Tara Banks: Christianity is mythology, and I'm so glad I'm free
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- čas přidán 1. 08. 2024
- Today I spoke with Tara Banks, who grew up in a Fundamental Baptist church environment, but eventually deconverted after thinking through the philosophical issues of the Christian worldview and the origins of Christianity.
As we discussed her journey, we touched on many topics, including:
• How church teachings can cause people to have nonstop fears, and even nightmares, about dying and going to hell, being tortured, dealing with demons, or the Rapture taking place and some people being left behind.
• How the Christian worldview tries to remove a person's power and well-being through fear tactics.
• The discrepancy of the Yahweh character requiring forgiveness of his people, and yet being one of the most unforgiving literary characters ever invented.
• How Christians are effectively predators of young children, taking advantage of their ignorance, preying on their ability to be easily molded and indoctrinated, sheltering them from alternative perspectives of reality, and psychologically scarring them in various ways.
• How Christians frequently discourage questioning the bizarre stories, doctrines, and discrepancies of the Bible, insisting only on blind faith and obedience.
• How Christians ignore the reality that there are multiple canons across Christendom, and multiple versions of the books in the canons.
• How Christians try to harmonize the two creation stories in Genesis, and ignore the other mythologies of that era, such as Lilith, Enoch, etc.
• The idea that Yahweh would kill his own son, but he won't just kill Satan right from the beginning.
• How the Judeo-Christian worldview depicts women as inferior afterthoughts and ensures they have very limited power in the faith community.
• How women are seen as inherently temptresses, and men as out of control in their sexuality, women consistently to blame--rarely men--for sexual temptations and scandals.
• How Christianity convinces people that they are endlessly blameworthy because any lack of peace or joy or commitment is entirely our fault, not god's.
• The common experience of Christians feeling the need to "get saved" or be "born again" over and over, in case it was potentially not real the first time.
• The experience of watching Christianity's claims collapse around you.
• How Christianity causes emotional damage as it tears you down and leaves you feeling constantly deficient, as you wait on a non-existent deity to transform you or reveal himself or his will to you.
• How Christians force believers to witness to others and push the narrative that "their blood is on our hands" if we don't share the Gospel.
• How the church divides and polarizes the world into "us vs. them," i.e. worldly sinners vs. Christians.
• How Christians desensitize people from the horrific teachings of the Bible by instilling the stories in them at a very young age and trying to use the "holiness of god" as an excuse to justify genocide and other crimes.
• Being able to see the universe as much more beautiful once you remove mythological worldviews.
• The importance, after deconversion, of building a community that can support you.
• The importance of being patient with ourselves as we heal from a religious worldview and from religious trauma.
Many thanks to Tara for sharing her story!
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Ending music by Eyal Raz, "Friends"
• Friends
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Reminds me of my life in Jehovas witnesses 🥵 just broke free now with my husband and kids... Now shunned from all friends and family 💔
But we are free. I'm 39
Great to see you and your husband and kids are free. The question remains if these people that shun you were ever friends if their "friendship" is conditional on a certain club membership. It sounds more like they were club hosts entertaining club members.
❤❤
The two of you hit the nail on the head at the end. A Peace beyond all understanding was never ever had by me as a Christian. I'm 54, walked away, NOW I have Peace beyond all understanding and every day I wake up happy. Bingo. Go figure, eh?
@@jenna2431 it's just crazy isn't it...a good crazy tho 😎
You are being deceived by the enemy of your soul...Satan. It will prove over time to be a false peace. "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons". (1 Timothy 4:1) Repent, (have a change of mind and heart toward sin and self,
and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus gave it all for you!
@@christophergibson6694 Truth has no problem with facts so I'll stick with the facts. Thanks for the warning peace maker.
That’s because most of us were not born of the Spirit . Once born again, His Spirit indwells man giving peace even in the midst of trials ,
@@seekthetruthandthetruthwil2388 Do you really believe of the thousands of religions that ever existed, that you just so happened to choose the right one, or do you even think about that? Other religions have their own hell too?
I know this interview is a year old, but I have a very Baptist experience to share. Like this girl, I was exposed to a lot of end of times/tribulation/rapture doctrine. One of the things churches in the area would do during Halloween was an alternative to haunted houses called Judgement House. The setup was a depiction of the classic saved person and an nonbeliever dying a very violent and gruesome death. It was usually a car crash. The rooms in the church showed a crash scene, funeral for each student where the Christian parents were always calm and the others were hysterical, a scene where they are each told if their names were in the Book of Life, and then one scene each of heaven and hell completed with blasting heat and misery or cool air and harp music playing. At the end they’d have a tent set up for re-dedication or prayers for getting saved.
I don’t know if they got in trouble for the name, but it was later switched to Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames. In the end, they were purely focused on using fear to manipulate young people and literally scare the hell out of us. I think that might have been my first step in challenging what I was being taught that would ultimately result in my walking away from the faith 2 decades later.
Yes it’s a recruitment & marketing strategy when they announce these toxic doctrines of death, hell, heaven, judgement day and then they’ll add in conspiracies as well to create mass confusion. Then you have those demigod pastors who love to mention ‘prophetic’ dreams or visions that something will happen or they’ll speak over things they have no clue about just to keep you apart of their church/denomination.
My grandparents were tricked back into Christianity within their church when the church went far to create a fake obituary for them in the late 1980s. They used a tactic that since they left church/religion that they would die and get cast to hell, then their family members would start to die off since they back slide and turned against the male ‘god’ in the sky lol. No kidding unfortunately my grandparents let this kept them apart of religion for years and still today sits in church 3-4x a week for 3 hours at a time 😂.
*The idea that Yahweh would kill his own son, but he won't just kill Satan right from the beginning.*
Love this!
Excellent points
When man ate of the tree of death, mortality entered mankind. Our good works have no life in themselves to help us conquer death That’s why Life Himself came to destroy our death and return us to immortality..
@@seekthetruthandthetruthwil2388
Adam & Eve were never created immortal. Even if Adam and Eve did not disobey God, they could not have naturally lived forever, they would still need to eat from the tree of life in order to be able to live forever (Genesis 2:16). So they were dying from the start just as we are.
@@seekthetruthandthetruthwil2388 The fact that dinosaurs exist disprove Genesis outright. Dinosaurs and humans never coexisted which means something was already here before 'creation'.
@@multi-milliondollarmike5127 I am always amazed at how the meteorite destroyed all the dinosaurs all over the earth yet managed to keep their bones intact. Assuming it’s a ball of fire that destroyed the dinosaurs
People look back on how much valuable childhood time was wasted on worrying about hell. As for me, I won't spend many minutes of my time left talking about anything religion if the subject comes up. I will walk away without excusing myself. I don't purposely walk on social balance beams just to fit in.
Jesus loved you bro, kidding lol
@@jeffdowns1038 yes Jeff. He's here spending a minute or 2 of his time sharing his experience with those of us who aren't happy with fanatics brainwashing us as children because of their own insecurities. Some of us are still dealing with the consequences of pushing evil mythology on us.
You defending this disgusting theology and "spending some of your time" criticizing Joseph says a lot about you.
@@dianestafford6968 That's why I despise the xtian theology. Threatens eternal torture for not bowing to their monster god. Consequences? You mean 'punishment' from a petty god who gets mad if you don't praise him.
Plus Muslims and Hindus are not "free" to chose a foreign religion and forsake their family's traditions - which is ALL that matters to xtians when it comes to "choices". Faith is hereditary, you just happen to be born in the right religion.
Kinda odd that apologists are always using "free will" to excuse their god's evil deeds and incompetence. And yet the book they try to shove down everyone's throat explicitly states that we don't have free will.
@@dianestafford6968 God so loved the world, he demanded a human sacrifice for his own mistakes.
Then he continued to 'love' the world by not making the effort to give this important message to 99.9999% of the world's population.
@@dianestafford6968 Really? You just put "....go and make disciples of all nations"
That's my fricken point Diane: *Your god didn't do this* He's literally asking others to do this job.
That's the problem with your theology, and it's unassailable - your god made NO effort to give his message to the vast majority of the world's populations. It took 1600 years to even reach there. Your god is ethnocentric.
I tolerate everybody's religion. People have the right to believe as they please. What they do not have right is to try to impose they religious views on me or on society. I fight for freedom of religion that includes freedom from it as well.
@@dianestafford6968 If all christians did was yammer about their beliefs you might have a point to make. But I think you know this isn't the case.
So this leaves me wondering if your response is a result of poor literacy or disingenuousness.
@@dianestafford6968 Or to another religions hell.
@@dianestafford6968 You say that, but believing Jesus died for your sins is still inherently religious. People try to distance themselves from the name religion, but are still just as religious. It's nothing, but rebranding. Why believe a man died for you, when the concept for original sin doesn't exist. The fact that dinosaurs exist contradict the story of Genesis because dinosaurs and humans never coexisted. But no one seems to think about this simple logical argument that debunks the whole concept of original sin. The Bible is man made, just like other holy books.
@@dianestafford6968 So you are okay with others telling you their truth? And being in your face about it? Really?
@@slartibartfast1268 I don't think I get what you mean. I'm just stating the fact that religions are man made, and believing in religious figures still is inherently religious. It just might mean certain people may not want to go to church anymore or something, but they'd still be bound by the religious holy book.
She is such a pretty, bright and bubbly person. It is hard to imagine she was so sad for so long. Glad she got out.
Just reading the Bible turned me into an atheist. I mean : A TALKING SNAKE in the Garden of Eden?????
The snake is a symbol of ancient priestess and women wisdom before women and the snake was demonized by Christianity.
@@christianthinker2536 Pride comes before the fall.
The cult I was in for more than 30 years interpreted the Bible to be saying that the tribulation comes before the rapture. The Antichrist was going to be in charge and Christians would be persecuted and tested. That prospect scared me a lot more than the idea of hell as we would be alive during that time.
🤣🤣🤣
Lol 😂 the control mechanism and recruitment strategy is all that is.
Great interview! I found your channel when I started deconstructing and every single video speaks to my experience. A big THANKS! You're doing an excellent job with those interviews. Keep up the good work.
I agree
This is a great interview. Nice to meet others who have deconverted from the Christian cult. Good job guys!
@@christophergibson7155 Can you prove one word you just said? No, you cannot. Until you can prove what you speak you may want to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to prove it. By the way, you cannot use the Bible to prove it.....that is called Circular Logic in formal debates and is not permitted. Thus, you must prove it by using extrabiblical sources.
@@christophergibson7155 But, what if I am raised in a culture that has never heard of Jesus Christ (and that equals about 3 billion people currently in 2021), and my culture teaches me to kill an enemy from another tribe?
My conscience will not "convict" me of that being wrong. In fact, I will likely be rewarded by my tribe for defending my tribe. This is why "The Conscience Theory" fails.
Our conscience is geared towards and molded by the specific culture we grow up in.
Nice to meet you also.
I hope your enjoying yourself here. !
@@christophergibson7155
My reply was to Von.
But I hope you are learning something new here also. 👍
@@bellezavudd Hello. Nice to meet you as well.
Emotional blackmail, plain and simple….
Tim, how do you handle knowing your kids are hearing that garbage? I’m so sorry you’re going through that! I’m just glad my kids are grown now and I don’t have to worry about that . My husband is still a believer, but wants nothing to do with church so we get along ok
It's so difficult, and heartbreaking every single day. I think what really hurts almost as much is the ambivalence of loved ones, who know you knew the Gospel and loved Jesus, who knew you knew what was at stake, and when you still leave the Bible prison, they don't care to ask or know why. They become ambivalent to your journey: "I don't care, and I don't care that I don't care."
@@HarmonicAtheist I am so sorry Tim! This is why I have not told anyone but my husband and my boys about my deconversion. My father-in-law is a pastor of 40 years and my mom and family are all super religious Christians. I am not ready for all the judgment right now. I hope one day I will be strong enough to tell my story to all of them. It’s bound to come out one day
I was so scared to tell my husband… I was afraid I might lose him. But he continues to love me as I am.
so your gonna teach your kids GODLESSNESS .HATE, GENDER CONFUSED, BABY IN WOMB KILLING IMMORALITY OF ALL SORTS. YEA HELLS HOT
I wouldn't worry too much about kids hearing garbage. They would hear some form of garbage anyway. They need to learn to deal with that, their mental immune system needs to get trained. For that, you just need to make sure they're not monopolized by one single ideology who claims to represent the absolute truth. You can take the sting out of almost anything by calmly demonstrating that there are alternatives, and by living the life that you find right. Kids will get it, eventually.
The whole idea of christianity and all extra spiritual beliefs fucks up so many people. They speak of a father's great love.... lol. Like no matter what my children would ever do or think. Would cause me to sentence them to eternal suffering..
Yea that's a father's love.
@@dianestafford6968 The Abrahamic god isn't real. Grow up. It's Hebrew mythology.
@@dianestafford6968
The Israelite religion evolved out of the Canaanite religion. *YHWH/Yahweh was some minor deity from the southern Levant who over time took on the imagery and attributes of the older mythical Canaanite deities El and Baal.* He only became the one "true" god when some Yahweh-only Israelites/fanatics pushed that agenda.
Dr Christine Hayes who lectures on the Hebrew Bible at Yale University outlines this in lecture 7 from 30:00 minutes onwards. Also lecture 8 from 12:00 to 19:00 minutes.
czcams.com/video/h_UmuEBmS5k/video.html
czcams.com/video/kS17dLuTPd0/video.html
Also, inscriptions were found in the form of blessings, referencing *"Yahweh and his Asherah."* Asherah was originally the wife of the Canaanite deity El, so the merging of Yahweh with El is obvious.
www.seeker.com/amphtml/gods-wife-edited-out-of-the-bible-almost-1766083399.html
*The Canaanite pantheon was conceived as a divine clan, headed by the supreme god El; the gods collectively made up the elohim. Through the centuries, the pantheon of Canaanite gods evolved, so that El and Asherah were more important in earlier times, while Baal and his consorts came to fore in later years.*
*Asherah-early semitic Mother goddess, "Lady of the sea," *consort of El*, also called Athirat,**the mother of 70 gods***
((Inscriptions were found in the form of blessings, referencing *"Yahweh and his Asherah."* Asherah was originally the wife of El according to the older Ugaritic/Canaanite texts. Baal was one of their sons))
*El-the chief deity, god of the sky, father of many lesser gods (including Baal) and ruler of the divine assembly, also worshiped by the Israelites*
*El Elyon-Special title of El as "God most High"*
The Book of Genesis itself describes the patriarch Abraham as a worshiper of El-also called El Shaddai and *El Elyon-building altars, offering sacrifices, and paying tithes to him.*
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Canaanite_Religion#Relationship_to_biblical_religion
*Before the rise of Israel, Asherah was the wife of El, the head god of the Canaanite pantheon. According to the archeological evidence, the people who became Israelites were mostly native Canaanites who settled in the hills of what is now the West Bank, while it seems that small but influential groups also migrated there from the south in the Midian (in and around the Araba Valley in Sinai).* As the Bible itself testifies, that is where Yahweh veneration appears to have originated, and, in a process that in this respect resonates with the Moses story, *the migrants introduced Yahweh to the native Canaanites who were becoming Israelites.* **Over time, El declined and merged into Yahweh. As part of that process, Yahweh inherited Asherah from El as his wife.**
www.google.com/amp/s/mythologymatters.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/yahwehs-divorce-from-the-goddess-asherah-in-the-garden-of-eden/amp/
*Many of these features of the god El will sound remarkably familiar to the astute reader of the Hebrew Bible because of their application to YHWH, the god of Israel.* The Ugaritic corpus, which *PRE-DATES* the vast majority of the writings of the Hebrew Bible by at least several centuries, is perhaps the most illuminating body of literature for the study of the Hebrew Bible because of its close thematic, linguistic, and stylistic connections to that corpus. Furthermore, the Ugaritic texts are the only texts from the ancient world that give us direct, native insight into the religious worldview of a society that worshiped many of the gods polemicized against in the Hebrew Bible, and most especially the god Baal and the goddess Asherah (Ugaritic Athirat). *In this case we are able to see that the ancient Israelites, as disclosed through the Hebrew Bible, appropriated a number of terms, themes, and titles from the god El in their portrayals of YHWH.*
In contrast, there is no significant evidence that El was imagined as a warrior god like YHWH or Baal. **Moreover, like Baal, but entirely unlike El, YHWH is frequently associated with storm imagery.**
Additionally, in much Israelite religious practice throughout the monarchic period, *YHWH had a divine consort, the goddess Asherah ((originally the wife of El according to the older Ugaritic/Canaanite texts)), the Hebrew equivalent of Ugaritic Athirat.[11]*
www.patheos.com/blogs/faithpromotingrumor/2010/03/when-jehovah-was-not-the-god-of-the-old-testament-part-ii/amp/
When the *Most High [Hebrew: Elyon]* gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men [Hebrew: Adam], He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8 , ASV)
*According to the above passage, Elyon (title for El as "God Most High") (by the way, if you didn’t notice, this is not Yahweh) divided up the nations and set boundaries (borders) around them. These nations were "numbered" according to the "sons of Elohim."* Genesis chapter 10, commonly referred to as the "Table of Nations," lists the nations descended from Noah through his three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. The total number of nations in this list is *seventy.* *((Refer back to the previous part of my post where it states Asherah is the mother of 70 gods and wife of El))*
The ancient city of Ugarit was discovered in 1928 in Syria. The height of the Ugaritic civilization was around the 12th Century BCE making them contemporaries with the Israelites. Also, the religion and language of the Ugarit people are very similar to that of the Israelites. Excavations of the site revealed an ancient library filled with clay tablets. *One such tablet states that El Elyon had seventy sons (the Elim) and each son was allocated to a specific people ((El and Asherah had 70 sons)). Many of these sons of El are mentioned by name, including El of Shaddai and El of Beriyt.*
*Can you see the close parallels between Deuteronomy 32:8, Genesis 10 and the Ugarit tablets? According to these sources, Elyon divided up all the nations into* **seventy** *nations ((El and Asherah had 70 sons)), one for each of his sons (Elim). Not a very monotheistic view of Elohim is it?*
sites.google.com/site/yahwehelohiym/sons-of-god/the-boundaries-of-the-nations
When the *Most High (’elyôn)* gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated humanity, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of divine beings. For Yahweh’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
There are two points to take away from this passage. First, the passage presents an apparently older mythic theme that describes when the divine beings, that is each deity in the divine counsel, were assigned and allotted their own nation. *Israel was the nation that Yahweh received. Second, Yahweh received his divine portion, Israel, through an action initiated by the god El, here identifiable through his epithet “the Most High.” In other words, the passage depicts two gods: one, the Most High (El), is seen as assigning nations to the divine beings or gods (the Hebrew word is elohim, plural “gods”) in his council; the other, Yahweh, is depicted as receiving from the first god, the Most High, his particular allotment, namely the people of Israel.* ((Here Yahweh is subordinate to El))
Similarly, in another older tradition now preserved in Numbers 21:29, the god Chemosh is assigned to the people of Moab.
*Other biblical passages reaffirm this archaic view of Yahweh as a god in El’s council. Psalm 82:1 speaks of the “assembly of El,” Psalm 29:1 enjoins “the sons of El” to worship Yahweh, and Psalm 89:6-7 lists Yahweh among El’s divine council.* ((Yahweh is subordinate to El and is one of his sons))
Thus there seems to be ample evidence in the biblical record to support the claim that as Yahweh become the supreme national deity of the Israelites, he began to usurp the imagery, epithets, and old cultic centers of the god El. *This process of assimilation even morphed the linguistic meaning of the name El, which later came to mean simply “god,” so that Yahweh was then directly identified as ’el-thus Joshua **22:22**: “the god of gods is Yahweh” (’el ’elohim yhwh).* ((El became a generic term for God after they got merged together))
contradictionsinthebible.com/are-yahweh-and-el-the-same-god/
When the *Most High* divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
*Some scholars who have used the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint to reconstruct the authentic version of the verse say that “children of Israel” was stuck in as a replacement for “sons of El.” With that lost phrase restored, a verse that was cryptic suddenly makes sense: El-the most high god, Elyon-divided the world’s people into ethnic groups and gave one group to each of his sons ((El and Asherah had 70 sons)). And Yahweh, one of those sons, was given the people of Jacob.* Apparently at this point in Israelite history (and there’s no telling how long ago this story originated) *Yahweh isn’t God, but just a god-and a son of God, one among many.* ((Here Yahweh is subordinate to El and is one of his sons))
*So how does Yahweh rise through the ranks? How does a god initially consigned to a lower level of the pantheon eventually merge with the chief god, El, and even, in a sense, supplant him? …*
evolutionofgod.net/question_israelite
religionatthemargins.com/2011/07/the-most-heiser-yahweh-and-elyon-in-psalm-82-and-deuteronomy-32/ (article on the scholarly consensus of Yahweh as a son of El and lesser Canaanite god)
@@dianestafford6968 Do you have a torture chamber down in the cellar were you put your children If they are disobedient?
@@dianestafford6968I dont buy the idea of hell. Why punish a temporary sin with eternal torments?
And Im sorry for the lost of your child. It must be horrible.
@@dianestafford6968 I have red the Bible. I once was a christian but Im not anymore.
I think that the Bible is mythology.
If you suffer from religious trauma please see a trauma therapist. Don't feel bad if you just can't let it go. Trauma is a piece of you trapped in the moment of trauma. It's not something you can just ignore and relegate to the past as it will always affect your now until it is resolved. So,e of the advice given here is not meant for people suffering from trauma.
After becoming a Christian I got rid of all my records also. ☹️
I did the same. Now when I have deconstruct my beliefs it feels quite insane to do such a thing.
Same here. Records, tapes, ear rings, other jewellery, a lot of my clothes.......
@@pinky9440 I know there’s certain denominations that don’t allow the women to wear pants and the women must surrender all of her pants forever no matter the occasion. My grandmother hasn’t worn pants since 1974 because she feels it’s a sin lmao.
It strips you of your true passions, goals, aspirations, identity, and desires. That’s all.
@BriTheNonconformist Yes, the cult I was in also didn't allow pants, make-up, jewellery (even wedding rings). Only dresses and skirts, no sleeveless shirts, no low-cut tops (definitely no cleavage).
I was an adult back when those movies came out and even I was horrified especially when they showed a guillotine with someone’s head falling
into a bucket and blood dripping everywhere! I don’t understand why they would show movies like this to young kid’s…it’s complete insanity!
Excellent video!!!
It's so AMAZING how we can ALL RELATE AND IDENTIFY with one another regardless of which denomination we come from! It's GREAT to have fellowship with like-minded people!!!
Thanks so much Tim and Tara.😁
Thank you for another great interview. Yes, Christianity is Mythology.
what we are told about the founding if the USA is also mythology; what can be said as fact is that a man did not create the heavens or the earth...
@@dianestafford6968 the question isn't WHAT the "teams" did when executing the "war"?; the question is WHY the "war"?...
@@dianestafford6968 What if people do exactly all the wonderful things a supposed christian does, but they could care less about your god? Are you seriously saying that if someone doesn't believe in your version of supernatural nonsense, they are condemned? You should be ashamed of yourself...
Of course it's myth..Mathew 27.53 is science fiction..
Wow, her childhood environment sounds so much like mine, from dress code, hair style restrictions, small church school, six inch rule, left behind movies, women should get married and take care of the family and on and on. I also hated witnessing and handing out tracks, but struggled with depression for the last few years in the church because I thought I was responsible for people's souls. We read Chick tracts and even the full-sized Chick comic books. My dad, who's a pastor, still has many of those tracts at his church. I can't stand to look at them.
Hi, Helen, please feel free to reach out if you'd ever be up for an interview: harmonicatheist@yahoo.com
I was raised in the Methodist Church growing up but got sent to a Baptist school in 82 when I was 15. I can still remember the insanity. No dances, only banquets. So we created our own dances. It was the first time I heard about the rapture. And I was a bit of a crazy person because we used to debate abortion and of course, these kids had NEVER seen situations I was around growing up. All of them were "pro life" if that even applies anymore. And one of my classmates got pregnant and ended up giving the baby up for adoption. They expelled her for that. But the guy got to graduate. I remember thinking how unfair that was. And this was all back in 82-85. I was just glad to graduate and move on in my life.
Tim's description of Hell reminded me of the torture device known as the Brazen Bull. The Brazen Bull was described as a hollow bronze bull that a person is locked inside and a fire lit underneath them to roast them to death. Only difference being bull shaped instead of person shaped and technically it ends when they die instead of going on forever.
Liked this interview and relate to her. I grew up lukewarm Christian, so didn’t have to suffer that trauma. I relate to her as a meditator, yoga practitioner and Eastern thinker. Consciousness doesn't have a point of view and the ultimate realization is Consciousness Itself. The work is transcending ego and the understanding is the ego ultimately doesn’t exist. A koan? Yes.
I really love her take on the "label" thing! Is a tree a tree? Or just what we've called it? I've always thought about that. If the trees could talk, what would they call themselves? What would the trees call us?
Excellent episode!
It seems that the apparent mythology of Christianity was added to Christ's teachings by those who transcribed the N.T. Jesus recorded nothing; and those who did, wrote what they remembered many years after the events. Christ therefore did not edit what was written in his name and we know that not all of what was written was included in the canon of the N.T. However, what does appear in the orthodoxy, are documents that are of doubtful authenticity and meaning. It appears that what Jesus taught has been obfuscated by a mythological religion that has adopted elements of pagan beliefs to make it universally acceptable. For two thousand years many millions of people have been tortured and/or murdered by believers of this religion.
Well said, Mike!
We have people writing in koine greek decades later. We do not know what hearsay anyone told them, what the authors invented and what they just ignored. We see that they copy each other extensively and at the same sime change what they do not like. So they do not only produce fanfiction, but intentionally alter that what other produce before. So they have their own agenda and telling facts is not one of it.
Massage therapist here too!!! I'm private now. Was getting far too many creeps working for a company. Even had someone write my name and the last company I worked for on a happy endings website. Fired me without getting my side of the story.
Please also Interview Esther Dhanraj from India.
Religion: “How can I get the money from your pocket into mine?” Sheep. ATMs in churches now. It’s ok. Catholic is self-destructing. Baa.
Expanding your tagline. 👍
Hillsong is also self destructing..
What a fantastic interview and deconversion story!
I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no means are venomous enough, or secret, subterranean and small enough - I call it the one immortal blemish upon the human race."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Great interview as always. I do wish you would've asked her if she had seen Zeitgeist part 1 and/or read any of Acharya's work.
@@jeffdowns1038 thank you
I will read these later
@@jeffdowns1038 We know how xtians respond. We have 2000 years of excuses trying to defend an incompetent and cruel god.
@@jeffdowns1038 yes, and I hear fanatics repeating the same hoary and silly comments as well. Take for example "something from nothing" which atheists do not believe. Or maybe the "Mao/Stalin/Pol Pot" retort to deflect from worshiping the evilest monster ever recorded. Or "takes more faith to be atheist". Or attributing our constitution and successes of the US from the bible. And many more that show ignorance of evolution and cosmology.
Nah, you can't make that accusation against us without implicating your own people. Throwing stones in a glasshouse.
And the "one less god" isn't dumb. It shows just how ridiculous xtians are ignoring the millions of other gods claiming theirs is the only real god.
"Blind" is worshiping a cruel and vicious god and calling him love. And giving credit to the creation of the universe to such an incompetent and blundering god, thinking you are so special that your invisible friend created a billion galaxies for you.
@@jeffdowns1038 You are the one who is blind if you think the most important event in all of history, ordained by the most powerful being who stated he wanted everyone to hear the message, has ZERO contemporaneous historical mention. ZERO.
And thinking this human sacrifice was so important, but then jesus did such a horrible job getting this important message out. He didn't try and didn't seem to care. Was it laziness? Apathy? Incompetence?
If this meets your definition for "god", then knock yourself out. We are not blind, just not gullible to believe such a daffy fairy tale.
Hello! No, I have not read or seen those. 🙂
I attended an Independent Baptist Christian school from age 4 to age 15, from kindergarten through the tenth grade. And I went to a Christian Reconstructionist church. My experience was virtually identical to Tara's. Interestingly, I was able to start on the process of deconversion largely through my own thought and will at the age of 14 or 15. Religion was something I struggled with until I was in my early 20s when I finally became an atheist. Along the way, I flirted with other forms of Christianity, Eastern mysticism, New Age spiritualities, and the occult. This was in the 80s before there was the Internet or the organized atheist movement we have today. All I really had to work with were the encyclopedia, books on religion I found in the school or public library, at the mall, or at used book stores. And I had no support from others. My parents, my school, and my church were all "against" me. When I was 16 or 17, after I had started going to public school, I had a group of friends who were self-styled Satanists (in a very silly and childish way, lol).
However, along the way, I began to very gradually have a small insight here and there (for example, the fact that the penal substitutionary atonement amounts to human sacrifice or that the communion ritual amounts to cannibalism) or come across a scrap of information here and there (like reading about Zoroastrianism in the encyclopedia or about Calvin's persecution of Servetus). A couple of books that really helped me at the very end of that journey were Gerard Staub's "Salvation for Sale" and Edmund D. Cohen's "The Mind of the Bible Believer." Again, this was in the 80s, long before the appearance of "celebrity atheists" like Dawkins, Harris, etc. There was Madalyn Murray O'Hair but she was considered an extremist and a nut even by non-believers at the time. Around the same time, I saw Dan Barker on the old "Donahue" show in one of his early TV appearances and was amazed that a former fundamentalist pastor had become an atheist. I am now "religion-free" for more than a third of a century.
I agree with what Tara says at the end as well. I am glad that I grew up the way I did because it inoculated me to religion as an adult. It's like having chickenpox as a child keeps you from having a worse case if you have it when you are older.
3000 subscribers!
Slowly but surely growing!
@@HarmonicAtheist A very worthwhile goal will be lovely marathon, each discussion a satisfying sprint. Keep running champ !
Thanks. 👍
Thank you -
Fear should never be the source of religion
People don't think rationally under fear, that's why religion thrives on it.
@@multi-milliondollarmike5127 there is loving fear.
@@multi-milliondollarmike5127 don't you love the sun and at the same time you have to fear the sun because it can burn you right.
@@lesdervanegas3872 That sounds like a false equivalence. The 'loving' god of the Bible sanctioned r@p3, stonings, sexism, homophobia, g3noc1de, owning people as property and so on. The sun is impartial. Your version of god isn't.
@@multi-milliondollarmike5127 God is so loving and doen't want you to live in sin, that is why you need to fear God by not sinning.
All three monotheisms are like controlling, abusive relationships. The powerful one in the relationship says to the other…you are a worthless piece of trash, unworthy of love and inherently bad and you should be grateful that I love you. And if you don’t always love me and obey me, I threaten to punish and torment you. It’s just that with an abusive husband or boyfriend, the abuse will end one day. But with god, it’s much worse, punishment is eternal. It’s about obedience and coercive love. The abused person can sincerely love. It’s sadomasochistic
All NDEs agree that all they were taught was wrong and never encounter a hell. To me leaving in N. Korea is man made hell. As a Southern Baptist all my like. all this resonates with me. I still believe in a real creator, but the angry one mentioned in the old testament.
Legit question. Does the atheist community accept aryuveda as a real science for health? I've been intrested in this but am unclear on weather this is just another system based in mythology or real well being practice.
I would say that everyone has their own opinion, there’s not one set of “rules” that we all follow.
While Ayurveda and Yoga do come from the Vedas, it’s not exclusively for people who identify as hindu or any other religion. It’s not religious in itself. Spiritual, yes, but not religious. They both teach you how to go within and find your own truth.
Ayurveda is mainly for diet, nutrition and lifestyle. It all boils down to eating seasonally and locally and eating non processed foods. Ayurveda is considered a science, even though it has an underlying spiritual philosophy. But it’s for everyone, everywhere, of any time and doesn’t teach “religion”.
Hope that helps. 🙂
Awesome interview!
Thanks, Anthony!
I felt nothing either
Tara banks? I'm thinking of the model
If you end up in hell and your head is cut off then what happens for the rest of eternity? Do they glue it back on then cut it off again, repeatedly? Or do they have an eternal game of football with it? This is such bizarre nonsense.
8:27--The F word on the H A Show ! Woot !
I couldn’t help myself…🙊
Protecting men by dressing modestly? That is hiding the intrinsic weaknesses of the men. If they have such intrinsic weaknesses, they have them regardless of whether someone tempts them. The fact that they have the weaknesses means they are not being spiritual enough. So it is THEIR fault, not the fault of the women. They need to man-up.
I guess you take away '' hell '' and there is no christianity.
Or at least no need for it.
Yep. It's coercion carrot and stick at it's foundation
You can also render genesis as logically absurd through what I call the Perfection Conundrum, which eliminates all of Christianity downstream
There would be no need for the gospel of Jesus Christ if there was no hell. Why did Jesus lay down his life if there is no hell? Why did He suffer a bloody horrible painful death if there is no hell? He is the Savior, so what is He the Savior of? Jesus Christ came to save you from your sins, and from the judgment of hell which we all justly deserve. We all have broken God's moral law and justice must be served. Thank God For Jesus!!!
He paid the debt for us all. Praise God forever more!!!
@@christophergibson6694 Howe bout proving jesus, as man\god '' savior '' actually existed then PROVING all this -- not with faith, assumptions, apologetics, emotional appeal ... but actual PROOF ?
'Christianity is mythology '.....no kidding. I realized that around the same time I realized Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy were fiction; about the age of 7 ....lol
As a kid, I also figured out the Santa Claus thing. But I didn't figure out the Bible is mythology until just this year and I'm 52. Sadly many are never going to see it.
@@lloydtucker5647 agreed. It's become a cult in parts of America.
Indoctrination of the young should be a crime
@@karenulvang5375 agreed
Exactly!!!!
I went to catholic grade school high school and college. Frankly it wasnt that bad but certainly had its moments. I was lucky i guess. Now i look back and it was so silly
Truth or not I hold myself to trusting in Jesus Christ. It's the least I can do since I stopped reading the Bible and spending time with God.
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;” -John 11:25
*Truth or not I hold myself to trusting* in my broomstick... Broomstick said to her...[such and such so said the book which I stopped reading, haha, contradicting yourself]. As I *BELIEVE* my broomstick therefore it is true, as it brings comfort to me. Broomstick is LORD!
Chino you've set yourself up to be a slave to ancient fictions. Jesus is a character, not real.
Chino he never said it, he never even read it. Yeshuah was decades dead before John made up this story. Yeshuah is just a character in John's fanfiction like Harry Potter is in the Hatty Potter series.
@@TorianTammas Noooo I cannot accept defeat!
Larry Norman, FYI - I Wish We'd All Been Ready
Thanks!
Yes! The Father of Christian Rock’n’roll. DC Talk did a remake and I think Larry made a cameo appearance in the music video. I know…. TMI 🤷🏼♂️
14:22 "he burned his Elton John records" now *THAT* is a sin ;-)
There are two creation stories because there are two identities for the deity. Eating the fruit enabled Adam and Eve to mistake the deity as two separate identities. That’s why the deity’s name is Yehovah Elohim in the garden story and only Elohim in the first creation story. Yehovah is the deity in the sky concerned with ethics. Elohim is the deity of the earth concerned with nature.
Ya was not introduced until Moses. It was EL or Elohim in the beginning.
And still, this pretty, bright and bubbly person will go to hell, just because she doesn't believe is this "so loving god".
“Hell” doesn’t exist. It’s Norse mythology. Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus exist and were all mistranslated as “Hell” in English bibles. Find out what Gehenna, Hades, and Tartarus are and you have a new and God-glorifying theology. (Hint: none of those three are pagan torture chambers where unbelievers are roasted for eternity).
If the angry God in the old testament could sacrifice innocent animals and children first born ,wipe out some enemies of the Jews, why can't he kill Satan and his demons? As a thought he was all powerful.
As a Southern Baptist for over 80 years i am also going through deconstruction.
@@GonzalesLanguages truth. It never made sense because it’s not real. That’s all.
no need to worry about the worms and insects. the fire would have killed all them off.
In the actual Hebrew, Eve was created not as a “help mate”, but as a girding counterpart. The words are literally “strong opposite” in Hebrew.
Its mythology and man made ata way later date than proposed. Just search out information on the oldest manuscripts , hwat language, where and when they were found. Search archeology for all majr figures in the bible. Abraham iSSAC Jaacob Moses and Yeshua
The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.
Thomas Jefferson
founding father, 3rd US President
ALL reLIEgions are built on fear, ssssstrrreeesss, emotional traumatizing ... negativity.
Wow! Imagine being in Hell forever! Eternity is a long time, especially towards the the end. 😂
🤣🤣 so absurdly nonsensical. Christian's never question the meaninglessness and absurdity or heaven and hell
@@alfaisaac024 Christians dont dare to question anything surrounding the Bible and their belief. Why? Its the fear. They fear that God may reject them and throw them in hell.
The hell doctrine must be the most evil thing invented ever in mankind.
And the mindset and fear around hell is the last thing that would leave a person that deconstruct their faith.
Yeah, but that means that the boredom is probably worse than all this burning in the long run. I mean, you get used to a lot of things. When you've had this burning and skinning alive and torturing stuff every day for a few thousand or million years, you inevitably get used to it. And then you still have all the remaining eternity to enjoy. I think you eventually will get so bored that you actually start to enjoy the distraction of getting burned again and again.
At any rate, I wouldn't fancy the job of the devil trying to come up constantly with new ways of torturing me to keep me entertained. But then, I guess it would be pretty much the same in heaven. So, towards the end of eternity, I might have lost all sense of a difference between hell and heaven. It might well all be equally boring and mind-numbing.
But perhaps, that's what nirvana is.
Oops, wrong religion...
The best thing about life is NOT-LIFE...the very definition of NIHILISM
no wonder yoga was in there what is it yo gain the whole world and loose your soul' the thought of dying without god would be the worst and then wonder why the world is like this when we indoctorinate our children as cause them to be eternal lost without GOD.
It's only the worst because you were conditioned to think it is. You can't fathom living without it. That is Codependency. And a lack of strength. Ultimately I would argue a lack of true virtue.
Be actually more "Godly"/like God and learn Self Sufficiency, just as your Designer in heaven is.
This would truly glorify him
Good thing she's never read the Appocrifa. She'd turn into a Karen real quick. The Eurocentric church isn't of Yah anyway. Edom has there own god, that isn't the same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That's why you don't get it Tara.
Jesus went out for cigarettes 2000 years ago , still not back......
@@doug2993
There were scoffers before your god and his bible was even invented.
@@doug2993
Ooooh my poor poor lad.
Youve been sold a pack of lies. 1st off there are a number of books much much older than your bible with similiar messages from other gods. Its just cultural propaganda. Its like chanting usa usa usa . Its meaningless, yet makes a certain type of person feel better about things of which they know nothing.
@@doug2993
Youre wrong on all counts in reference to me.
Islam is another superstious abrahamic ideology , why would i have anything to do with it ?
But it shows that you're culturally unknowledgable about more things than just your own religion. I know how it is, I dont hold it against you.
Having fun with your family would be a much better use of your time .
@@doug2993 Jesus said he would return before that current generation died also. He was suppose to be the NEW king of the Jews and lead them against their foes. but i guess he needed those Newport 100's more
someone was speaking some bad stuff.
Just make sure you always have burn cream with you just in case.
Most likely Your mother got so defensive because thats how she was mistreated when young and she asked her own innocent questions about the bible. Generations of misguided "love".
Abiogenesis is mythology and I'm so glad I'm free!
So is the Abrahamic god.
The Israelite religion evolved out of the Canaanite religion. *YHWH/Yahweh was some minor deity from the southern Levant who over time took on the imagery and attributes of the older mythical Canaanite deities El and Baal.* He only became the one "true" god when some Yahweh-only Israelites/fanatics pushed that agenda.
Dr Christine Hayes who lectures on the Hebrew Bible at Yale University outlines this in lecture 7 from 30:00 minutes onwards. Also lecture 8 from 12:00 to 19:00 minutes.
czcams.com/video/h_UmuEBmS5k/video.html
czcams.com/video/kS17dLuTPd0/video.html
Also, inscriptions were found in the form of blessings, referencing *"Yahweh and his Asherah."* Asherah was originally the wife of the Canaanite deity El, so the merging of Yahweh with El is obvious.
www.seeker.com/amphtml/gods-wife-edited-out-of-the-bible-almost-1766083399.html
*The Canaanite pantheon was conceived as a divine clan, headed by the supreme god El; the gods collectively made up the elohim. Through the centuries, the pantheon of Canaanite gods evolved, so that El and Asherah were more important in earlier times, while Baal and his consorts came to fore in later years.*
*Asherah-early semitic Mother goddess, "Lady of the sea," *consort of El*, also called Athirat,**the mother of 70 gods***
((Inscriptions were found in the form of blessings, referencing *"Yahweh and his Asherah."* Asherah was originally the wife of El according to the older Ugaritic/Canaanite texts. Baal was one of their sons))
*El-the chief deity, god of the sky, father of many lesser gods (including Baal) and ruler of the divine assembly, also worshiped by the Israelites*
*El Elyon-Special title of El as "God most High"*
The Book of Genesis itself describes the patriarch Abraham as a worshiper of El-also called El Shaddai and *El Elyon-building altars, offering sacrifices, and paying tithes to him.*
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Canaanite_Religion#Relationship_to_biblical_religion
*Before the rise of Israel, Asherah was the wife of El, the head god of the Canaanite pantheon. According to the archeological evidence, the people who became Israelites were mostly native Canaanites who settled in the hills of what is now the West Bank, while it seems that small but influential groups also migrated there from the south in the Midian (in and around the Araba Valley in Sinai).* As the Bible itself testifies, that is where Yahweh veneration appears to have originated, and, in a process that in this respect resonates with the Moses story, *the migrants introduced Yahweh to the native Canaanites who were becoming Israelites.* **Over time, El declined and merged into Yahweh. As part of that process, Yahweh inherited Asherah from El as his wife.**
www.google.com/amp/s/mythologymatters.wordpress.com/2014/10/06/yahwehs-divorce-from-the-goddess-asherah-in-the-garden-of-eden/amp/
*Many of these features of the god El will sound remarkably familiar to the astute reader of the Hebrew Bible because of their application to YHWH, the god of Israel.* The Ugaritic corpus, which *PRE-DATES* the vast majority of the writings of the Hebrew Bible by at least several centuries, is perhaps the most illuminating body of literature for the study of the Hebrew Bible because of its close thematic, linguistic, and stylistic connections to that corpus. Furthermore, the Ugaritic texts are the only texts from the ancient world that give us direct, native insight into the religious worldview of a society that worshiped many of the gods polemicized against in the Hebrew Bible, and most especially the god Baal and the goddess Asherah (Ugaritic Athirat). *In this case we are able to see that the ancient Israelites, as disclosed through the Hebrew Bible, appropriated a number of terms, themes, and titles from the god El in their portrayals of YHWH.*
In contrast, there is no significant evidence that El was imagined as a warrior god like YHWH or Baal. **Moreover, like Baal, but entirely unlike El, YHWH is frequently associated with storm imagery.**
Additionally, in much Israelite religious practice throughout the monarchic period, *YHWH had a divine consort, the goddess Asherah ((originally the wife of El according to the older Ugaritic/Canaanite texts)), the Hebrew equivalent of Ugaritic Athirat.[11]*
www.patheos.com/blogs/faithpromotingrumor/2010/03/when-jehovah-was-not-the-god-of-the-old-testament-part-ii/amp/
When the *Most High [Hebrew: Elyon]* gave to the nations their inheritance, When he separated the children of men [Hebrew: Adam], He set the bounds of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8 , ASV)
*According to the above passage, Elyon (title for El as "God Most High") (by the way, if you didn’t notice, this is not Yahweh) divided up the nations and set boundaries (borders) around them. These nations were "numbered" according to the "sons of Elohim."* Genesis chapter 10, commonly referred to as the "Table of Nations," lists the nations descended from Noah through his three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth. The total number of nations in this list is *seventy.* *((Refer back to the previous part of my post where it states Asherah is the mother of 70 gods and wife of El))*
The ancient city of Ugarit was discovered in 1928 in Syria. The height of the Ugaritic civilization was around the 12th Century BCE making them contemporaries with the Israelites. Also, the religion and language of the Ugarit people are very similar to that of the Israelites. Excavations of the site revealed an ancient library filled with clay tablets. *One such tablet states that El Elyon had seventy sons (the Elim) and each son was allocated to a specific people ((El and Asherah had 70 sons)). Many of these sons of El are mentioned by name, including El of Shaddai and El of Beriyt.*
*Can you see the close parallels between Deuteronomy 32:8, Genesis 10 and the Ugarit tablets? According to these sources, Elyon divided up all the nations into* **seventy** *nations ((El and Asherah had 70 sons)), one for each of his sons (Elim). Not a very monotheistic view of Elohim is it?*
sites.google.com/site/yahwehelohiym/sons-of-god/the-boundaries-of-the-nations
When the *Most High (’elyôn)* gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated humanity, he fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of divine beings. For Yahweh’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.
There are two points to take away from this passage. First, the passage presents an apparently older mythic theme that describes when the divine beings, that is each deity in the divine counsel, were assigned and allotted their own nation. *Israel was the nation that Yahweh received. Second, Yahweh received his divine portion, Israel, through an action initiated by the god El, here identifiable through his epithet “the Most High.” In other words, the passage depicts two gods: one, the Most High (El), is seen as assigning nations to the divine beings or gods (the Hebrew word is elohim, plural “gods”) in his council; the other, Yahweh, is depicted as receiving from the first god, the Most High, his particular allotment, namely the people of Israel.* ((Here Yahweh is subordinate to El))
Similarly, in another older tradition now preserved in Numbers 21:29, the god Chemosh is assigned to the people of Moab.
*Other biblical passages reaffirm this archaic view of Yahweh as a god in El’s council. Psalm 82:1 speaks of the “assembly of El,” Psalm 29:1 enjoins “the sons of El” to worship Yahweh, and Psalm 89:6-7 lists Yahweh among El’s divine council.* ((Yahweh is subordinate to El and is one of his sons))
Thus there seems to be ample evidence in the biblical record to support the claim that as Yahweh become the supreme national deity of the Israelites, he began to usurp the imagery, epithets, and old cultic centers of the god El. *This process of assimilation even morphed the linguistic meaning of the name El, which later came to mean simply “god,” so that Yahweh was then directly identified as ’el-thus Joshua **22:22**: “the god of gods is Yahweh” (’el ’elohim yhwh).* ((El became a generic term for God after they got merged together))
contradictionsinthebible.com/are-yahweh-and-el-the-same-god/
When the *Most High* divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
*Some scholars who have used the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septuagint to reconstruct the authentic version of the verse say that “children of Israel” was stuck in as a replacement for “sons of El.” With that lost phrase restored, a verse that was cryptic suddenly makes sense: El-the most high god, Elyon-divided the world’s people into ethnic groups and gave one group to each of his sons ((El and Asherah had 70 sons)). And Yahweh, one of those sons, was given the people of Jacob.* Apparently at this point in Israelite history (and there’s no telling how long ago this story originated) *Yahweh isn’t God, but just a god-and a son of God, one among many.* ((Here Yahweh is subordinate to El and is one of his sons))
*So how does Yahweh rise through the ranks? How does a god initially consigned to a lower level of the pantheon eventually merge with the chief god, El, and even, in a sense, supplant him? …*
evolutionofgod.net/question_israelite
religionatthemargins.com/2011/07/the-most-heiser-yahweh-and-elyon-in-psalm-82-and-deuteronomy-32/ (article on the scholarly consensus of Yahweh as a son of El and lesser Canaanite god)
@@LM-jz9vh Wrong
People are not compared to filthy rags. The verse she attempted to paraphrase states that in comparison to the righteousness of God, human righteousness is like a filthy rag. You can say it's splitting hairs, but I think that's an important distinction.
I do also hope her declaration that her children are perfect was hyperbole or she's going to be a pain for any other parents to interact with when her kids screw up from time to time.
You cannot seriously believe that it is "righteous" for Yahweh/Jesus to have slaughtered countless babies and the unborn by drowning.
Wow you got the virgin story all wrong.
The virgin story IS all wrong!
Look up Jesus in Britannica and read about Resurrection. Its a fact!
Mmmmmm... No. He's in the dictionary. It doesn't prove anything other than he's in the dictionary.
@@multi-milliondollarmike5127 Britannica is Encyclopedia. Jesus is a historical fact. Google “Jesus Britannica”
@@multi-milliondollarmike5127 Prove that Britannica is wrong.
Why do extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence? Whats wrong with regular evidence?
Jesus is a historical fact. He is written about in Britannica.
The short answer to all of this is that she was never a believer to begin with.
Is this short answer giving any consolation? Does this sit better with you than someone who was a believer and quit?
@@stefanheinzmann7319 Not looking for any consolation...and, I stand by my comment. She may at one point have had an intellectual ascent; but, likely didn't have a genuine conversion experience.
@@TheDebmarci I don't believe there are any genuine conversion experiences. Only conversion experiences which appear genuine to you.
@@stefanheinzmann7319 Okay...your choice:)
But most people who leave were genuine believers
Jesus was either a liar, a lunatic, or God in human form. He said that He and the Father were one and the same. So either he lied, was deceived, or it's true. Tara Banks please choose one. But since He said that He would return from the grave and He did (as witnessed by hundreds) His death, burial, and resurrection is the single most documented historical event ever. For hundreds of years people debated the significance of what just happened, but no fool would say that it didn't because so many people witnessed it. Only now, after 2000 years, do folks say that we cannot believe historical evidence by Romans, Greeks, Jews, and Christians. True freedom is knowing that the Creator of all humanity loves each of us so much that He paid the price for our sin. As humans we cannot exist in heaven or earth with a perfect God unless we too are perfect and sinless. Let's say that someone abducted, raped, and killed your child. Could you say "That's OK. No problem. " Your response is that you aren't that bad. Your sin is much less. Your sin, no matter how small, will keep you apart from the perfect God forever.
Lord, Liar, Lunatic, or Legend/Mythology. 4 choices, not 3.
@@HarmonicAtheist For hundreds of years people debated the significance of what just happened, but no fool would say that it didn't because so many people witnessed it. Only now, after 2000 years, do folks say that we cannot believe historical evidence by Romans, Greeks, Jews, and Christians. There is more substantial and documented evidence of this event than any other event ever. For anyone to dismiss documented, historical events is lame. May as well say that the Egyptians did not build the pyramids, or Columbus did not sail across the Atlantic ocean or Napolean was made up legend. I guess that it is possible that everything that happened before you were born did not occur as history reveals. But you would also have to dismiss the hundreds of millions of people that met the real God Almighty through the face of Him that is revealed, i.e. Jesus. Just because you did not find Him does not mean that He is only a legend. He is a legend to you. He is real to millions and for some bizarre reason He values faith above works. He chose to reward faith above all as opposed to making robots.
@@HarmonicAtheist Haha loved it, I subbed, this is my first video of yours, myself been ex evangelical sadly born into, left the eternal evil bondage for my own freedom to treat all humanity as equals and free from terror, fear and eternal servitude to a fictional deity
@@timetoreason181 You are entitled to believe this. That is how you were created. That is why God values faith above all. In fact, it is the only thing that He values which shows His love for us. If He was a control type of god, He would have made us robots and forced us to obey and bow down. But He gave you a choice and you chose incorrectly. So be it.
@@dand7772 In this one and only life we know of I will never ever bend my knees to threats and intimidations. It is only the Bible, Jesus God worshipping Christians do to the fellow man, NONE in Confucian, Taoist or Buddhist tradition as they are more peaceful, loving, compassionate and merciful to fellow man, Buddhism extent it to all sentiment beings without any conditions attached. having said that I will NEVER EVER bend my knees to an evil and sadistic god or their prophets but only serve my fellow man as equals, and let them live without any fear, threats or intimidations.
I’m a Christian but why the attack on Christianity you do realize there’s other religions out there? Why not do ex Islam?
Cause that's the one he escaped from, is familiar with and fascinated by, and it's the most prevalent one in the western 1st world society.
Probably because he's an ex-christian and also because christianity was the blueprint used by many other denominations, cults and sects afterwards, right up until 2014 with the formation of ISIS. They saw how effectively the concept of a prophet/messiah/saviour/oracle together with a book containing its teachings could be used as a means of control, power and manipulation, and copied its method... hence the story of Islam, its prophet and the Quran 600 years after in a different part of the world... from the made up story of a prophet/messiah and his holy book the bible.
@@doug2993 Who are YOU to say this man has no right to speak HIS truth or provide a platform for others to express their truth? If YOU cannot "tolerate" free speech, nobody is forcing you to watch his videos. Please, ignore him and his channel... or better still keep your petty, arrogant little brain occupied by starting your own channel and see how many people agree with you, hmmm?
@@doug2993 I wouldn't expect anything more than good old circular reasoning from you. Go and do yourself a favour and learn some critical thinking. There is NO proof of any God let alone your personal flavour of deity, or absolute truth outside of the natural world and reality as we experience it. Grow up.
@@doug2993 I seriously don't doubt that you think it was your version of a God that saved you Doug, but HOW did you determine it was a God that "saved" you? And how did you rule out EVERY other possibility?
U have missed the true message of Jesus. May the Lord enlighten ur inner eyes.
If there was a *true* message of Jesus ALL Christian's would be united in *true* belief. We see no such thing.
Every believer finds or creates the God they need. This is what we see.
This is some of the laziest proselytizing I've ever seen. You can't even spell the words all the way out. You have no respect for your own message. You;re not trying at all. Your comment contains no useful information, no compassion, no curiosity. Just empty, vacuous sloganeering. You don't care about the people you're trying to save at all. There is no effort in this. Do you honestly think this kind of empty, drive-by jeering is going to bring anybody to Christ? You have a commission, son. You're not trying to fulfill it at all. Don't try to pass this lazy crap off to Jesus as if it's real work. You are awarded no points for this.
@@jeffdowns1038 Wrong, that's a shitty analogy. Let me show you why.
If evolution is true, then it's truth will be discovered over time as man increases in knowledge and application.
And this is what we see. Man adapting the narrative, more correctly, as we advance.
The Bible on the other hand, is claimed to be the Perfect inerrant Word of a Perfect God. And yet... confused,
misguided, misunderstood, and false, Christian's exist. Who all have many many incompatible and contradictory
beliefs from within the group.
See the difference? I doubt it but I'll pray for you.
May you stop gazing at your inner navel
@Skydaddy Myth-Busters There are no such filters. Christianity. Christianity, Christianity.
The problem with all these people deconstructing is because people look to man to somehow hold on to their faith in JESUS... The problem with that flawed set of thinking is that Man is flawed and fallible and not perfect in any way... The humans running Christianity are flawed and wrong not JESUS... Stop looking at man to be your example and look to CHRIST as your example... JESUS the CHRIST is our only example
He never existed in the first place.
@@jerrylanglois7892 where is your proof?
@@mrifollowchrist My proof is that there is no convincing evidence he existed... only hearsay. What is your proof he did ?
@@jerrylanglois7892 Im actually so glad you said that...It helps us come quicker to the agree to disagree ending....I totally understand how people would feel that it is a far fetched idea to believe in a GOD that they have never seen....however i also think its far fetched to believe of a big bang creating every thing..so if both side would just be honest and agree that both are equally far fetched then dialogue could be built more cordially from there
@@mrifollowchrist The issue was the existence of jesus, not god.