deconstruction’s very essence is about showing how language is not objective and fails at creating objective truth. Ideology, positivism, name your whatever - all of these ways of looking at the world are reflections of power and privilege; they are a false consciousness as Zizek would say. ​

I enjoyed listening to and seeing you both. Very insightful podcast and I enjoyed the dialogue you both shared. If nothing else you both demonstrated the maturity of your relationship in that you are willing to openly discuss a difficult topic that is so central to who we are as humans. It was great seeing you guys. Best of luck on your journey. A life without self searching / reflection is empty. Be well. - Omar

Hearing about your journey is very interesting to me. I went through a questioning in what I had been taught in my Christian faith. I saw that what was being taught was not loving and in fact included my self in their damnations. I identified as gay or really at the time I saw it as a possibility. I was told in church with certainty that I was going to hell for this thing that I could not change. I prayed almost constantly throughout my middle school and highscool years for A: God to take the feelings away. B: to change me into a girl so that the feelings for boy would be normal. And C: that God would take me to heaven so that I wouldn't have to be alive and suffer. None of these things happened, so I gave up on God. I was very angry for a few years. I went strictly atheist, but slowly started searching out new ways of spirituality. Buddhism, Paganism, and Wiccan were the primary paths that interested me. To keep this short I will say this. I went through a physical experience with God that changed everything. It was a pivot point, but I didnt get back into a Christ focused view until recently. I had to deconstruct all that baggage that I had been carrying. I had to throw out what I knew was wrong, that didn't hold up to my experience of God. And, unlike when I was younger, I am always questioning. I live on that line of subjective faith and objective experience, because for me that is the truth of God. We are not meant to be "either, or". We are meant to be "both, and". There is so much that I know I have still to learn. I am glad that I have found these videos. Good luck on your journey, wherever that leads you. And best of all God is with us.

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Hey friends, I am going to be bold and say I am certain of my faith. I realize this is a serious subject even though you are making light of it a bit, and I am enjoying your creative talent immensely. Carry on in your quest for truth. Thanks for letting us take part in your journey. Cheers

Looking forward on what's to come. I just resigned from an 18 year career as a pastor. The tipping point in making the decision to resign came when a therapist told me that "anything based on a lie couldn't be fully spiritual". It's been a tough season of transition to say the least. But I'm committed to the process of deeper discovery while not making my living as a clergy person.