10 Questions Atheists Can't Answer...Easily Answered.

[@hammalammadingdong6244]

"10 questions no creationist will listen to atheists answer" is a better title.

[@mocabe01]

Too bad there were no "answers" here -- only dismissals. Just a bunch of grown men saying "It does not affect me so I don't have to believe you," with legs crossed swinging their heads from side-to-side.

[@hammalammadingdong6244]

@@mocabe01 I guess you didn’t press “play”.

[@Aaron.Thomas]

​@@mocabe01 Maybe try watching the video? With the volume on? I mean, people can answer your questions, but if you're going to dismiss the answers with your legs crossed swinging your head from side to side, that's on you.

[@Aaron.Thomas]

​@@hammalammadingdong6244 If theists were capable of being convinced by facts and evidence, they wouldn't be theists.

[@nickryan3417]

@@mocabe01 You mean dismissing completely stupid questions through answering them? Next time play the video and listen with your ears. You claim your god gave you two ears, so use them, you may also claim it gave you some brain cells, so engage them. Then if you happen to have a coherent thought and response, come back and make it.

[@A_Wild_Dyzzy]

I had a friend of mine ask me if I believe in god on discord. After learning of my Atheism he invited me to chat on a call. We had a long, and very polite conversation. The main thing we talked on was morality. But at the end of it all he said “I will pray for you. Have a wonderful night.” I know he meant it. And that he meant well. But it does come off as quite condescending.

[@Betito1171]

Tell him “don’t”

[@justanothermortal1373]

Atheist here. I don't mind if they pray for me, actually. While I don't believe in any of that, it's kind of nice to know that someone took the time to include me in their thoughts.

[@A_Wild_Dyzzy]

@@justanothermortal1373 I can understand that. Frankly, I’d have to agree. Though I’d rather it be from a place of love and not what comes across as pity.

[@BaskingInObscurity]

My mom shed tears, in one of her out-of-the-blue moments, and said to me, "It doesn't bother me that you're gay; but that you won't be there with me." She meant in Heaven, of course. I didn't say, "Well then you should have skipped the circumcision and had me baptized, shouldn't ya have?" Now that I think of it, that's an encapsulation of her entire relationship with responsibility: authoritarian until something really matters, at which time she's wishy-washy and indecisive as a wet rag.

[@stevepierce6467]

Worse than condescending...it just shows he was not listening to you and had no intention of listening. Downright and open contempt for you.

[@laaaika]

"Any entity that demands worship does not deserve to be worshipped" That sentence really hits hard

[@buffalowt]

It reminds me of a Star Trek original series episode where they find out that the greek gods are real entities that demanded worship and got personal satisfaction/power from that worship and lost that whenever they were questioned.

[@NoodleKeeper]

That dude had some phenomenal answers to his question. Every point I was like "That's it right there." God is supposed to be the Holy Father, but he reads more like the Holy Tyrant. Demanding worship, punishing anyone who doesn't do what he says, and also demeaning an entire sex for being born the way HE supposedly made them. Screw that guy.

[@nightmarerex2035]

expecialy when enity A says worship me or burn for all eternity i DEMAND it, and enity B (satan) sounds much like eneity A but just all so slightly less evil "worship me or die i demand it"

[@wizewunz]

The God I believe in doesn’t demand to be worshipped. We worship God to thank him for the blessings He gives us in our lives. We, as humans, sin every day, blatantly disregarding the rules He lays out for us, and yet He forgives us. Ours sins were payed for with a price, the price of Jesus’s blood when He died FOR US on the cross. The God described in the Bible demands nothing of us, but lays out the rules we should follow in order to be saved. God loves you so much, I hope you have a wonderful day.

[@Grag235]

@@wizewunz People be acting like God is demanding praise every single day, like, no, that’s just something extremely religious people do, they acting like God will poop in their cheerios if he doesn’t get praise for even a millisecond, he doesn’t demand it, like, I’m Christian, and I’m not praying 24/7💀

[@a-blivvy-yus]

When Pascal's wager comes up, that reversal of the conditions is a really interesting response. That said, the simple fact is that the argument doesn't hold up under its own assumptions, even before requiring an answer from an atheist. The only way the wager even works well enough as an argument to warrant being turned on its head and countered that way is if you ignore *MASSIVE* amounts of problems with it to even get to the point of taking the question seriously. Christian: "If I'm right, I get eternal reward, and you get eternal punishment. If you're right, nothing happens to either of us. If converting was wrong, you lose nothing, but if it was right, you gain everything." Atheist: "Aren't you forgetting about something?" *points to the queue of other religions* Muslim: "If I'm right, I get eternal reward and the Christian gets eternal punishment. If they're right, I get eternal punishment and they get eternal reward. Either way, someone wins everything and someone loses it all." Ancient Norse people: "And if we're right, dying in battle is how you earn your place in Valhalla, not which god you worship in life. So just in case, you should make sure you die in battle regardless of what god(s) you worship." Hindu: "And if we're right, you'll be back here later regardless." Shinto: "And if we're right, living your afterlife well could lead to you becoming a god, but how you live in this life is mostly irrelevant to that." etc.

[@nondescriptcat5620]

i just explain to them that Bastet (the only Real God) sends anyone who uses Pascal's Wager to Ultra Hell, which is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times worse than Normie Hell.

[@Gyattday]

The more prevalent problem with the abrahamic viewc on God is that "its a relationship with him". If you fake a relationiship and only want it for some personal gain, an all-knowing God should flatout deny you for fake-wanting a relationship. It's like dating a girl only for sex, you don't care or agree with her or what she does but only do it for the pleasure. This is the same problem with Abrahamic God. In either way, whether the religion is false, whether you are only doing it for the reward, you are fucked (however, from how Yahweh(not Jesus) is depicted, it seems he only wants to be worshipped regardless of what people think of him)

[@zenkim6709]

Buddhist: "And if we're right, then mortal life is a cycle of infinite do-overs as we all go thru birth, life, death & rebirth, again & again ... until & only until we gain the karma & enlightenment to finally break free of the Wheel of Reincarnation & reach Nirvana."

[@a-blivvy-yus]

@@zenkim6709 The problem with this is that Buddhism is an atheist position ;) they don't believe in gods.

[@AbandonedVoid]

Honestly, though, someone who has wasted their entire life on blatant lies has lost everything. It's inconceivable to me that such a wager makes sense to anyone with that in mind.

[@christopherharris6145]

When someone asks me, " What led you to Atheism? " My short answer is, " Nine years of Catholic school."

[@josephine4s]

Me [to any deity]: “Where you at, bitch?!”

[@scottdelahunt586]

Number one product of Ontario's Catholic school boards? Atheists.

[@thedeadmoneyallstars]

Reading the bible got me 😂

[@MarshallLore]

I wasnt lead to atheism. I read the old testament, the new testament, the Quran and the Gita and I thought....this all sounds like bollocks. I dont believe this. Then I realised there's a word for that

[@amtlpaul]

Daft Jim, OP did not claim that Catholic school caused God to not exist. You are either mistaken or lying. Which is it?

[@WisteriaDrake]

A way of describing evolution in a simple way is as follows: A dog gives birth to a dog with a slight mutation or change. That dog gives birth to a dog with two slight mutations. And so on down the line. Then you compare the original dog with the dog with a million slight changes and say, "Well, this isn't a dog anymore." That's evolution. Ship of Theseus.

[@TheCabIe]

Hey, dude, but that's really hard to wrap my mind around therefore it cannot possibly be true! Beings poofing into existence out of thin air is far more plausible!

[@nathanm.3474]

I believe evolution and belief in God and the Bible do not have to contradict each other.

[@Cretaigne95]

​​@@nathanm.3474Genesis doesn't go against evolution? If god created all the animals and plants in 6 days, there's no space for evolution. Humans and dinosaurs never met. Who was in the garden of eden?

[@Gabriel-bt7ix]

@@Cretaigne95 Got me thinking... Are those 6 human days or god days? Maybe it's not actually days idk ~ I'm not religious btw

[@happystoryfamily4830]

@@nathanm.3474 they don’t HAVE to but they commonly do due to the infinite amount of ways the bible can be interpreted.

[@kianabrown2865]

I became an Atheist when my dad passed away when I was 12 and people kept telling me, “It was his time.” Or “It was God’s will.” How people could just outright say that made me so angry. I was a closeted Atheist if you will, until my mom left to take care of my grandparents (I was in college at the time) and I was no longer forced to go to church. It’s been 4 years, and I haven’t been back since.

[@secular-world7316]

Good for you! Be happy, opened minded and have lots of fun. Something religious people can'r do.

[@kianabrown2865]

@@secular-world7316 I am definitely living life to the fullest! I’m getting married to the love of my life in May next year!

[@SecondMarlowe]

When I told a coworker I worked with for a year that I was an atheist, this older Catholic woman was for some reason angry. “Who died belonging to you!?” That was her question. To her, the idea of atheism isn’t that you don’t believe in god, but that you were so angry at god that you became an atheist to piss him off, as your punishment to him for him letting a lived one die. To her all atheists are just theists angry at god. There was no concept in her mind that allowed her to believe someone just didn’t believe in god. To her that was like not believing in gravity. So solid to her very existence was the existence of god that the very idea of atheism is absurd. But yet she was angry at me for being an atheist. It was a personal affront to her that logic taught me decades earlier (before I ever list a loved one) that made up shit didn’t exist.

[@jeffreywilliamson4863]

I forget the movie but it had a scene set in a support group for parents who had lost children. One commented that god needed and angel and was answered by "Why couldn't he make his own angel? Why did he have to take mine?"

[@secular-world7316]

@@jeffreywilliamson4863 I was told the same story in Spanish, French and Italian. When a baby or an infant dies, is a sign god needs angels for comfort; and when an adult dies, god needs soldiers to fight the devil. I guess this weak god is limited, he can create Universes but not angels.

[@Mr_Porter]

I've been seeing '10 Questions That Atheists Can't Answer" videos for well over a decade. The most common questions are ridiculous "why are there still monkeys if we evolved" or "how can you prove that God doesn't exist" are usually the most cringe worthy ones but even when an Atheist gives a response they just ignore the answer and follow up with "how do you know" or something along those lines. The majority of the time, they are asking you the questions that they don't have an answer to because they haven't done their homework.

[@mocabe01]

Why not answer it instead of simply dismissing it like what this video did?

[@Aaron.Thomas]

​@@mocabe01 Maybe watch the video for one, where they answered the questions. Otherwise, maybe a casual glance at all the places that people answer these questions all the time? Somewhere outside of your bubble? It's nobody else's responsibility to educate you, it's your job to learn to think critically, which means asking yourself how to confirm your own belief, it means asking what would disprove your belief.

[@bigbabatunde1218]

Look up the top ten problems with chemical and biological evolution.

[@Nevyn515]

If people came from dirt, like the bible says, why is there still dirt? That which can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence

[@bigbabatunde1218]

@@Nevyn515 Dirt isn't alive so can't decide what it's future is never the less 'evolve'. Do you do a lot of strawman arguments? Did you look at the problems with chemical and biological evolution?

[@TheLyricalCleric]

Short short answer to Pascal’s Wager is, “What about all the other gods?” Isn’t it better not to believe because there are so many, than to choose just one and have a very small likelihood of getting it right?

[@trufflesrheaven]

You are ignorant. You are not bright..

[@nagranoth_]

Also, Pascal's wager even without other gods is a flat out lie. Christians constantly repeat life only has meaning if god gives it meaning. They devote their entire life to it. When that god turns out to not exist, they've wasted the only life they got. Meanwhile the atheist loses nothing, they had a life with the meaning they gave it themselves. They can't lose that. The only thing different is that if the christian god turns out to exist they get the hell kind of eternal torture rather than the heaven kind of eternal torture. And given hell is at least honest about being torture I'd rather have that one. And that's only if that version of christianity is true.... other versions say atheist simply stop existing, in which case it's a win win. Good life without religious crap, AND no eternal torture of heaven.

[@joshsheridan9511]

@@trufflesrheaven projection

[@robinharwood5044]

It’s better to believe in all of them. Then you don’t have to choose.

[@chezeus1672]

no, you see, that doesn't work because special pleading.

[@UncleSimontoyou]

The Pascal's Wager argument put forward by Christians. It's a very silly one. I counter it by saying "So your God is so easily fooled by me going to church etc just to hedge my bets? That's not a very all knowing god"

[@Danny451]

I fool god every week during the Shabbat when I put my stove on Sabbath mode.

[@UncleSimontoyou]

@@Danny451 Yeah, god isn't very bright.

[@Danny451]

@@UncleSimontoyou 🤣👍

[@AdamKlownzinger]

“I cannot demand more goodness from people than I am willing to provide myself” Boom. One of the couple huge reasons that made me first question Christianity.

[@alkutera]

Love that

[@feonor26]

Funny to see all these questions as it reminds me of my days as an evangelical Christian. I had pretty much the same questions to non-believers which of course my pastor had been smugly asking "rethorically" during sermons and I felt very clever as a teenager asking non-believers these kind of questions. Got to laugh now ofc when I see how silly those questions were :) In a weird way I am glad for my past as an evangelical Christian as I know how their thought process work.

[@williamethegod5013]

here's some actual unanswerable questions with the current knowledge we posess feel free to answer these if you know what happens after death is god real what was the begining of the universe are we in a simulation what's past the end of the universe is there a multiverse is life but a dream are you real

[@feonor26]

@@williamethegod5013 "what happens after death" - I would assume the same that happens before you're born "is god real" - There is no evidence to support that such a thing is real "what was the begining of the universe" According to astrophysics it was the big bang "are we in a simulation" Impossible to know "what's past the end of the universe" Same as above "is there a multiverse" Same as above, impossible to know "is life but a dream" Maybe, but nobody knows "are you real" I can only assume I am So what's your point?

[@KalashDaCat]

What happens after death? Literally nothing because all of your neurons stop sending electrical signals to each other, and thus you stop processing anything. You just stop thinking, and from your perspective, it is like if you never existed. Is god real? No he s not. There is zero evidence pointing towards the existence of a god. And if you tell me that there is no way to disprove god s existe ce too, then would you believe in the existence of an invisible grapefruit five million light years away from us? There is no evidence it doesnt exist, right? See? Its stupid. The rest however idk

[@darkeyeze]

Hey Greg James, you are very correct about the denomination thing. I attended Independent Baptist church back in the day. The most ardent members of that group would actually deny that many groups were actually Christian.

[@TessThisMess]

It's a very common thing. Some of it is to allow the "No true scotsman" fallacy/argument. But denominations/sects tend to view themselves as "correct" and therefore other denominations/sects as incorrect. We separated from that group for a reason and it's easier to sell that reason as "their practice of XYZ goes against the bible." Plus there's sometimes additional bigotry in it. For example a lot of people, particularly in America, don't consider Catholics to be Christian. A lot of that stems from, back in the day, most Catholics being immigrants (Italians and Irish in particular), and it's easier to demonize them when they aren't "real Christians"

[@sheila70]

Friend of mine said of other denominations That's not a religion, it's just a cult.

[@TessThisMess]

@@sheila70 Exactly. The distinction between a cult and a religion is *often* entirely arbitrary and blurry. Which is fine, but it leaves the easy "tool" of labeling anything you disagree with a "cult"

[@joea363]

I like the many voices approach to the presentation. Very effective and engaging as such.

[@TheAtheistExperience]

Glad you liked it

[@cthulhu4411]

Humans fear what they dont understand , whether athiest or religious. "The oldest and strongest of emotions of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest of fears, is the fear of the unkown" - H.P. Lovecraft

[@MrCanis4]

One answers that Christians cannot bear “I don't know.”

[@Mavuika_Gyaru]

Oh it's worse than that. Like let's say I asked you a question and a Christian a question. You genuinely don't know the answer so you say "I don't know". The Christian gives an answer but the answer is wrong. The Christian will turn to you and say "since I did give an answer, I'm right and you're wrong" 😅

[@mocabe01]

I'm a Christian and that is not true. In fact, I will be amazed because that is a sign of humility. And recognizing that you do not know is the beginning of knowledge.

[@topologyrob]

As a Christian I love “I don’t know” - as Iris Dement sings “let the mystery be”

[@dazzag]

A few years ago I worked with a lady who was a Christian. I had a bad cold at work and she sent me a meeting invite for a work related issue. When I turned up to the meeting room it transpired that she was lying and just got me there to pray for me to get better. I entertained it out of politeness. 2 days later I was in hospital with Pneumonia.

[@twix-official7329]

DAMN IM SORRY

[@Ffeoli1039]

All a part of God's plan.

[@dazzag]

@@Ffeoli1039 If that's the case. God is a massive piece of sh*t

[@dangductran2926]

​@@dazzagindeed

[@Florida79578]

@@Ffeoli1039 yes even if inculdes the death of millions

[@tiredoldmechanic1791]

I got in trouble in Sunday school when I was 5 and we were being taught about creation and how everything had to have been created and I asked who created God. If God just existed without being created, why can't everything else. I came to believe that God does exist and was created by humans in their own image.

[@armlovesmetal1036]

Me too. My Sunday school teachers did not like me too much because I was always questioning the bible. Even as a kid, I found that book terrible and illogical. It is a fairy story and a horror story at the same time.

[@keithfallon-norris9570]

That’s the answer that should shut up any believer.

[@jeanhind8198]

"Ten Questions Athiests Can't Answer" seems to be - ten idiotic questions that can only be asked by people who know little or nothing about how modern society works, or any scientific discoveries in the past 100 years or so, or indeed anything much outside their own narrow set of beliefs! And any answers given won't be accepted anyway!

[@danhtran6401]

Modern society sucks. People are fat, stuck on their phones, polluting. What's wrong with being an Eskimo. What makes you think modern society has anything to do with how people achieve happiness?

[@timpnw944]

I really appreciated the “necessary state” discussion on question #3! If deists have the option to say “God, because we must have SOMETHING,” atheists should certainly also have that option.

[@knyghtryder3599]

Cosmological arguments along with fine tuning are generally the worst arguments ever for god They both presuppose that there is some alternative to the known universe, and if that alternative weren't god it would be nothing by default , this is all patently false and illustrate a total lack of scientific understanding There is no "origin" of the known universe, we don't look out deep into space and see "nothing" like early philosophers assumed , no matter how far back or out we look there is something and always has been , any proposed alternative to existence or to the known universe is contingent on having a scrap of evidence or proof , which no one does

[@krystofmraz]

As an atheist you JUST dont Have that "something" So IT would make terible argument.

[@fakewoketommacdonald]

Great vid. As an atheist, I have been asked all of those questions and my answers always fall upon the lines laid out in this vid. Also, love Jim’s shirt.

[@jaguarrising390]

Simply fantastic responses. Thank you gentlemen.

[@26beegee]

Absolutely the best put together and most complete presentation to refute all the “gotcha” questions posed by religious people. Thank you!

[@brantsonoverton1367]

These hosts have no answers. Evolution states that all 9 million different species of life came from an amoeba. That simply can't happen for many reasons. Entropy, for one. Another is the fact that there's no such thing as a gain of information or a gain of complexity or new anatomy or emergent properties. Sorry, but a mud puddle didn't come from nothing by nothing to do nothing and produce a first cell w/ not only the DNA blueprints of 9 million animals, but also the first cell w/ systems within to eat, digest food, eliminate waste, move, breathe & reproduce. This is the idiocy that the atheist must believe in order for this world to be godless. The asinine, lost & clueless cult of atheism is INFAMOUS the world over for having ZERO ANSWERS. Answers can't come from a lie.

[@bobs182]

Religious people completely ignore atheist arguments as their beliefs aren't based upon reason and logic.

[@brantsonoverton1367]

@@bobs182 "Reason & logic" says the lost and clueless atheist fool that thinks star dust, moist rocks and mud puddles have the INTELLIGENCE, POWER, PURPOSE, RESOURCES AND MEANS to create/design LIFE, INTELLIGENCE, LOVE, CONSCIOUSNESS, MORALITY, the human being and ALL the co-existent bodily systems (circulatory, respiratory, reproductive, pulmonic, digestive, skeletal, muscular, nervous, body (skin), etc., etc.) intertwined in co-dependent order in the human body :) Atheism is pure idiocy. The religious cult of atheism is INFAMOUS the world over for having ZERO ANSWERS. That's because atheism RUNS from "reality." I would add that as an atheist, you're bankrupt of RATIONAL/POSSIBLE causes for life, intelligence, consciousness, morality and ALL the co-existent bodily systems (circulatory, respiratory, reproductive, pulmonic, digestive, skeletal, muscular, nervous, body (skin), etc., etc.) intertwined in co-dependent order in the human body. Atheism has no RATIONAL/POSSIBLE, step by step atheist explanation for reality. That’s because there isn’t one. THINK ABOUT what you’re getting into w/ the cult of atheism. GET OUT NOW. I’ll help you find truth. Atheism has none.

[@mocabe01]

Nah ... in the first few question, the speakers simply dismissed them basically, "It does not affect me so I don't have to believe nor think about it" which is not an answer really.

[@26beegee]

@@mocabe01 Brainwashed people cannot comprehend truth when they hear it. If you could hear them without your God filter on you would understand what they were saying.

[@Bethos1247-Arne]

Greg James is a very good speaker. Thank you, Greg, for this clarity.

[@thievingcthulhu8632]

agreed!

[@FortunePayback]

OK, that last idea regarding Pascal's Wager is not one I've ever heard before, and is 100% becoming one of my default arguments to that question.

[@majmage]

Yeah I've phrased it as _for every idea "believe in god x to receive infinite reward" there's an opposite idea "believe in god x and you'll be infinitely punished"_ Basically I think it was great Pascal tried to make a math-based argument, but it turned out his math didn't actually check out.

[@logicalmuslim1590]

The old "but Pascal's wager is a false dichotomy" argument again. Tired really. No false dichotomy, either there is an afterlife or not. If there is an afterlife then don't you think that you will meet your Maker? Regardless of how many religions there are to choose from, you need to choose whether or not to worship your Creator.

[@joshsheridan9511]

@@logicalmuslim1590 why would an omni god demand worship?

[@majmage]

@@logicalmuslim1590 Are you familiar with "expected value"? If you have a 10% chance of winning $9, then your expected value (EV) is $0.9 ( = 10% * $9 ). So if it costs $1 to take the bet, it's not worth it because you'll lose an average of $0.1 each time you bet. Well Pascal made two critical errors: 1. We have no reason to react based on non-evidenced threats or rewards. We don't know they exist, so letting them shape our behavior is insanity. For example if I tell you you'll experience an _infinite number of hells_ if you believe in a god, I've now created a situation where you have a dramatically stronger reason (if you think Pascal's is a good argument) to _not_ believe in a god. 2. The math is bad. Because if we add all possibilities to the matrix, the EV is slightly negative. * "betting" doesn't cost nothing. It costs you dedicating your life to a certain idea. * possible results include both (A) infinite reward as well as (B) infinite punishment. * the infinite rewards/punishments balance each other out, so the EV is zero. * meaning you're paying a small price, and getting nothing on average. * meaning _it's not a good wager._ You can't just ignore some possibilities for no reason. That's like pretending a gambling game is worth betting if it costs $1 to flip a coin and if it's heads you gain $1.50 but tails you _lose $1.50,_ since that results in a negative $1 per flip wager. Basically you're trying to ignore the negative result to argue that the $1.50 reward justifies the $1 cost.

[@wyldink1]

@@logicalmuslim1590 What objective fact about an afterlife necessitates meeting a deity?

[@vitopellegrini6773]

As a history student I struggle a bit with both the good and the bad religion has done for human kind. I dont like the proposition (that I sadly see Atheist people argue) that Faith or even religious institutions per se discourage science or education because its just not true. Im from Argentina and the Protomedicato here were the first medicine practitioners and they were part of the church and they used very advanced science (for their time). The Jesuits installed the first school here and there are other great examples of that. Of course there are many points in history where religion even persecuted knowledge, but this isnt necesarly the case. In todays world, I still struggle with the good and the bad religious institutions and education do. In the second question you mentioned two instances when religious beliefs produce something that I assume is bad (idrk, I dont live in the US) but there are some moral values that religious education gives that I would like to see more people have. Leassons about love and empathy that many people would ignore if it wasnt attached to some mysitical element or promise. Maybe thats condecending to say, and of couse Secular education can give you those values aswell, but I dont know if it can do so with the same level of effectiveness.

[@SPL0869]

I’m Starting to think that the avg Christian would either murder someone or commit an act of sexual assault if not for a god belief. Why do I say that? This constant asking of “without a god, how do you know that rape and murder or wrong, and what reason do you have not to commit those acts if there’s no god?”

[@hobowithawaterpistol9070]

Someone asked me the that the other day. My response was “I don’t want to be murdered, raped, or have my things stolen! I would image that other people feel the same way and no one had to tell me this!”

[@amtlpaul]

My answers, for what they are worth: 1) No, I don't think science is the answer to all life's questions. Thanks for asking! 2) I don't actually mind private spiritual beliefs as such, but I do mind when people engage in harmful social behavior and support bad public policy based on them. I also want to promote critical thinking in general. 3) No, because nothing is not a thing. Can things somehow exist despite coming from no other thing? I don't know. Supposedly God would be a such a thing, though. 4) What God are you asking about? Should I believe in a God skulking at the other end of the universe? 5) What is the origin of life? I don't know. But there seems to be some interesting research on the matter. 6) Our morality comes out of the fact that we have to live together, somehow. It's been a very slow learning process. 7) Only if the folks who wrote the Bible often very badly misunderstood the God of the Bible 8) They're all transitional forms. 9) Being more a glass half full kind of guy, I'll say the former is more true than the latter. 10) I can only do the best I can in terms of figuring things out and living a good life.

[@logicalmuslim1590]

Looks like you failed to answer number 5.

[@amtlpaul]

@@logicalmuslim1590 Looks like you are mistaken

[@joshsheridan9511]

@@logicalmuslim1590 looks like you didn't read the post properly. No 5 definitely has an answer.

[@ookekklibarianbornagain6708]

@@logicalmuslim1590 🤦‍♀

[@nealjroberts4050]

​@@logicalmuslim1590🤦🤦

[@martin2289]

Great compilation. And yet we all know that believers will continue forevermore asking these silly questions as if they'd just been hit with the "Men in Black" memory eraser gun.

[@youdontknowme8129]

​@@montithered4741Hitchens razor.

[@GenRN]

Greetings from Ft Worth! You make me wish I lived in Austin. Excited to listen!

[@ZacharyMcLellanMusic]

I love what Greg had to share. An inspiring amount of humility.

[@jeffreycarman2185]

12:06 I have definitely heard the “God of the gaps” argument among my Christian peers. It seems that, especially among my scientifically-trained Christian peers they see the remarkableness of life as evidence of divine creation.

[@talastra]

That's what the response stated. Either the gaps prove god is necessary, or life is so marvelous, it can't exist without god.

[@talastra]

Also, just for the record, the troll Richard Dawkins sees the cosmos as amazing, which is an impossible opinion to hold as a fundamentalist materialist. But, he's a self-contradicting troll, so no surprise. He's no better than the fundamentalists he abuses (and often worse). they're usually not actively Islamophobic and running smear-campaigns.

[@janafz3309]

@@talastraOr we just need more research to fill the gaps.

[@talastra]

@@janafz3309 Two points: (1) admitting that neither of us are experts, why does our opinion apply to what constitutes a gap? There are many, many, many things in our life, I suspect, where you accept the evidence as "sufficient" despite arguably many gaps; (2) are you actually serious about acknowledging the possibility that the notion of "gaps" is a bogus one (as the video makes clear)?

[@janafz3309]

@@talastra 1. A gap is there where no person on this earth has a sufficient answer to a question and others just say 'God'. 2. I acknowledged that there are gaps in knowledge, that still need to be filled and I don't see where the video said anything else. So please provide a time stamp for that claim. So, to answer your question: No.

[@abiliv-lf9tz]

I remember when my friend said she was feeling suicidial & everyone knew it, we tried to help but there wasnt much you could do behind a screen and one of my religious friends was like "well you cant kills yourself otherwise youll burn in hell" and Im like "thats the only thing keeping you back?" Cause if the only thing thats keeping you alive is "as well Im not in hell" I dont know what to tell you I hope you nothing but the best in life and whatever it is thats causing you this pain (which mightnt be what you think it is) you can fix it I dont think its ever too late for anything

[@taketheatrain5393]

Wow, this was a sweet unexpected gift from the ACA. All my favorite hosts.

[@tremkl]

I do find the “something from nothing” a difficult question. Science is doing a lot to try to explore, but we still don’t have anything I would call a great answer. I still don’t see how you can jump from “This one particular moment is hard to understand” to “you should believe everything in this book”.

[@MrAranton]

When science does not yield a great answer, „I have no way to know and I‘m not going to pretend otherwise by presenting speculation as though it were fact the way theists do“ is a pretty decent reply. Arguments along the line of „something cannot come from nothing, therefore god“ are a terrible answer, because they require god to have come from nothing. Which violates their initial assumotion

[@further_rush5138]

4:20 Shoutout to Jesus for coming on an atheist show !

[@ProthesenSohn]

3:36 what is Moist Critical doing here?

[@WarhavenSC]

#4 sounds like a Mormon question. I liked how in the TV show "The Expanse", the Mormons were building a multi-generational ship to do exactly this. Fly to God's homeworld, Kolob. That's dedication, if nothing else.

[@israndy]

Very well organized and written, enjoyable presentation

[@mori1bund]

Discussions with religious people are always... -> "show me the evidence, that those things I believe without evidence are not true!"

[@guilhermecastro9893]

that phrase in quotes is so mind bendingly dumb i think it fried one of my cerebral cortexes when i read it...

[@iank2615]

If a god other than the one you currently worship is demonstrated to be real, would you become a follower of that god?

[@revwillyg6450]

I might worship the Chris Hemsworth Thor 🤔 So handsome and funny 😅

[@iank2615]

@@revwillyg6450 I could get behind that.

[@ajclements4627]

@@iank2615 Heh heh “get behind” Thor. Wink wink nudge nudge!

[@iank2615]

@@ajclements4627 Say no more.

[@bluewallstrikesagain7724]

I came here right after answering a couple of these questions. You know what happened? My teacher ignored them, told me I was wrong, and that I need to seek God or I will continue to limit myself. Catholics are brainwashed and there’s no hope of undoing that, it seems

[@nogodrequired]

As a former Catholic, there is hope. It just takes effort on the part of the person to evaluate their beliefs, and many Catholics are too lazy or too scared to do so. Welcome here, and stick around, we may be able to show you answers to other questions they may have.

[@Kinsfire]

I loved the response to #8 - in a very real sense, I am an evolutionary dead end. I have never fathered a child, and at my age, it's VERY unlikely I ever will, since that would require me going against my morals and having an affair. Whatever evolution was happening through me, stops with me.

[@chrissayles5580]

If US politics were in tune with reality you guys, or something very much like you, would be some form of non partisan government advisory body. The rise of Christian Nationalism in the US is alarming to put it mildly. The AE is a brilliant and necessary bullwark. 👏

[@armlovesmetal1036]

I am scared shitless the prospect of this happening here.

[@nathansampson6774]

As a scientist raised as Roman Catholic, it baffles fellow christians when you direct evolution arguments towards, for example: the Bajau people of Indonesia who have evolved bigger spleens (highly oxygenated organ) for increased oxygen storage when diving, seen within both the diving and non-diving groups. Also the Tibetan mountain people living in low oxygen environments with mutated EPAS1 alleles allowing them to keep red blood cell concentrations low as to not suffer from altitude sickness yet produce more nitrous oxidises. These vasodilators increase the less-oxygenated blood supply to surrounding tissues as well as these populations having significantly bigger and more efficient lungs with much better vital and total lung capacities (even when native are born elsewhere). Just two examples I gave there (lactose tolerance being another) that have genuinely stumped the few christian evolution-deniers I have had to engage with.

[@johns1625]

#1: HOW DO YOU ESPLAIN THE TREES AND MOUNTAINS AND ALL THAT! 😆😆😂😂🤣🤣

[@joshsheridan9511]

They exist

[@hobowithawaterpistol9070]

I agree they exist! I often think though in the example of a tree, it provides shade and oxygen, and I sometimes wonder is this a design? Was there a designer? I don’t believe in the Bible and I don’t know if there is a God or Gods, but what makes me question my own disbeliefs is that it does appear to be that most or all things have a purpose. Is a tree the result of a cause and effect of evolution?

[@johns1625]

@@hobowithawaterpistol9070 Yes

[@sethdoddridge7806]

Hey! I loved a lot of these answers, as a fellow agnostic myself. One thing I still can't wrap my head around is whether or not the Universe had an absolute beginning. If it did, then we must accept that something can indeed come from nothing, which upsets a lot of our current science. If it didn't have a beginning but is infinite into the past, then it would have taken an infinite amount time to get to the present, which is impossible by definition. I'm not sure there will ever be an answer to this question, but who knows? Thanks for this video and the respectful answers!

[@giuffre714]

Time is an illusion. It's always now. It's just that "now" changes shape. We count the changes and call it time. Energy can't be created or destroyed, it just keeps changing shape😀

[@knyghtryder3599]

This is William Lane Craig kalamity and is completely disproven If the past were infinite you would never reach today ?????? BS , THE PAST GROWS FROM THE PRESENT .......... Each new day that passes adds one day to the past ...... The only way to have a FINITE past is is the future ends ........ WLC and all deists assume that there is a plausible alternative to the known universe and they do so with out one scrap of evidence. Everywhere we look, no matter how far back or how far out , there is something and always has been If the known universe had a definitive beginning, then Craig and the deists would assume that eventually we will build a telescope big enough to see the edge of the universe correct ? They are all holding their breath for us to see something other than the known universe

[@istvansipos9940]

on the level of common mortals, those are almost useless questions. I mean, physics is complicated. IF you unerstood all the chalk board scenes from all the genius movies (f.e. Good Will Hunting), then you might have a tiny chance to ASK a good question about the very beginning of the universe. otherwise, it is hopeless. Thousands of scientist with millennia of combined lab time under their belts over the many many decades. Compared to this situation, a toddler has way better chances to ask a good question about engineering.

[@knyghtryder3599]

This is one of the silliest arguments ever , if we can divide a meter into infinite parts how can I walk 2 meters?? Also the past does not move to the present , as the present passes the past grows

[@knyghtryder3599]

Also infinity is not a quantity but a quality , you can have greater and lesser infinities like dividing an inch into infinite parts is still just an inch , nothing here but apologist confusion

[@rmendoza720]

Who created God? Did God just will himself into existence? Did he just pop into existence? Who is God's creator? Isn't that the God we should praise? Who created that God?

[@giuffre714]

People who believe in God believe he is eternal.

[@tsnap4]

One other point, this one for the final question: while JMike did do a good job of showing how that question could easily be reversed, I feel it's also worth pointing out that the question has a logical fallacy: the Loaded Question. The question assumes that the soul exists and that an afterlife exists which requires worship to be pleasant, as most atheists would disagree with both those points, any logical question based on those points (even if feels logical) fails to stand up to logical reason.

[@SparrowsDen]

One of the things that sets me off from catholic christianity is the idea that when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, to know right from wrong and know sin from non-sin, they inheriently became something that God did not want in his garden. It proposes the idea that religion does not want us to think for ourselves, to be able to look at something and say "thats bad". The whole reason that Eve ate from the tree because of the snake was due to her not knowing what sin and bad were. Everything to her was genuine and good, and anything that was telling her to do things must be good, right? thats one of my largest arguments, and i use it often and to rationalize both my thoughts and the thoughts of others. I want to be able to recognize good and evil, to have to do things, lie, or disobey my parents if I am lying to keep something good a secret for a surprise, or if my parents hit me as punishment.

[@HIXE_58]

God told Adam and Eve to not eat from that tree specifically. They knew God was good and he was their creator so he should have been the only one they listen to. She was influenced by Satan’s lies.

[@Bryzerse]

I honestly wish everyone could watch this video, it does a really good job of summarising the reasons why religion is actively harmful to our society, especially when the guy was talking about faith as opposed to evidence based knowledge, this is what I find most harmful about virtually all religion.

[@klissattack]

I grew up Catholic. One day in CCD i thought, if everything that fun is a sin and all sinners go to hell, does that mean that hell is just going to be a riot of a good time? If so then count me in

[@TheSonOfGodWorshipsTheFather]

Vengeance belongs to who❔

[@gailknapp9816]

I have been watching these videos for the past few months. This one is the best. I discovered this through Forrest Valkai who does excellent biology videos. And Greg Jones was outstanding! Please include him as a more active participant on the usual programs. And thank you for these videos.

[@Stupidswordfighter]

I think that anyone or anything that that will send anyone that doesn’t worship them to an eternal pain and suffering is selfish and evil

[@BunniRabbi]

As an atheist and a preacher, I was always hoping, all the way through seminary, that they would come up with something that would fundamentally make me re-think my positions. It's not that I wanted those positions changed, it's more that I like having my mind blown. I did have my mind blown, here and there, but never about the theism question, and I was rather disappointed that I never felt significantly challenged in that regard. It always felt like I was being pitched softballs in that area.

[@joee7626]

Can you clarify for me? You are an Atheist AND a Preacher simultaneously? Or you WERE a preacher that then became an Atheist? And before you ask, this isn't asked as a setup to a gothcha question, but instead only to clarify.

[@BunniRabbi]

@@joee7626 I'm a Unitarian Universalist. We're a non-theistic faith, meaning atheism is an acceptable theological stance as far as we're concerned. According to the most recent survey (2020), we have slightly more atheists than theists. Since atheism is acceptable, there's no issue with being clergy and an atheist.

[@chaliceknights9625]

@@joee7626 While I know this wasn't asked of me, I'm also a UU, so I figured I'd second what BR said. Our faith isn't built on theistic premises, so atheism works fine with us, clergy or laity.

[@Pickle_Candy]

People need to remember that ideas like morality and species are concepts we made up to help better make sense of the world and how we perceive it, and they are not perfect because we are not perfect. When our understanding of the world inevitable outgrows, contradicts, or muddies these ideas/concepts, we should be updating or eliminating them accordingly, instead of denying reality in order to keep these outdated ideas alive. And yes, I consider morality and species to be outdated ideas, at least in how they are currently understood by most people.

[@guilhermecastro9893]

first you have various theoris of morality, ontological morality, the moral landscape, moral relativism etc. and theres no definition of species theres consepts, you have the biological species consept, the philogenetic species concept, the evolutionary species concept etc

[@rickywinthrop]

Find your own answers with reasoning and leave the unanswerable ones alone untill you have more Data to draw conclusions from. Never pretend to know what you don't and don't expect to live without massive degrees of uncertainty 100% of the time. We are small and the universe is large. Embrace your ignorance while trying your best to shine the light of reason into the darkness in your tiny corner of it all. Pretending to know with certainty is the first step on the road to religious worldviews and the perpetual ignorance that comes with them. Avoid certainty at all costs and embrace probability. Stay curious my friends.

[@tomkrump3329]

New life has a major obstacle in today's world that thwarts its development. The precursors of life are food for existing life.

[@smochygrice465]

Dont care if I cant answer said questions. As there is no way I'm doing boring God ritual activities like worship and prayer, so why bother. And a Happy Fri-yah morning 🌞 AXP, fans and theists. Peace Love Empathy From Australia 🇦🇺👍🤠

[@andrewn4695]

By far the best answer to the question was #7 with Greg James. I consider myself a platonic metaphysician, nowadays, but I had always questioned why someone would not see the problems with worship of a being, or indeed the worship of anything? Especially a being that has to have a laundry list of rules that you have to follow. Why not choice your own path in life? Facts, logic, and wisdom are the best guides in life, in my opinion. In the end, Science and Religion are trying to affirm the same thing; the origin of all things. It is time for more people to see the similarities, and start working together. As far as I am concerned, all of life is on the same side, each of us is an observer of this Universe with a unique perspective. Regardless of size of the brain, or the complexity of said same, the observer is abextra to the body and the brain; life itself is abextra to the body, as a nonliving egg is shed by a woman. To me, life is the same as saying the Mind, the Soul, the Spirit, whatever you like to call it, which is the attribute of the One, the All, the Aether, the Absolute, the Zero Point Field, the Unmoved Mover, or even God, again choice your own term. Simply put, the origin of all things is the inverse of space, i.e. the Absolute. This in turn tells us that all things are of the same essence, whatever you want to call it. The Universe is far more simple than most people think, feel, or believe that it is.

[@SimpleSlave]

I like the fact that in order to try to understand this Universe you have to go through such a complex and rigorous set of experiments, equations, problem solving that take years and years and even then we still know so little. But to understand, meet and know the "creator" of this Universe all that is required of you is to be indoctrinated, have a near death experience, do copious amount of drugs or be afraid of death. The creation is complex but the creator is simple. And yet, miracles. Something that defy creation's complexity itself. So why bother with complexity then? Why not just make us full of sugar and spice and everything nice with a healthy dose of Pixie Dust? Seems kinda sus...

[@KeanuReevesIsMyJesus]

Great point about miracles. A God who needs to perform “miracles” is either not very well planned or is desperate to show off. Either way, not an impressive God.

[@SimpleSlave]

@@montithered4741 Yet science doesn't work on faith. Funny how that works. It's like living with Cognitive Dissonance and being ok with it. To each their own I guess. Also, you're gonna have to explain this so called "Creation" thing, bud. Like, what is it and how do you know it was created? Who or what created it? Prove the existence of this creator thing. Then prove it's the one that you like. You got this. I have faith in you.

[@chriswebster839]

​​@@montithered4741I don't think you understand how that would work. If you have faith then why do you need evidence? Could it be that faith (which is belief in something despite absence of evidence or even evidence to the contrary) isn't sufficient to justify your beliefs? If you gain knowledge then surely this would decrease your faith, seeing as you now believe that you have evidence to support your position. For what it's worth, as a scientist I've had the exact opposite experience. The more knowledge I gained, the fewer areas were left for deities to hide in.

[@SimpleSlave]

@@montithered4741 Nope. But you can try again. Although I no longer have faith in you, as a fellow meatbag, I believe in you...for now.

[@chaucer140]

Truth. its really all kinds of sus

[@sakuraice22]

About the worship thing; one of the things I never understood in the God of the Bible (ever since I could formulate these kinds of thoughts) was: if he knows the past, the present and the future, and he knew Lucifer would betray him, and he knew Adam and Eve would sin, and he knew humanity would fall, why did he give humans free will? Why did he intentionally give people a way to do wrong, even though he knew what would happen because of it? Even though he knew billions of souls would suffer for all eternity because of a decision HE made? How is that fair? How am I supposed to worship a god who doomed his creation, all while knowing damn well what would happen? He just sounds sadistic to me, and that's not how his followers describe him. I asked my mom about this a few times and instead of giving me an answer she got nervous and told me to "ask for forgiveness" because "what I said is blasphemy." I'm sorry but I can't blindly trust something that will punish me for questioning their actions.

[@wtc5198]

exactly

[@giuffre714]

If God knows the future, free will can't exist.

[@kingjohnson6040]

As an atheist, I disagree with the guy who answered the "Why do you care if people worship a god?" question. I really don't care at all. To each their own. But what I can't stand is people deciding that because I'm atheist they need to convince me a god exists, as if I haven't already put thought into it. Do you really think that I just went, "You know what? I think I don't believe in god for no reason at all!" That would be against the whole reason I'm atheist in the first place.

[@giuffre714]

As a Christian I'm ok with you not caring as long as you don't harm anyone. 😀

[@kregorovillupo3625]

I start caring the moment, I don't know, they deny transgender rights because "god created man and women". Or if someone wants to criminalize adultery and punish it with death penalty. Or if the law will be more lenient with someone marring the girl he raped. Or if being atheist is a crime. So yeh, I don't care too if they believe what they believe, simply because I'm not in the mission to deconvert them and frankly that's a "they" problem: I start to care if they don't want a secular society anymore.

[@abpob6052]

I have a dog. I do anything and everything in my power to make her life as easy and happy as possible with zero suffering or want for any of her needs to be met. That's the kind of god people should demand. Not the biblical tyrant who requires suffering and worship just to let you be part of the club.

[@tcroncero]

Jmike: Infitinite series of events sounds a lot like turtles all the way down. The statement that you can just put a time to when the universe started without concerning yourself for how it came into being is a cop-out. It's amazing how in today's world there's is no known substance that comes out of nothing, but we are told to just believe it happened this one time and never again - and to stop questing how that could possible happen and never again, nor never before!

[@himynameis3664]

The people that just reject the information that disagrees with their beliefs are never gonna be willing to change their mind

[@karachristen6484]

17:48 Lol, I’ve used this line (well, not verbatim, but close enough) before and the look I got was just FANTASTIC! Street Preacher (SP): is handing out pamphlets, steps into my path and catches my eye “excuse me? Do you go to church?” Me: “no. And I have no interest in ever doing so.” Refuses to take the paper they’re holding out SP: “why not? Don’t you know Jesus is the only way to heaven?” Me: “Because God is an asshole and I refuse to worship him.” SP: 😨 I walked away before he could recover. I just wanted to end the confrontation tbh. I’m not sure if anyone else even took note of my comment, but SP’s reaction was incredibly satisfying.

[@jurrich]

An important note on #7:40, 200 million years on the geological scale is not "remarkably quick", 0.2 of a billion years is *incredibly long* and constituted several percent of the age of the planet. A million years? That's a blip. Ten million years? That's still geologically "short" but long enough to be geologically significant. 100 million years is *absolutely* geologically significant, it's like 2% of the age of the planet, and cannot be waved away. Double that, and 200 million years is *an incredibly long time*, both on the human scale (where it's incomprehensible) and on the geological scale (where it spans more than 4% of the entire lifetime of the planet).

[@dalecorne3869]

One thing that puzzles me is when they say that God made man in his image. Firstly, why would God need a gender ? Why would God need arms and legs ? Where does God go to the bathroom ? I'm just sayin'.....

[@joanofsharc]

Been half a decade sincnce I watched this show again. Really liking Forrest and Greg, dunno how long they've been here tho.

[@gab_ale]

In relation to question #3 ("Can nothing create something?"), religious people believe that an all powerful eternal being created the universe, and they use the "complexity of the universe" as a justification to support that view. The way I see it is that the conditions necessary for the existence of an all powerful god would also produce the existence of a universe without the god. I think the need for a god is more psychological in nature.

[@Goombasareawesome]

That second point is spot on. I have no issues with people believing but for sure take issue when those beliefs are used to decide laws for everyone.

[@hammalammadingdong6244]

@@busybody1474- If you are in the US, we have a constitutional restriction against legislating religious doctrine via the Establishment Clause. Why do you think the founders did that?

[@mdrnhl]

Great video, and I particularly liked Greg James portion. Good stuff!

[@jimmythompson1979]

I like that Forest is becoming the face of this channel!

[@AwakenTheEarth]

Great video! Well done to all.

[@FoxyFemBoi]

Based on the "would you become a christian if you KNEW the christian god existed?", not only do I agree w/ him, but realizing how heinous the biblical god is and reflecting on it never makes me want to shout "no gods, no masters" more

[@robland4812]

I would rather have questions that can't be answered than answers that can't be questioned.” ― Richard P. Feynman

[@markbriten6999]

Also I don't care who you are, what qualifications you've got, important position you hold. This is science and if younare wrong you are wrong. And then he held himself to this rule

[@ihcuwign1707]

​@@markbriten6999yea and thats the point if you dont know the answer you leave it blank and you work towards looking for the answer with logic and solid evidence not make shit up and just putting god

[@vilod]

"I refuse to participate in a religion who's deity is more of an ass than I am." I love this, I'm gonna use this one.

[@mocabe01]

Too bad He is God. Whether you like or not. Whether you believe it or not. Here's more salt to rub on to your wound: He is always right.

[@joshsheridan9511]

@@mocabe01 to bad you have no real evidence. Whether you like it or not.

[@mocabe01]

@@joshsheridan9511 There is a real tilma in Guadalupe. There is a real burial cloth in Italy. There is a piece of real human flesh in Legnica, Poland. If you really wanted evidence, you should have found these by now. But you are not really looking for answers are you?

[@vilod]

@@mocabe01 he's still an ass...

[@joshsheridan9511]

@@mocabe01 how come the image on the back of the shroud shorter than the image on the front? And what tests were carried out on this bit of flesh?

[@SavedFromJesus]

"If god doesn't exist, why do you care if people worship him?" I don't care if people worship fictional characters. What I care about is people basing real world decisions on fictional stories.

[@mrhwi]

The religious are responsible for a lot of the worlds fighting, check out the middle east right now. They discriminate and all those who don't share their beliefs. Thats why, in a nutshell, people disparage religions.

[@edwardling9614]

Weirdly you do that with other fictional characters and people think your crazy

[@ryanbarham8464]

@@edwardling9614 "What would Garfield do?

[@SpinDuality]

​@@edwardling9614I believe in princess Twilight and the magic of friendship, even Discord can be befriended.

[@andrewvelonis5940]

That's a good way of putting it.

[@SomeRandomDevOpsGuy]

Loved Forrest’s response to “can science answer all questions?” I taught high school physics for (just) 5 years and always told my students that science is not a solution or answer in of itself. It’s a PROCESS that can help lead us to answers. Well said.

[@Real_MisterSir]

Yes. science is the tool of approximating our perception of reality. How good we are at predicting outcomes, that is what science helps us with through scientific methodology of basing expectations on well defined data. It's not a belief system that claims things as true or false (unlike theism). It's like saying a hammer defines the structural integrity of a house. No it doesn't, it's just the tool that helps build the house. Science is like that to how we construct our perception of reality. If we misuse the hammer (science), we will build a poor foundation for our expectations of how reality functions, and it will take little data to break our world view. A good use of scientific methodology will help build a stronger foundation and thus more reliable expectations of our reality.

[@wwlib5390]

@SomeRandomDevOpsGuy Right. Well said. Seeking God to determine if He exists and is present in one's life is a process that leads to answers, too - of course if the undertaking and search is casual without much commitment, the results might be quite different. God says to draw near to Him and He will draw near to you. Drawing near requires you to get 'up close and personal' as in a relationship - not a 'religion'.

[@Aaron.Thomas]

It's a curious way for theists to misunderstand what science is and ask the wrong question. It makes me think of a bigots question I heard when someone was telling them of a lesbian friends wedding - they finally asked, "but, which one of them will be the husband - which one will be the man?" They couldn't grasp that the point was neither of them was a man, that they were both women. That lesbians aren't trying to be or replace men. Theists asking if science is a faith that replaces their religion with certainty and answers to everything like their religion does is like asking which partner is the man in a lesbian wedding. The point is not certainty, it's the questions. "I'd rather have questions that can't be answered, than answers that can't be questioned."

[@Llortnerof]

@@Aaron.Thomas It's also the same as their incapability of grasping that atheism is not a worldview and does not answer any questions other than "do you believe in gods"... or even ask them, for that matter. When you think about it, they suffer from this problem pretty often, constantly asking the wrong questions and then wondering why nobody takes them serious.

[@FiddleSticks800]

I am a research scientist, and am impressed with the number of incorrect ways that word “science” is used. Science is The process of falsifying hypotheses. If an experiment can’t be designed to falsify a hypothesis, it is unfalsifiable. Believe in an unfalsifiable hypothesis is faith. Topics like the existence of a creator (theism), simulation theory, and atheism are all acts of faith not science. Atheists can scientifically attack the wacky falsifiable beliefs when some theist veer into falsifiable topics: evolution, planetary age.., but can’t scientifically challenge the core tenant of a creator. The only appropriate scientific position on unverifiable hypotheses is agnosticism. But Atheism=faith.

[@Bluribe]

"How can you prove that your book is real?" "Well you see, in the bible it says-"

[@SQ1316]

If your book existed before 1400 years ago and it tells with details how you have been created from cells I can confirm to you that your book is coming from the creator

[@Bluribe]

@@SQ1316 well then again. If a book told us that we were made from cells and how science works, we would believe it. Because we would know for certain that it was true

[@SQ1316]

@@Bluribe what if I told you that the quran (bofore 1400 years ago were revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who couldn't read or write) have scientific facts that the modern science recently discovered them such as the big bang theory, Embryology, the expanding Universe, planetary orbits, predicting the atomic weight of iron and the speed of light as well as revealing the fundamentals of life on Earth How could a man with no scientific background come up with a book with zero contradiction and full of miracles that both scientific and historical?!

[@tacoenjoyer8623]

@@SQ1316Zero contradictions? A very quick google search would absolutely annihilate that statement.

[@SQ1316]

@@tacoenjoyer8623 well since you're going to find those contradictions in "Google" I'm already defeated 🤣

[@Yaoigirlforever]

As an Indian Atheist, thank you for mentioning Indian politics' tryst with religion. It's scary and frustrating.

[@greterpriffin5719]

💯

[@achyuthcn2555]

You should know that Indian religion 'Hinduism' is theologically very different from Abrahamic religions. Hinduism has answers for questions for which Abrahamic religions fail miserably in answering.

[@Vhlathanosh]

@@achyuthcn2555 having an answer doesn't make it the right answer. A lot of theists have answers to where we go after we die, does the answer mean they're right?

[@Manish_3333]

Yes, it is, where almost every other parties supporting and encouraging violent ideologies like islam and promote violence against peaceful majority and women and only one party ie ruling party which is keeping them in check.. and Majority of India are tired of violent Abrahmic religions and they want to go to their roots of scientific, peaceful roots.. and thankfully India is heading towards that and BJP will win more seats in next elections as common people know what's good for them and what's hurting them for 1200 years, also see how fast India is developing and quality of life increasing.. but then comes some white saviours and their coolies telling free Indians what to do and Indians have had too much of that.. and wtf is Indian atheist? Are you Charvaka? Sankhya darshan follower or coolie of white people blindly following what they are telling?

[@BlarglemanTheSkeptic2]

And surprise surprise, when you mix politics and religion, you get right wing authoritarianism, on the highway to fascism.

[@AnexoRialto]

Read the Bible. All of it. Not just the cherry picked passages. That's the best way to become an atheist.

[@irenafarm]

I’m not an atheist but I definitely ended up saying NOPE to Christianity! I even learned to read the original languages, trying to make it make sense.

[@topologyrob]

It helped me outgrow atheism

[@gabrote42]

Aye. And understand the reasons it was written that way. I always love to have the bible quoted at me, ask them if they obey Matthew 7:1-3 (and read it to them if they don't know it), then throw three verses at them that invalidate their argument and demand they obey them by never making the argument again. Good atheist argument when rogerian tactics fail

[@speedy01247]

Literally what happened to me, read the Bible as a last ditch attempt to remain Christian only to be disillusioned by it.

[@alftuvik3820]

​@ConontheBinarian Been a while since I read the bible, but doesn't marriage also tend to sound more like a business transaction there?

[@JayMaverick]

As a gentle reminder - "I don't know" is always a perfectly legitimate response to these dumb theist questionnaires and they're still no closer to proving a god exists.

[@jaflenbond7854]

Among thousands of Gods, who is the True and Sovereign God? ANSWER - According to Atheists and fanatics of Religions, the Creator is worthless, useless, and undeserving to be honored and respected as the True and Sovereign God Who is Jesus Christ? ANSWER - According to Atheists and fanatics of Religions, Jesus Christ is worthless, useless, and undeserving to be honored and respected as the Creator's Chosen King and Ruler of the heavens and the earth Who are the Atheists and fanatics Religions? ANSWER - Atheists, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and fanatics of all kinds of Religions are obviously the mockers and enemies of the Creator and Jesus Christ on earth who don't respect and value LIFE itself as precious and important..... not bothered at all and just don't care even if their lies, cruelties, hypocrisies, deceptions, and falsehoods about "Armageddon", "heaven and hellfire", "Trinity", "rapture", and "reincarnation" bring and cause their own dishonor, disgrace, shame, downfall and ETERNAL DEATHS, just worthless and useless dusts on earth forever. ETERNAL LIFE and EXISTENCE on EARTH for WORSHIPPERS of the CREATOR and FOLLOWERS of JESUS CHRIST All persons on earth who submit to the authority of Jesus Christ and believe his teachings about the "Kingdom of God" and "Resurrection of the Dead" in obedience to what were written in Matthew 28: 18, Luke 4: 43, and John 11: 25, 26 are clearly the loving, kind, and respectful worshippers of the Creator and followers of Jesus Christ on earth who can be trusted with anything and are worthy and deserving of the loving, kind, and merciful Creator's favor and reward of ETERNAL LIFE and existence without sufferings, pains, griefs, sickness, and death on a safe and peaceful earth without traitors, perverts, murderers, the immoral, and liars both in words and deeds as written in Revelation 21: 3. 4, 8 All human beings have no immortal souls and just become worthless and useless dusts on earth after their deaths just like the animals as written in Ecclesiastes 3: 19, 20 and 9: 5, 6 but loving, kind, and respectful worshippers of the Creator who died recently and thousands of years ago like Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Job, Naomi, Ruth, King David, Jesus Christ's disciples and followers, and many others will not remain as worthless and useless dusts on earth forever, instead, in the Creator's own right time and as written in John 11: 25, 26 Jesus Christ will RESURRECT them back to life so they can all happily and abundantly live and exist on earth forever as submissive and obedient subjects of the "KINGDOM of GOD" and fully enjoy the eternal love, kindness, goodness, compassions, generosities, favors, and blessings of the Creator and his Christ for eternity under the loving and kind rulership, guidance, and protection of Jesus Christ as the Creator's Chosen King and Ruler of the heavens and the earth as written in Revelation 11: 15.

[@dawkins5824]

What a pile of old cobblers!

[@jaidev777]

But it's not aesthetically attractive - and that, in a very neat nutshell, sums up a _lot_ of the problem of logically fallacious thinking, especially in the intersection of faith and American political right-wing.

[@gandalainsley6467]

Would you want friends who are yes men(blind faith ) or because they know you have money(someone else shows you the proof) or would you want friends who are your friends because they want to be around you? Same concept. You have to look for it yourself. That is the whole point of free will.

[@tgenov]

No, it isn't. I don't know is the starting point of all science. There's no utility in restating the obvious. To regurgitate "I don't know." is to re-assert ignorance. We know we are ignorant. That is why we ask questions! To cure our ignorance. Do you BELIEVE we can answer it? Maybe yes. Maybe No. Definitely No. Definitely Yes. Everyone of those is a better answer than "I don't know." What's the time? I don't know. Well fucking check!

[@doe9000]

My dude: "Evolution isnt a ladder, theres no peak, no goal" crabs: 👀

[@Jzombi301]

taste like crab, talk like people

[@bipeur_scp]

XD good one

[@doctorlightningsuper4211]

LMAOOOOO

[@jeremyallen5974]

Sharks and crocodiles: look at what they need to mimic a fraction of our power!

[@YEY0806]

@@jeremyallen5974 or turtles!

[@Wheres_the_money_lebowski]

Q: what led you to not believe in the god of the bible? A: reading the bible.

[@18471902]

The surest way to become a dedicated atheist is the read the Bible from cover to cover!

[@nickryan3417]

@@18471902 Very true. It becomes very obvious that the god of the bible is (a) just one of many gods (the bible itself states this), (b) petty and vindictive - for an all knowing/all powerful deity it really does have a problem with events that it either orchestrated or let happen and (c) limited in power - the same being that apparently made the entire universe still can't stop murders down the road (but it can help some lack brain find their car keys apparently), but also had to sacrifice a demi-god to itself in order to appease itself. It just goes on...

[@Riverrockphotos]

You can tell the bible was written by man. The Romans invented Jesus and list goes on and on.

[@DragoSmash]

"then you are reading it wrong!"

[@nickryan3417]

@@DragoSmash The response then is also something the lines of questioning if they are so deluded that they believe that there are different ways to read the same words, to listen to the "the bible stories are the word of god and are perfect" statements and yet still somehow miss the fact that that there are hundreds of versions of the bible, that the bible regularly contradicts itself, that the god of the bible (i.e. Yahweh, the Caanite god of war) shows all the traits of a petty, vindictive toddler with a magnifying glass and ants...

[@jesse_cole]

It's weird... for every "10 questions an atheist can't (but actually can) answer," I can think of 100 that religious zealots _actually_ can't answer.

[@nathanmiller9918]

....but they'll pretend they know.

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

give me one, I can answer any question you have for theists from a theist perspective even though I'm an atheist

[@queuecee]

@@ShiNijuuAKL If god doesn't exist, why do we have universal 7-day weeks? Checkmate atheists!

[@blackmailz]

​@@ShiNijuuAKL the answers are all the same: "because god" lol

[@ShiNijuuAKL]

@@blackmailz magic 🎉

[@AsdrubaleRossi]

As a Christian, I agree with you on all these answers. Not all Christians are brainless. Faith is not opposed to reason

[@TheAtheistExperience]

Thanks for watching! I don't think any of us here think that Christians are brainless. :)

[@exiled_londoner]

Yes, of course not all Christians are brainless. However, they do all suffer from some degree of Cognitive Dissonance... and faith is indeed inconsistent with reason, because faith is believing things despite the lack of good evidence, while reason would require evidence to precede belief.

[@gamebro5991]

Im trying to find my way religiously. Out of curiosity how do you retain your faith after watching this video? Specifically regarding the "I refuse to participate in a religion who's deity is more of an ass than I am."

[@AsdrubaleRossi]

@@gamebro5991 the guy who speaks about this point is citing "the God of the bible" and judging Him through modern concepts. The God of the bible was actually much nicer than other gods at the time (for example not asking Abraham to actually execute his son, while most ancient gods required sacrifice), and shouldn't be judged following modern principles. Jesus wasn't like that, and all negative thoughts that people tend to associate to God are actually distortions introduced by bad christians or misinterpretations, not by God itself. For example, the fact that God is telling you to behave, so you will go to paradise, is a very superficial rethoric that was used in the past to make people behave, but actually the gospel says God looks into your heart, and knows why you are doing things. Doing something good out of a self-centered reason, such as "I don't want to go to hell", negates the goodness of the act, and is not how things should be done.

[@zhontac6194]

​​@@TheAtheistExperiencedepends on the Christian, really.

[@jeiatloa]

i’d like to also answer part of the last question. “if a Christian dies, and there is no God, he loses nothing”. i’d beg to differ. he had wasted his life worshipping nothing. he didn’t get to experience all the amazing things life had to offer. and wasted his one and only chance

[@SevenPr1me]

My biggest problem with Christianity is that fundamentally it is a rejection of life and the world we live. According to Christianity we live in a cursed and corrupted (sin) world that is doomed for destruction (book of revelations). The only objective Christians are given is that they must worship the correct God and submit wholeheartedly to this God and they will be spared from destruction and suffering after they die, but they still have to survive this corrupted and sinful world. And this world is just a big mistake and where we truly belong is in the spirit world with God. And yet Christians seem to value their life, they're not in a particular hurry to die despite what their religion teaches

[@gregoryt8792]

@@SevenPr1mehow little you understand… In 1910 Ivan Panin, a Russian/ American Harvard math genius and linguistic expert, proved the Bible mathematically. Watch - Math proves the Bible. Most recently a 30 year veteran cold case criminologist J. Warner Wallace proved the Bible forensically in his book, Person of Interest. His testimony would convince any jury of the veracity of the Bible. Some of the amazing things in the Bible include the prophecy of the fall of Tyre and the prophecy of Alexander the great. Bible firsts include knowing life being in the blood long before modern science, or the Bible knowing about mountains and currents in the oceans or how the earth hangs on nothing. You should know about the prophecies fulfilled by Jesus and the impossible odds of that happening. The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents written down by eye witnesses during the lifetime of other eye witnesses. They report to us supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies and claim that the writings are divine rather than human in origin. 2 Peter 1:16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Watch - Evolutionists you’ve been caught lying about fossils

[@ookekklibarianbornagain6708]

@@gregoryt8792 Reported for Unwanted commercial content or spam.

[@michaelmoore7975]

My interpretation of wasted efforts differ from yours. I like this quote better. “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. But if you would rather believe in something that doesn't exist, I won't stop you. Because here is the real truth: Atheism does not provide any measurable, provable benefit or advantage over theism in any category or metric. And as a matter of scientific fact, religious people live longer than non religious ones.

[@talastra]

@@michaelmoore7975 Aurelius does a good job of answering the wrong question there :)

[@garwynrosser8907]

What came first: the chicken or the egg? That depends on how you interpret the question. If the egg is a chicken egg... then the answer is the chicken. However, if you're asking about the very first "chicken". Then the answer is the egg, but it would be laid from a bird that's like a chicken but not quite a chicken yet.

[@josephfroman7135]

The dinosaur came first.

[@annk.8750]

Or a frog, or a lizard, or a newt, or a dinosaur, or whatever creatures those evolved from ...lots of critters lay eggs, some of them long before there were birds.

[@vadersfather1248]

My science teacher answered this by saying the dinosaur

[@sharondornhoff7563]

The red junglefowl came first. We had to breed them for chicken-like traits for many generations before one of them laid a chicken egg.

[@josephfroman7135]

Actually, the rooster came first.

[@Jennifer-dw8hl]

I love a saying by Edmond de Goncourt, and use it in response to Pascal's Wager, "If there is a God, atheism must seem to Him as less of an insult than religion."

[@therealjetlag]

So true. Say what you like about atheists, but none of us have killed anyone "in God's name".

[@brucekeys4910]

If I were capable of creating an intelligent being from dirt, I would welcome its ability to discern and question EVERYTHING, including my own points of view. A god would be proudest of atheists and least proud of unquestioned obedience-- we do not marvel at servitude, we exploit it.

[@vaishaksuresh8555]

Some religious people say to me "take away only the good things from religious scriptures, and don't follow the bad stuff". My answer to them is, if I'm able to understand the difference between what's good and what's bad in those scriptures, then why the heck do i need them in the first place.

[@thomasulatowski3012]

The first thing any decient god will tell you is that He's All Good. Not let me explain about this new idea; let's call it "morality." I know you can't fathom "good."

[@waynefisher9824]

This is so true.

[@Kwadratura]

Because it could change your view or show you a perspective that you didn't saw before?

[@yakirfrankoveig8094]

​@@Kwadratura its hard not to see a perspective that is repeated by a huge percent of the population

[@ChaseC18]

Forrest is ridiculously well-spoken.

[@carolinenagel7085]

Forrest is the best. I wished I had him as a science teacher, it must be a lot of fun and interesting being in his class.

[@TrentR42]

​@@carolinenagel7085You can. He teaches great things about The Light of Evolution, Coral Reefs, and Bread (and Bacteria Farts) all the time!

[@tokeivo]

Forrest is all around ridiculously charismatic. I'm glad he's using it for good. I wonder if it's a camera thing, or it's the same in real life...? Forrest, if you see this, would you be a tall, gangling, clumsy mess, that can't dance? Or are you like the tall, smooth, well-dressed charming person, that we believe you to be, in real life? :P

[@xczechr]

Why is it ridiculous?

[@laxpaint]

Lax!

[@CaptainDanassume]

Yet another list of the same questions we have answered a million times

[@queuecee]

Yet theists somehow think their "evidence" for God is asking these dumb questions.

[@ChainsawChristmas]

That is literally the point of this entire video. Answering the most commonly asked questions with simple answers.

[@odojang]

And all of them totally irrelevant to atheism. As always.

[@Dayna-cd3zj]

Questions answered, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.

[@187nemesis3]

@@queuecee They believe that if an atheist doesn't know something, that proves or supports their point of view. As if one could come to knowledge through not knowing. And they don't realize how nonsensical that is.

[@grandpasaurusrex9512]

That's the same way I became an atheist 55 years ago. Oddly enough I've never met an atheist who hasn't read the Bible. I've met a lot of Christians who haven't read a book period.

[@grandpasaurusrex9512]

This 72 year old black guy thanks you for the compliment. I like to add though the most expeditious way to find a hypocrite is to go to church. The pews are full of them.

[@debtoralive4693]

Or spend their entire lives trying to memorize as much as possible. I remember from the few times I was forced to go to church. First off, I always felt some strange unpleasantness that seemed to saturate the air itself whenever I've entered a church. Like the remnants of many horrible acts that have been poisoning the very building and all that is in it. It was not all the same church either and last time, about 10 years ago it was just as powerful and unpleasant as ever. Second, why all this memorizing? I read it once from front to back and never looked at it again in over a decade, and although I am proudly atheist, I get what true christianity actually should look like more than your standard christian. In my opinion, I truly believe heaven will be a quiet lonely place with the only ones qualified to enter being god and sonny jesus himself. All these asshats think that by insisting they cannot be mistaken or are not reading from a version of the bible that is NOT the original due to countless inaccurate translations, which only means whomever translated it bought an express ticket to hell along with ALL who validate it. Their rules, not mine. I love using their own rules against them, because it makes them very uncomfortable, for very obvious reasons.

[@JensPilemandOttesen]

I never read any bible. I heard of some of the stories. I dont know a lot of people who has. And most people here in Denmark are atheists.

[@nicolab2075]

​@@JensPilemandOttesenPretty much the same here in the UK.

[@justanothermortal1373]

​@@nicolab2075Atheism is truly rising in the world.

[@terrencelockett4072]

It's crazy that so many theists think if someone can't or doesn't want to answer these types of questions, it automatically proves their religion right or something.

[@istvansipos9940]

you don't know how protons happened? Boom! Artemis proven. (yes, like the g0d fans out there, I also have 0.000000 evidence. But Artemis is hawt and non-genocidal. What's wrong with crisssschunz : -))

[@l.n.3372]

​@istvansipos9940 Didn't Artemis turn a hunter spying on her bathing into a deer so his own hunting dogs could kill and eat him? Let's hope she's not real O.o

[@alfresco8442]

This isn't about theists posing serious challenges to atheists. It's about theists giving themselves a warm cuddly feeling by putting out stupid strawman questions to bolster their own confirmation bias.

[@xczechr]

Indeed. It reminds me of one of Hitchens' comments in an interview/debate. Paraphrased, it is: "You strike me as someone who has never read the arguments against your position." Such a savage burn, and the questions listed above could all fall into that category.

[@user-pw6ei2mn7x]

👏👏👏👏😂🍀🍀

[@thorstambaugh1520]

No actually it is about atheists smacking down the same retarded theist questions we have debunked for centuries

[@leddmask]

No they are answering the common questions theists claim atheists cannot answer, it’s in the title buddy.

[@roybarrows9733]

The questions are indeed based on straw-man misperceptions, but that doesn't mean theists don't ask them. They sincerely thing these are "gotcha" questions. The fact that this video answers them with casual ease might get a few of them to think.

[@TrentR42]

18:50 I get that Forrest was staying on the topic of evolutionary forms here, but I really love his analogy of Latin speakers vs French Speakers. No Latin parents suddenly gave birth to a French child. Instead, the language evolved and changed according to its use and 'fitness' to its environment.

[@williamethegod5013]

here's some actual unanswerable questions with the current knowledge we posess feel free to answer these if you know what happens after death is god real what was the begining of the universe are we in a simulation what's past the end of the universe is there a multiverse is life but a dream are you real

[@janafz3309]

@@williamethegod5013Since I don't feel like diving into philosophy right now, I'll just answer the question with: No clue! You're turn.

[@williamethegod5013]

I have no clue too who knows certainly not me@@janafz3309

[@teachoc9482]

Wow. So impressed by Greg James answering Q.6. What a well-spoken man, and I appreciate his respect for his wife, daughter, and women in general. Thank you, from a woman listener.

[@Nafetitive]

What led me to atheism was a challenge I received in Methodist Confirmation class at age 12 (32 years ago). The challenge was to read the entire bible (OT and NT) cover-to-cover. So I did. Took me at least a full year to get through it, but I eventually did, taking copious notes along the way. I filled roughly three spiral notebooks full of questions, finding hardly any sufficient answers/apologetics to any of them. What few answers there were that seemed sufficient at the time eventually crumbled to dust upon further investigation. I've never been one to find any satisfaction in "god works in mysterious ways" as an answer, even while I considered myself a devout believer. As it turns out, my belief was wholly dependent on my ignorance of life, the universe, and everything. The more I learned, the less I believed. Were it not for Confirmation Class, a challenge to read the bible, and a naturally inquisitive mind keen on objectivity, I might still be a Christian. The only way I could ever go back to that (or any other) faith would require forgetting c. 32 years of personal research on the origins and history of the bible and Christianity, and the 5,000+ year evolution of man's concept of "god(s)." Research, by the way, which took me down the rabbit hole of biblical Historical Criticism, just shy of actually learning Hebrew and Classical Greek. Fortunately I was able to formulate my conclusions without having to learn these languages.

[@christianbaas2548]

where did you do your research to find answers?

[@crendler9912]

The Abrahamic faith has only existed for around 2600 years. Most books in the bible were written hundreds of years after they say they were.

[@photographyenthusiast9941]

Check out Salt and Light Baptist Church in Le Grange, Kentucky. He has a KZbin channel with his sermons and does an incredible job at breaking down scripture.

[@photographyenthusiast9941]

Johnathan Pokluda has some great sermons with “The Porch” church and others. Sometimes understanding comes from different perspectives. Just as we do no know how to build rocket ships, it’s fair to say that there is a lot we have not yet come to grasp.

[@whitecloud2002]

@@photographyenthusiast9941 see it is this, this is the problem, he gave his reasoning and explanation for not believing, yet you people just want to shove it down our damn throats.. arrggg.. He did his research, accept that he wants nothing to do with you or you're religion and move on.