3 Christian Teachings That Made Me Leave the Church

[@MrTerrorkiller]

"your kids are not leaving the church because you didn't train them enough. Your kids are leaving the church because you trained them well enough to have a sense for truth and justice. You let them read the words of Jesus, and they got it. And they've recognized that the church doesn't seem to be into those words. They're not leaving because they don't know the truth, they're leaving because they do." -Rhett McLaughlin

[@mariatrinitymya8618]

My father always blame my mother for not making me religious. I don't give a shit abt that cus I am who I am. He told me to read the whole bible and I did. But what did I get??? I got traumas.

[@VictoriousCatholic]

That makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. I was once atheist until I looked into atheism’s claims closer and found out none of them added up.

[@Hurricayne92]

@@VictoriousCatholic What claims in particular?

[@bugzyhardrada3168]

​@@VictoriousCatholic lol you should consider getting into comedy, I feel slapstick would be perfect for you.

[@twinnerNet]

​@@VictoriousCatholic"Atheist" literally means "not theist." So if someone asks you, " do you believe a god exists?" and you answer ANYTHING other than yes, you are atheist.

[@panqueque445]

"You should take these values to heart, like god wants" "OK" "No wait not like that"

[@Emymagdalena]

“You should study the Bible within its historical context.” “OK” “No wait not like that.”

[@cobrasys]

"You should act as Christ would" "OK" "No wait not like that"

[@HungryWarden]

@@cobrasys”Christ died for our sins!” “So you’re saying I should die too to save everyone from their sins even more and everyone will worship me?” “No, that’s not what I meant!”

[@whathell6t]

“You should only listen to Christian music which will make you spiritually closer to God” “Okay 😊” (I’m referring to this Christian song: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZqiWe41rpdWKqaMsi=p9KfwxxJlbS0j_g4 , somehow its also beloved by Jews and Muslims.) “No WAIT! Not like that.”

[@hearthenon]

Lol 😂 So true! For me, I had learned to listen to the quiet voice of God inside me, and they said that was good. But when that voice told me to leave the church, suddenly it was the devil's voice.

[@JanelleC]

A friend asked the other day what percentage of people I went to youth group with "deconstructed" and what percentage remained evangelical. As I thought about it, I realized that for the most part it was the kids who took their faith the most seriously who eventually walked away. Those of us who tearfully promised that we would follow Jesus anywhere eventually followed him out the door. The Queer kids, more than anyone, learned exactly what it meant to work out our faith with fear and trembling. They told us to read the Bible and take it seriously and then mocked us for becoming "social justice warriors." Now they're warning us not to deconstruct to the point of meaninglessness. But they took a chisel to God until he fit in a box. They "deconstructed" the concept of love until it allowed them to tolerate sexual abuse, celebrate white supremacy, and look away from kids in cages. Some of us got to where we are because we took it all to heart. We took the most foundational elements of our faith to their natural conclusions. Folks who deconstruct evangelicalism aren't drop-outs; they're graduates. -Caitlin J. Stout

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Whispitt]

1. The bible claims they died, we dont know of they did. Even if they did die for their beleifs, so did Heavens Gate and its not like aliens suddenly exist. 2. Why would the Romans care? To them these disiples are lunatic cultists deluded about the death of their god. Why would they engage in taking any of their claims seriously? 3. See #1. This is literally just the same argument. 4. Its not. Biggest example i can think of is that if a pharoah and his entire army drowned in the red sea there would definitely be evidence of it. Same goes for the Exodus and Moses wandering the desert for 40 years. Lets not forget the fact theres literally 0 evidence to support a global flood even without considering the absurdity of putting 2 of every animal on a single boat. 5. "The people who beleived in god claim that god is real." Isnt much of an argument. 6. Id love to see this but even if they did write about him all that proves is that jesus was a real dude not that he was god. 7. Just because the bible is transparent about the contradictions doesnt mean we can dismiss the contradictions. Youd think god, who is infalliable, would know what happened at his own ressurection if the bible was actually divinely inspired. Instead we have 3 different tellings with multiple different claims and contradictions.

[@vls3771]

​@@trentitybrehm5105 What evidence ?

[@vls3771]

​@@trentitybrehm5105 What evidence ?

[@Douggyadam]

Oooooo the Christians are NOT gonna like this one 😅 “leaving the church was one of the most Christian decisions I ever made” goes HARD

[@realdreamerschangetheworld7470]

Whew 😮‍💨

[@TheMister123]

I think the sponsor will probably cause more rage than the topic of the video. 😂

[@davidjanbaz7728]

LOL 😂 : I have left many churches: but NOT my Faith in God. U confuse the 2 as the same thing.

[@davidjanbaz7728]

​​​​@@TheMister123Yes,my mistake in going there after reading your post to see why you said what you did. Hyper literalist fundamentalist interpretations will push people out of their Churches: Getting a solid Biblical education from someone like Dr.Michael S.Heiser and his videos can help solve GMS problems.

[@littlebitofhope1489]

@@davidjanbaz7728 What does that even mean?

[@roeliethegoat]

I wrote an article for a popular science magazine about my deconversion. I interviewed an expert on religion and psychology. She said: "Being an evangelical means you have to believe your faith in God is your very own belief, while at the same time emerging yourself in a big collective. When your own opinion on faith no longer matches the collective, theres no other option but to leave. The irony is that you did exactly what the evangelical church asked of you. Finding your own faith."

[@zapkvr]

Not irony

[@zapkvr]

​@maximgruner"self actualize"? Hmmmm. When you hear a term for the first time, you might want to look to its origin. Rather than just repeat it thoughtlessly. You can start with Carl Rogers. And that other dope Abraham Maslow. Be prepared to be bored rigid. And dont forget to read the criticsms as well. Happy reading😊

[@inquisitiveterrestrian]

If you wouldn't mind (for privacy reasons I totally get it if you would), what's the name of that article? I'd love to read it

[@roeliethegoat]

@@inquisitiveterrestrian I'm afraid you won't be able to read it, because it's Dutch (I'm from the Netherlands).

[@onijester56]

I mean, Martin Luther, the 'founder' of Protestantism from which modern Evangelical Christianity arose, literally wrote a series of letters discussing problems he saw with the church, and when he was excommunicated/declared "Not a Christian" by the highest authorities in Catholicism (I think it might have even been the Pope of the time), he started his own church with its own ideology and theology.

[@JJ-hp6mb]

This is exactly what happened with me. I am raised in a Hindu family with strong values & morals. Although not too conservative, it was filled with superstitions, bigotry, dogma etc. I realised that they do not follow the very basic principles that they taught me. Now, I am agnostic. 🤗

[@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

Wow, that’s fascinating! So cool to hear that there is that similarity in our experiences even with different backgrounds.

[@greggoreo6738]

This is what I have heard. Religion is for people who are afraid of going to Hell. Spirituality is for those who have been through Hell. Respectlfully yours Gregg Oreo Long Beach CA etats unis

[@tripsam4655]

This is the stupidest comment out there. Comparing eastern and abrahamic religions is like comparing chalk and cheese. Take your inferiority complex to belong elsewhere

[@Jrookus]

@@greggoreo6738that’s such a limited and stupid way of viewing both spirituality and religion

[@NobleDorito8698]

Hinduism is a quite liberal religion,so no problem being a skeptic

[@JamesN16]

When I was buying a wedding ring for the woman I planned on marrying, a pastor from my church was at the jewelry shop. We chatted for a bit and then continued on with our shopping. I later heard him trying to get a discount and he told the girl behind the counter that he was the one who told me to buy my ring from that shop. He wasn’t. I knew the owner and she agreed to help me with my meager budget. I was shocked and heartbroken. This pastor in particular was one I held in such high esteem. I wanted to be like him. To see him acting against what he had taught me and so many others, diminishing his character for a lousy discount was sad. He was pushy and aggressive. I was still Christian at the time, I made excuses for him in my mind, but it forever changed how I saw a major authority in my life.

[@dexterbunco4212]

Been there. Worked in appliance repair. Of course, obligatory “not all preachers” out of the way, there were two particularly egregious ones who’d never pay their bills because they believed it was owed to them to be served by others.

[@ashleytheseeker8480]

I understand. I'm pretty sure I saw an Imam go into a liquor store about 4 years ago.

[@insersed6525]

Everyone makes some mistakes. If he repented and worked on improving his actions, he shouldn't be accounted for that past sin. After all, God won't use our sins against us in judgment day because of the works of Jesus.

[@leonardpaulson]

⁠@@insersed6525See, that’s the problem. Even IF he repented, it still doesn’t acknowledge the wrong done to actual people. This idea that we are only accountable to god allows selfish, entitled, and arrogant people to continue to behave this way while they convince themselves that god has forgiven them.

[@insersed6525]

@@leonardpaulson It'd be heresy to believe that you can continue to live a life full of sin and excuse yourself with the grace of God. Because of God's grace we are called to try to do good deeds. We do good deeds in thankfulness of God's kindness.

[@drowsyZot]

This was *exactly* my partner's experience. He left his father's church over anti-LGBT rhetoric, and his father still doesn't understand why. I just want to scream at him "because YOU taught him love and respect for others!"

[@michaelgum97]

"Love and respect" doesn't apply to people/things/ideas that he doesn't agree with.

[@slavishentity6705]

@@michaelgum97 That's the right way to word it : They "disagree" a person as they would disagree with an idea : When they say "I disagree with your lifestyle" it translates to "kys"

[@rickwyant]

But they're just as delusional as Christians

[@shanedsouza189]

​@@slavishentity6705can remove the "style" and just shorten to "I disagree with your life"

[@Leith_Crowther]

The thing Christians often don’t get is that loving people isn’t good enough… or even good at all. They think that feeling nice about the people they mistreat is enough to be considered virtuous.

[@moonchyld1475]

"Leaving the church was the most Christian thing I've ever done." I agree!

[@Donnie-hf5du]

I so agree. I am going to listen more.

[@k.a.4522]

YEP!! Been there, totally OVER that!!

[@akajoshua2324]

Should we accept the people that identify as cats, as cats?. The problem with this generation is that they can't differentiate Love from stupidity. If you truly love someone, tell them the truth and don't play along with their mental illness.

[@EdwardThompson-417k]

definitely my experience!

[@xavierburval4128]

As a Christian, couldn’t agree more.

[@dillanklapp]

I was just joking around with my wife about this last night. People always told me my spiritual gift was discernment. So I discerned myself right out of the religion😂

[@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

Hahahah same here! I was the smart and wise Christian until suddenly I was deceived and foolish

[@dillanklapp]

@@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic I was “wise beyond my years” just for being able to repeat back to them what they already believed. When I actually started using my brain I just became too smart for my own good….

[@DavidLindes]

@@dillanklappwell, too smart for their religion’s own good. I imagine it was a net good for you, though?? I hope so, anyway!

[@carolbaker2773]

@@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic This was also me. We had very similar experiences (except I was in the private Lutheran school pipeline and not the evangelical homeschool one). I was always good with biology and sciences so it was pretty clear I would go that path and my highschool teachers tried desperately to get me to go to the Lutheran college in Nebraska. I said no as I did not want to go that far away from family and instead went to the public science and tech school in MO (University of Science and Technology). That was the first time I was every exposed to anything other than the Lutheran school system and boy did it change me lol. My highschool was right to me nervous about me learning science that wasn't curated by the church. Now I am a DVM/PhD working with medical laboratory animals and I am so happy I no longer have all that guilt that I was raised with. I keep telling my dad that if Jesus was alive today, he would be at minimum a socialist.

[@Howie-f3z]

You achieved liberation through the direct power of observation and a discerning mind. Welcome home

[@thexphial]

I have found that it is the children who were most sincere in their belief at wind up leaving the church due to the inconsistencies and hypocrisy of the social politics adhered to by their church

[@starry_lis]

Me and my friends were so pious as teenagers that we formed our own Bible study group. Most of are are atheists or agnostics by now. And we don't baptise our kids, no matter how much pressure there is from the family.

[@maxdanielj]

I've noticed that too. Both online, like Drew here, and with people I know

[@davehallam3894]

Agreed. It wasn't until I really pushed into my faith that I lost it.

[@NEMOsleeps24]

I was avidly reading the Bible from 9-13, questioning from 14-16 and removed from religion by 17

[@olmostgudinaf8100]

Organised religion is not and has never been about faith. It is and has always been about power. That applies to any organised religion. Ancient Babylonian as well as modern day Christian.

[@SoThatsGoot]

This rings a bell for me. My mom, a devout evangelical, became fascinated with cults after her job brought her in regular contact with FLDS members. She taught us how to be skeptical of cults, as well as skeptical of faith healers and prosperity preachers. It was that same skepticism we learned from her that led my sister and I to begin looking at Christianity with equal scrutiny.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

Regardless of how you feel about doctrine or whatever, the evidence for the Resurrection convinces me it's true.

[@SoThatsGoot]

OMG you're right. I see the light. Back to church I go!

[@trentitybrehm5105]

@@SoThatsGoot you don't have to make fun of me. Hope you have a great day

[@SoThatsGoot]

@@trentitybrehm5105 bestie, you came onto an atheist channel to evangelize. What do you expect? 😅

[@TheRatsintheWalls]

​@@trentitybrehm5105 I would be interested in the evidence you found convincing. Are you willing to tell me about it?

[@tomisaacson2762]

This really resonated with me as an ex-Muslim. I got a rigorous Islamic education from elementary school to high school graduation and was taught to highly value an education in STEM. I increasingly spent my time online learning about scientific topics that interested me, and the more I learned the more clear it became how little my teachers actually understood the scientific theories they mocked and disregarded (usually evolution and the Big Bang). Which mattered a lot to me because they'd often point to the "scientific miracles of the Quran" as proof of it being divinely inspired. I was taught that learning more about the natural world can only increase your faith. That was the beginning of the end of my faith in Islam precisely because I took that lesson to heart.

[@john-ic5pz]

👍🏼👍🏼 it's ironic they're not far wrong about mocking the big bang though they're unaware of that. as a PhD engineer who was raised Catholic, to me the big bang theory is the Creation miracle wrapped in scientific jargon....did you know the man who proposed the theory was a Jesuit priest? ✌🏼 ❤️‍🩹

[@cheshireket3132]

I grew up catholic. The more I looked, the more I saw through it. Thats why the Nuns and my mom tried to keep me away from reading too much. They failed. I left.

[@ashleytheseeker8480]

Hey 🤗Ex muslim here as well! Islam teaches us to seek ilm from the cradle to the grave. I finally took into acct what I learned as I got older, and left islam. It no longer made sense and was no longer rooted in reality as I once thought it was for 28 years.

[@lorekeeper685]

I had Islam taught for 13 years all the same bs

[@lupvium]

im also an exmuslim and i also left for the same reasons! our world religions teachers would show us scientific facts that were also told in the quran and say its proof islam is real. but the more i researched actual scientific papers on such things i realized how actually wrong the 'predictions' in the holy book were. when you actually follow the core teachings of abrahamic religions you realise theyre false. ironic

[@arrestedeffort]

When you said "When asked why we stand apart from the Church on moral grounds, we can reply 'I'm just doing what you taught me,'" that was very powerful. Well said.

[@davidarvingumazon5024]

Meanwhile, at school Teachers: Did you do everything? You think I'm the best Teacher? Who taught me? Read Matthew 23. **This logic can be applied to Christians who are trying teach, and Matthew 23 is essential information.**

[@MarcosElMalo2]

And it drives them nuts.

[@pkwork]

Amen. I am 76... this did not begin recently. You have such a clear view... thank you for sharing.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

Regardless of how you feel about doctrine or whatever, the evidence for the Resurrection convinces me it's true.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@41-Haiku]

I identify with this quite strongly. I was raised to value truth and love above all things, and those values eventually led me directly out of the faith.

[@harveywabbit9541]

All Abrahamic religions are SCAMS.

[@ReluctantApostate]

Myself as well. I started a pursuit to deepen my walk with God and correct my liberal views if they were indeed wrong. I wanted to do what was true not what I wanted to be true. My first step was to understand how the bible is known to be God's word. From their I felt I'd look at history and context of the verses and map out what was likely being communicated and what wasn't. I never got there though. It was the first step of grounding the bible that failed. There was no way to support that claim that doesn't beg the question or make some special appeal. Something I'd seen in other faith walks previously but not my own. My desire for God's truth, rather than mine, was so strong that it actually led me out of my faith and was a unexpected and painful admission. The claims and evidences of the bible and Christianity were just too poor. From that point, the harmonization began failing and all the other issues and contradictions started to make sense for this man made collection.

[@briansheets4229]

Agreed. Likewise, it led me out and away from the Republican party. @GeneticallyMidifiedSkeptic, thank you so much for being a positive example and source of inspiration to those of us who are still deconstructing.

[@nathanaelgazzard7989]

Mood

[@tyemaddog]

And thus into a complete absurd worldview.

[@alarcon99]

ALL OF THIS! I was brought up Catholic and was so committed to it that I wanted to be a nun. One of the turning points in my life that propelled to leave Christianity all together and not just be a “cafeteria Christian “ was the Terry Shrivo case. What that poor woman and her loving husband had to endure is unspeakable.

[@indigopines]

Another athiest who wanted to be a nun!! It's something I rarely hear, so I'm saluting you over the internet!! 🫡

[@awkwardukulele6077]

I was looking into being a priest, but come to find out, I probably would’ve been better as a nun had I stayed in the faith 🏳️‍⚧️ It’s strange how often trying to be a serious Christian ends up making you not a Christian anymore 😂. Turns out, asking questions so you can become a better Christian _still_ means asking questions, which is not something the church seems to condone too much 😅

[@bobbabai]

For future reference, the name is "Terri Schiavo"

[@vintagearisen]

I'll argue that the fervent search for God, coupled with empathy and intellectual integrity, is a strong motivator to leave the faith. I was a missionary myself. Spent most of my twenties in ministry of various types.

[@Marychelle]

@@bobbabaiShe’s barely alive oh . . .

[@Cellidor]

This definitely hits similar notes to that now old saying of "The quickest way to make a Christian an atheist is to have them actually read the bible".

[@renater.540]

That's just what made me and my son leave the faith: joining a bible study group....

[@lijohnyoutube101]

I find as an atheist that the majority of people that claim to follow its teachings are less read and studied on the bible/faith than myself.

[@Cellidor]

@@lijohnyoutube101 It's one of the (many) reasons I'm not a believer myself. If someone told me there was an amazing book I should read that they haven't read themselves, I'm going to think the book isn't actually that good. If they tell me that book is the _inspired word of a cosmic being_ and yet they _still_ haven't bothered to read it...I'm _definitely_ not going to think it's actually that.

[@carmenmccauley585]

Yup. That's what did it for me.

[@SimonClarkstone]

Here, the comparison is a strange one, as he had studied the Bible a lot while remaining a Christian.

[@remigusker6024]

This is one of my "favorite" aspects of our parents generation. As children they adamantly taught us the importance of kindness, compassion, patience, seeking understanding and to intensely scrutinize information that didn't come from a "trusted" source. And then we grew up to actually apply those ideals and ended up ostracized while our parents scream "No, not like that!" as we ended up not hating the right people or unquestioningly following the word of a dubious book and those it encourages to spout anti scientific bullshit. Truly our parents greatest success has also been one of their greatest failures.

[@phillyphakename1255]

Heck, good discernment is why I have the career and the success that I have. It's what accelerated me up the career ladder in a year or two rather than 5 or 10. You want me to be successful in life? Discernment and critical thinking. But applying those ideals to other areas? Oof. Now I am an atheist who supports equal protection under the law. You can't have it both ways. If you want me to be discerning and empathetic, great! But with it comes the fruits of your labor.

[@akajoshua2324]

Anti-scientific bullshit, I would like to know more of this "anti-scientific bullshit".

[@russellg1473]

@@akajoshua2324 6000 years

[@schwarzwolfram7925]

"Task failed successfully"

[@Marco855-z7x]

Blaming your parents isn't an excuse. You will be held responsible for your own actions.

[@poisontango]

As an ex-Mormon, some of my favorite LDS teachings definitely facilitated my departure: Read from the best books, study matters thoroughly and act so your heart and mind are in accord, a reminder to missionaries that your first priority is to love the people you meet and things will work out from there. There were toxic teachings, too, but a lot of the principles that seemed right to me steered me away and still give me plenty to reflect on as an atheist.

[@Access1296]

It’s good to hear from Ex-Mormons who still believe that there is a lot of good principles taught in the religion - even if they have their own (very good) reasons to leave. I haven’t left, but I’m still deconstructing in a major way right now. This video spoke to me about that challenge - the reason I’ve come so close to leaving is precisely because I was raised with values that have led me into conflict with the established “word”. Love others. God works in natural ways, not by magic. Whatever is good comes from God, no matter the source (we don’t have a monopoly on truth). If something is true, God will confirm it to you personally - in your mind and heart. God never expects you to blindly follow, because that was Satan’s plan. Many of these teachings have led me to the conclusion that there are a lot of things wrong with the church - some teachings, some leaders, how leaders are chosen, how change is enacted, how policies are taught, how politics is enmeshed with religion, how blind faith is discreetly (and sometimes openly) endorsed, and how those who question leaders can be shunned. I’ve come to understand that in order to stay true to my personal values, I have to distance myself from the (many) negative aspects of the religion. And speak out where I can on things I believe to be true. I don’t yet know where I’ll end up. But I think becoming as educated as I can is important, given how many conflicting voices there are in the world. Unfortunately, the people that most often talk about this stuff are Atheists like Drew. And it seems that many spokespeople for Athiem are more unilaterally loving than their Christian counterparts. I just wish I had more Christians to talk to who share my values and beliefs. I’m not Christian enough to talk to Christian friends about it, and not Athiest enough to talk to Athiests. 😕

[@tyleri.4219]

I was thinking the same thing. I think the values I picked up by being Mormon were what necessitated my standing for truth and right by leaving the Mormon faith

[@poisontango]

@Access1296 That last note--seeming Christian around atheists and atheist around Christians--I've definitely felt that a lot. Best of luck making your choice! I thought about staying--the more people like me and friends I admired with similar doubts left, the fewer voices against fundamentalism existed in the church. But I eventually felt too much like a stranger, and found I was happier with some distance. Hope you find a path that gives you happiness!

[@Access1296]

Thank you! I really appreciate that. 🙂 I’ve definitely already created some distance. I’m hoping as time wears on I’ll feel the need for less distance instead of more. But only time will tell. I at least am in the same boat as my wife. We are walking similar paths, and for that I’m very grateful. I don’t know how I’d handle my deconstruction if she was going full anti or full orthodox.

[@jahbloomie]

@@Access1296Thanks for this comment. It sounds as if you’re interested in connecting with others who experience faith without toxic creeds. This encourages me to share my own journey more openly.

[@kylecurryyt]

Very well said. I left my conservative Southern Baptist church in 1979 for the same reasons you explain in this video. I was 15 and my father was a Baptist pastor. Even he had serious issues with what we called rampant hypocrisy in those days. There were so many conservative church members and leaders who talked the talk but behaved in very un-Christian ways and lived corrupt and morally bankrupt lives. There was no congruency between their words and their actions. I had to look for God and Truth outside of organized religion.

[@francisnopantses1108]

The number one reason cited by millennials for leaving the church when surveyed was "church people. "

[@kylecurryyt]

@@francisnopantses1108 Yup.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

Regardless of how you feel about doctrine or whatever, the evidence for the Resurrection convinces me it's true.

[@TheRatsintheWalls]

​@@trentitybrehm5105 Seeing how many times you posted this exact comment, I'm beginning to doubt your intentions. This looks more like evangelism than conviction.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

@@TheRatsintheWalls The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they knew he had risen, because they saw him. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. It's mainly because of the archeology, "friendly" writers, and "hostile" writers mentioned above that the Jesus Seminar, who are PhD level ashiest/agnostics who study Christ and the Bible, concluded that Jesus really lived in Judea 2,000 years ago, was known as a miracle workers, died on the cross under Pilate, and that his disciples really believed they had seen him risen from the dead. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@irfanbey958]

To me, a once devout catholic, it was a bunch of old men in fancy dressing doing unspeakable things to minors concluding that gay people like me, women and divorced people are effectively second-class people.

[@alarcon99]

And the Catholic Churches with pokey sticks on their benches to dissuade homeless people from sleeping there 😢

[@mekannatarry1929]

Hostile architecture is so primitive, considering that you'd have to hate homeless folk so much, you're willing to inconvenience everyone else just to prevent a specific group of people from resting smh. It's so absurd is funny, cause otherwise I'd feel nothing but seething rage.

[@mariatrinitymya8618]

Lol they say lesbians and gay poeple are low class???I've been a lesbian for years now and I'm happy I'm not the kind of person who bad mouth abt other people lol

[@Soapandwater6]

For anyone who is not Catholic, those fancy clergy costumes are RIDICULOUS! It is hard to believe that they are serious people.

[@Soapandwater6]

@@alarcon99 All churches should have their doors open for the homeless. Jesus said so.

[@annaairahala9462]

100% agree. I constantly tell people it wasn't in spite of my christian teachings, it was because of them. It sometimes feels like I live a life more accurate to Biblical teaching now as an atheist than I did could as a christian

[@wordforger]

Very much so!

[@BottomTableTyrants]

☝️this👆 and want to add that the peace I have now that I’m not continuously worried that I wasn’t doing the right things to be a “real” Christian and that hell and/or a good Old Testament style smiting was headed for me.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Marco855-z7x]

You constantly tell people? You have this discussion often? You have to be honest, the devil has led you astray, but you will be held responsible.

[@annaairahala9462]

@@Marco855-z7x Yes, because of people like you who are unwilling to listen to others and can't understand them.

[@aremoreequal]

I was raised a Christian and was being groomed to be a pastor. I was told to memorize the Christian bible, and so I read it cover to cover multiple times. The Christian bible itself is why I lost faith.

[@dsatt57]

That played a big part for me. No one truly knows who wrote most of it, it’s been passed down for generations copied by monks and others. You have to force connections. It’s terribly unreliable.

[@mapleleaf0]

@@dsatt57 Yes, we wouldn't need to make up doctrine if the Bible weren't such a mess.

[@aremoreequal]

"The Bible is the truth, because it says it's the truth!" - "The Bible is all true because my daddy/mommy/pastor/friend told me it is real, and they know because The Bible says it's all true." Even though all the books in The Christian Bible were put into it by Catholic Priests a while back ago, and they intentionally left some out, picking and choosing put books to put in and what books to take out, so even if there was some "Scripture" that was "Purely Written By God" (as if) there's a bunch of other books mixed in by these priests, based on what they felt like adding or not. Also, I was thinking the other day: Isn't it strange that God would decide to have a bunch of different people from different countries and different languages all compose a history book that is supposedly the entire history of the world, even though there are tons of other people all over the planet at that time and don't believe the same beliefs, and God could write the thing himself like he did the stone tablets. I mean, God's capable of writing ten commandments on stone but incapable of creating a book out of paper or something more amazing?@@dsatt57

[@The_Keh27]

@@dsatt57 don't forget it was also written in another language and translated, then retranslated through multiple other languages, losing many meanings, nuances and even likely mistranslated specific words.

[@spasterisk]

...Memorize the bible? What kind of torture is that?

[@merrikwright19]

I have officially left The Church of Jesus Christ of LAtter Day Saints (Mormon) as of a few weeks ago. This was a long process that took a couple of years through my deconstruction. But many of the things that I was taught, and that they taught me I also used in my deconstruction. Feeling the spirit, and trying to differentiate what was the Holy Ghost or just worldly feelings. This was used to determine that the other feelings I had felt in my life would have been a natural byproduct of just being a human. I cannot think of one time that I really felt the spirit that I can definitively say would not have been natural. Another thing that I used that they taught was to read the book and pray if it was true. For the first time I truly prayed and asked. After receiving radio silence for over a year I gave up.

[@poisontango]

Fellow ex-Mormon here, with similar realizations. Like, I'm just supposed to pray and keep praying until I feel something? If I feel nothing, just keep going. If I feel something wrong, that's just natural human stuff or the devil. But once I feel something, anything, cling to that, as if that moment means more than all the other moments. Disregarding evidence against and only valuing evidence of--cherrypicking/confirmation bias taught as doctrine. Sorry, it's been years for me and obviously it still irritates me. I just wasn't sure what to do when I did everything the way I was told, and my answer was, over and over again... no.

[@Sam-xt5gb]

Hell yeah brother. Fellow ex Mormon here. Your experience is valid and resonates with many others, myself included. Life is wild!

[@poisontango]

@@Sam-xt5gb Ex-Mormons, unite!

[@Scrimbly_guy]

As another ex-Mormon the two big things that made me question were like you stated about prayer and getting zero answer. and the fact that we are taught from a young Age to love one another but as you grow older you realize that the people who taught you often hold a lot of bigoted views, though they often try to justify them as “tough love”.

[@timv82]

@@Sam-xt5gb What's up my fellow Ex-Mormons!

[@RedKincaid]

My father, uncle, grandfather, and great-grandfather were all pastors, deacons, and church leaders. They did their best to raise me religious. My mother, grandmother, and aunts all were teachers, and did their best to ensure I was raised to think for myself. I don't think they ever realized these were conflicting goals, but as much resentment as I hold towards my family I'm ever grateful that I was taught the value in looking for answers using reason

[@wideawake5630]

All truth is God's truth. Faith and education don't have to be at odds. There have always been brilliant thinkers with deep faith.

[@MrTrickatreat]

@@wideawake5630 if it's the truth, then why do i need to have faith about it?

[@phillyphakename1255]

My dad was a professor, and we lived on the most highly educated block in the most highly educated city in the entire state. We went to church, I think everyone I knew on the block went to church. We were taught as kids that expertise exists, but authority doesn't. Sure, that professor knows a lot about dance, or business, or engineering, or human development, or whatever their specialty was, but they still are human, they can make mistakes, they are not experts at EVERYTHING, only their thing. So then it was kinda weird as a kid to go to church and hear a guy talking about everything from morality and philosophy, to sociology and psychology, to the cosmic origins, all with unquestioning authority. If my dad doesn't have all the answers, ad the 90% of households on this block with (at least one) PhD don't have all the answers, why do we trust this one guy?

[@RedKincaid]

@@wideawake5630 I disagree strongly. Faith exists, as far as religion is concerned, as a justification for believing things with no evidence. When I began deconstructing, I had conversations with family members where I tried to explain what I was going through, and I was repeatedly told that I *had* to believe without evidence, that I had no right to be questioning the Bible at all, that the contradictions and impossibilities were just something I'd have to ask Jesus about when I got to Heaven. When I tried to be reasonable about it and explain my position, I was told that unless I was willing to agree that how they felt was equivalent to evidence, their own religious experiences were more important than trying to be logical, they couldn't even argue. I was supposed to take it all on faith. The fact that my own father had no answers to any of the questions I had beyond "Don't think about it so much" was devastating. Over and over and over again I got told to just pray about it, like I hadn't been praying every morning, noon and night for years, getting nothing but in intensification of my OCD to show for it. I wanted desperately to experience what the people around me told me they had felt, but at a certain point I realized it was making my life worse the harder I tried. I'd been reading the Bible compulsively, and eventually I realized it was nothing, just a bunch of ancient mythology designed to keep people in line and deferent to authority. It was an agonizing process, but religion was probably the biggest evil in my life I had to overcome, and people like you who act like it's sunshine and roses don't bother me so much when you keep in your own lane, but don't you dare preach to me.

[@micklumsden3956]

Stages of Faith are important. Stage 1 may be called the “Authority” stage - you believe what you are told. Sadly many leaders try to keep people at this stage, not realising that the most exciting part of the journey is going through the anguish of questioning everything to discover the truth for yourself.

[@NeverlandSystemPunkGirlChloe]

Ironic they call it "discernment" yet ONLY wanna "discern" a very specific literal singular view without ANY discerning anything... Discernment to them is literally just gaslighting to tell you that you're being lied to but to accept the LIE... not the facts.

[@QuickManEXE]

Well said there.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

Regardless of how you feel about doctrine or whatever, the evidence for the Resurrection convinces me it's true.

[@Ninja-Ninja1]

Discernment is God's gift. My dad has the gift of Discernment and this is definitely not it.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@Ninja-Ninja1 You think you're personally incapable of figuring out what is true?

[@Marco855-z7x]

I'm afraid the devil is gaslighting you, you were told how wise and deceptive he is. You're like most others, letting the devil steal what God has prepared for you.

[@kierayoung236]

I received a bit of Christmas money from my uncle one year. I saw a man close to my school that looked like he may be homeless, so I gave him a good portion of that money. My parents told me I shouldn't have done that because he probably used it on drugs. I was in high school, and had been taught for years to always bless others with kindness. This really confused me for a long time.

[@susanatkinson3978]

You did a good thing! I was homeless for 2 yrs. Work in a shelter now. Most people experiencing homelessness deserve help and kindness and you might just give someone the encouragement they need to not give up.❤

[@kierayoung236]

@@susanatkinson3978 Thank you. I'm glad to hear you're doing well. And yes I also agree that it's always best to show kindness and compassion. At the very least, an understanding.

[@Rhomega]

I hear the same thing. "They're probably just con artists. They probably already have a job and are just looking for more, and it's all tax-free income too."

[@fumanpoo4725]

How they use it is between them, God and their dope source. You do what you can.

[@stickiedmin6508]

​@@fumanpoo4725 When I was still a part of that life, the 'dope source' *_WAS_* god. A jealous, angry god which didn't tolerate competitors, a shallow and insecure god that required praise and tribute, and ultimately a fragile and weak god whose threats turned out to be meaningless. It's an interesting metaphor, isn't it?

[@billstrong4814]

One of the many sad aspects of fundamentalism is that it is not supported historically. It was devised in the late 1800s as a 'Christian' response to the growing modernism that they feared. Today it works by masquerading - preachers in cool torn jeans w/ electric music still pump out the fundamentalist message to unsuspecting people. Glad I didn't grow up with that baggage. Hope my nieces and nephews remain free of it too.

[@oliviawolcott8351]

I'd have to agree. 2016 really was a shift for me. I was committed, and I took it seriously. and I saw people voting for trump and compromising the values and teaching that they said were unchanging and eternal. and they kept saying about choosing the lesser evil. but we were christians, we weren't supposed to choose evil at all.

[@me-myself-i787]

If all the Christians in America had voted for Gary Johnson, he could have won. But instead, they decided to choose the lesser of two evils, because the other candidates have no chance.

[@biggihan]

It really did not help that religious leaders argued for President Clinton’s impeachment, no matter how effective he was, because the commander in chief needed to be morally above reproach. Then, nearly 20 years later, the very same religious leaders (the ones still alive, such as James Dobson and Pat Robertson) did a complete 180° turn and argued that we are electing a commander in chief, not a pastor in chief.

[@Excultbaby]

The moment the Zaboomafoo theme song started playing I got physically launched backwards in time

[@xKumei]

The brothers from it have a new animated show now, my niece watches it! It's called Wild Kratts.

[@polaris_draws]

@@xKumei I remember that from when I was in Elementary school. Is that still a thing?

[@ktculbreth9961]

Looks like they’ve made episodes as recently as May of 2023, their seventh season!

[@HungryWarden]

⁠@@xKumeiit’s very good! I watch it too.

[@phillyphakename1255]

That show wasn't a big part of my childhood media consumption, but the theme song and the set are imprinted. Bumpers and ads while watching Arthur and Cyber Chase!

[@kj6731]

Your outro knocked me flat. Yes! To all the people that would be so flabbergasted I no longer share their faith ‘In just doing what you taught me’. For me it was watching the community I grew up with teach overflowing love of everyone. Then that same community was the most cutthroat and unsafe one I’ve ever been in. They cast POC and LGBT people out of community programs and outreach efforts. They would spend thousands to go overseas for mission trips and encourage the poor kid with worn out shoes not to come to youth group because there had been complaints. I didn’t even realize how angry all this made me because I was taught to never show anger. That forgiveness must be all I can show those that have done wrong. And when someone would call out something wrong the church was doing they were immediately silenced or cast out. It took a lot of distance before I could even call it what it is, hypocrisy. Because I’m following what was taught and I know in my heart that my church was not following their own teachings most of the time.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Marco855-z7x]

You've allowed the sins of others determine your fate. The devil deceived you very easily, you were not a challenge for him. Nobody is responsible for the bad decisions you make.

[@zemorph42]

When I saw the word *"Discernment"* on the screen, I literally nodded and said, "mm-hmm" as if I'd been expecting it, but I wasn't really thinking about it, just listening to you and remembering my own journey through and out of Xtian religion.

[@ShadowPa1adin]

At my old church "Spiritual Discernment" basically boiled down to "gullibility with a furrowed brow."

[@LittleWriterSquirrel]

Real discernment is not shying away from the trigger words you were taught are forbidden fruit. It’s knowing what you believe and why and how to argue against opposing positions without resorting to sticking your head in the sand. I have seen this bad decrement taught in church camp and whatnot, but the Christians I respect the most teach GENUINE discernment and critical thinking.

[@littlebitofhope1489]

@@ShadowPa1adin 😆

[@mushu_beardie2556]

@@ShadowPa1adin That sounds like Tucker Carlson's permanent expression lol. He always looks like a confused dog.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@nickybobby9317]

“I was astounded, really, and their response only motivated me to speak out more fervently. Looking back now it’s clear to me that I didn’t leave the church in spite of my Christian upbringing but because of it.” Hooyah! Now that’s integrity!

[@dmaeceryes905]

I love your thoughtful and calm delivery style. I just happened upon this video and appreciate the discussion. I also broke from my Christian upbringing due to the devisiveness and callous treatment of "others". I tend to move toward the teachings of Jesus and other wise people from other religions rather than Christianity precepts alone.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@brienmcchesney3548]

I LOVE THIS! As a United Methodist youth minister and Christian headed to seminary this fall, I really appreciate your openness about this experience. Alot of good stuff here! For many, leaving the church IS one of the most Christian things that can be done in such a time as this. As for the political blocks, I think you’re spot on! Rev Dr Martín Luther King Jr (Where do we go from here: chaos or community, stride towards freedom, letter from Birmingham jail) had plenty to say on similar and intersecting topics like this. I hope my presence doesn’t “crash the party”. I just wanted to say, videos like this make me a proud Christian subscriber of your channel. I appreciate you so much!

[@Kyeudo]

Save your future. Understand that the Christian god can be shown to not exist. Go to college instead of seminary.

[@christinacody8653]

The GSM is pretty open to Christians on his page, you're fine here. Welcome!

[@AHAHAHHAHA]

It’s often the conservative ideas that many atheists disagree with in a moral level when they confront Christianity.I for example am bothered by the political changes Christianity brings to society in America for example but I don’t mind people believing in the supernatural as much,and their idea of god might actually represent my idea of a good god.People of different theological stances can still agree on moral ideas

[@cewla3348]

@@Kyeudo let them believe what they want, else you're just another zealot. edit: i forgot that some ppl dont see 'him' as gender neutral in stuff like this! (example: 'let him cook' is for anyone doing something strange, not just men)

[@Kyeudo]

@@cewla3348 _[" let them believe what they want, else you're just another zealot."]_ I can't do anything but warn them. If he doesn't divert now, it will be all the harder when he finally can't reconcile the pointless horror of world events with the supposed goodness of his god and yet is dependent on his job as a pastor to feed his family. There's a reason that the Clergy Project exists. Besides, unlike the religious zealots, I can demonstrate, using both evidence and logic, that the traditional Christian conception of god cannot exist in our universe. I'm not asking that he just blindly believe me. I can show that if a god exists, it is not the traditional Christian god.

[@zompreacher]

Holy shit... "It instilled the values so well they backfired" that resonates so deeply with me

[@SirGreenVine]

What backfired?

[@rljeric]

@@SirGreenVinethe christian values that were instilled by Genetically Modified Skeptic’s parents and religious leaders backfired, those values are the reason he left christianity my friend that was the entire point of the video

[@Marco855-z7x]

An absurd statement. The devil that has deceived you.

[@zompreacher]

@@Marco855-z7x neat!

[@imernex]

WoW, This video had me tearing up. I've never once met or heard of anyone who shared my life, thoughts, and experiences through the same lens. I was raised Christian, went to advanced learning schools within the church, became obsessed with the meaning of discernment "the ability to judge well," which led to deeper self actualizations, understandings of human nature and questioning the world around me... which in turn led to my deep interest/studies in psychology (Jung Freud, etc). Secondly I was blown away when you said you were a fellow agro-skate head. I was in the scene for over a decade and became a semi-pro inline skater from the early 90's through the early 2000's. (I told myself the odds of you and I having skated together and or have been in the same Skate Park at the same time are astronomically high.) I basically lived for skate parks all through the state of Texas, from my home park (Freestyle Skate Park) in Kennedale, TX to Arlo Eisenburg's Park in Plano, TX. Tank Skate Park in San Antonio and many others throughout the state. .. Being a skater ALSO led me down the path of photography, which led to video / video editing, which I still do professionally to this day. Long story short, I just wanted to send some words of encouragement and a big thank you for all the videos/work you've created, they minister to me in ways most will never know. Your work is detailed, researched and relatable and an over all great experience. I can't wait to see more topics and more personal stories. Keep up the great work Much Love. - Imernex Feyd Nashoba

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Kaboosie]

Ugh so many memories unlocked from this. Everything down to the child-coaching that teachers would do before watching potentially "worldly" content. Amazing looking back now how harmful these teachings could be to impressionable minds.

[@john-ic5pz]

child-grooming* if you don't mind me suggesting it grooming isn't just about s*xual @ss@ult.

[@laceyw476]

How could they have raised us on VeggieTales and not expect us to accept and love others? I mean, honestly. You're spot on, Drew! Great video.

[@phillyphakename1255]

I love that the veggie tales guy is still Christian, yet goes on Paulogia's channel. He's found religion that works well for him, and its frankly quite inoffensive. No wonder Veggie Tales remains mostly timeless and inoffensive.

[@actionsub]

@@phillyphakename1255 True. Phil Vischer moved on from Veggie Tales to create The Holy Post (a KZbin channel itself). On this weekly-ish show, he and his guests try to muddle through contemporary events through a sort of "middle way" lens of Christianity: not wholeheartedly evangelical, but not totally progressive either.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@professionalpainthuffer]

1. hard agree. 2. I was a lesbian at 14 and atrans at 18 I was *never* going to feel comfortable in church after growing up the way I did. 3. Original sin doesn't make sense. The only way to parse the Garden story within the framework later laid out is for God to have intended Eve to eat the fruit of whatever the heck, thereby gaining self awareness. It's not just at all to send a tempter to pester the very first humans to break a rule, knowing they had no reason not to trust him. It's very blanket training.

[@heavy0119]

Also this whole idea of “we deserve punishment” is based on the principles of an abusive relationship.

[@WSlopeAggie]

​@@heavy0119It's not punishment, it's the natural result. You CHOOSE to go down the path of sin, even when told not to and what the consequences are, and then whine once you get smacked by the consequences. Do you complain when your mother disciplines you for not cleaning the dishes? Or is that immoral to you, too?

[@heavy0119]

@@WSlopeAggie the Bible says that sin is inherited and thus this “choice” to sin was made thousands of years before I even existed

[@WSlopeAggie]

@@heavy0119 And yet you continually make it.

[@spaghidiot]

If my mother sent me to hell for eternity for messing up the dishes I would say that is pretty immoral yeah.

[@missrobin2088]

As someone probably closer to your parents' ages, I came to the same place you did in the 2010's regarding LGBTQ+ community. I was raised in church but not super fundie and had gay friends in high school and college. When my husband and I joined a conservative church in the south, I never fully felt like I belonged, but always felt like something was wrong with me. I just needed to believe more or pray more. I resonate with all this so much. In 2020, the covid denialism and Trump worship sealed the deal, and I found your channel. It has helped me tremendously.

[@Chrismas815]

Babe wake up new GM skeptic video dropped

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@robinsonvancrusoe1339]

I just found your channel and so happy to hear what you had to say! I'm 62 and have been out of church for many years due to quite a few reasons. Recently, though, I have been questioning all that I was taught growing up. My father is a pastor of a small independent Baptist church and the rest of my family is still heavily into church etc. I did not raise my kids that way luckily because now they are the only ones I can talk to about my confusion and sadness about my struggles to have a regular family relationship when God and their life is one in the same. My family is kind, giving and loving but terribly judgemental and religious. Last week my mom even told me I just need to have more faith for God to heal me from my stage 4 breast cancer. This cancer does not get healed or go away. I will have treatments and be sick the rest of my life. I was so hurt i dont know if i can get over it. My mom has kidney cancer so I questioned her on her faith and quoted the scripture that talks about having faith as a grain of mustard seed. There is no measuring faith. Faith is faith or maybe just delusion. I dont even know. I am struggling so much. I am angry about the cancer and the belief I had about healing and faith. I don't even know where to go from here. Thank you for your video.❤

[@DataJack]

Thanks, Drew. Your thoughtful and intelligent insights are always a pleasure to experience. This was fascinating to me.

[@ronkelley5348]

In the UK I was raised as catholic and went to catholic schools until I was 18. Fortunately, that means I was taught mainstream curriculum and science and none of the biblical literalist/YEC nonsense. Despite that, the church is still stuck in the Dark Ages over the science around LGBT recognition and rights. In the end I had to walk away - it was 2015 and I was 55. It's the indoctrination and inculcation of guilt I really object to.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Birdchaos]

This video is brilliant. I grew up in the church and still consider myself a Christian, but not one that believes in what the church is now. Your video perfectly encompasses the sense of entitlement that makes me want nothing to do with the Christian church. I respect your channel and your openness!

[@Chucklzzz]

This is fantastic. I remember being raised with the same ideologies. I love the conclusion, "I'm just doing what you taught me." Glad to see you're back. Love your content.

[@taboussh]

I frequently tell people that I left the church because they taught me to be like Jesus too well. Thanks for putting this into words so clearly.

[@thomasthompson6378]

It's like Gandhi reportedly said: "I like this Christ of yours. But I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

[@Bruintjebeer6]

I don't go to church since i was 16. But i took all the good things with me. Like treat others like you want to be treated. Everybody is your neighbor etc. i always took people in when they had no roof in ver their head and when people had problems i tried to help. Only for me everyone is equal and everyone is your neighbor is for me everyone, religious or not, their believes, skin color race, gender, political believes and sexual preference.

[@alexandra-q7u1m]

Did you house illegal migrants into your home, too?

[@alexandra-q7u1m]

Is adolph hitler equal to everyone, and do you accept his political beliefs and ideologies, too?

[@Bruintjebeer6]

@@alexandra-q7u1m there are always people who are outside of what I said and cross the line I would never take in Trump as well or any other abusive narcissistic bully who takes over your life Not when I know that Infront But I was speaking in general terms You are nit picking and you well know what I ment

[@alexandra-q7u1m]

Except, that isn’t what you said.

[@alexandra-q7u1m]

@@Bruintjebeer6 you literally said the opposite of your second comment.

[@easyaccessjeans]

It's really validating to hear this perspective. I left the church (and Christianity as a whole) for very similar reasons. I, too, was astounded when I tried so wholeheartedly to uphold the moral values instilled in me, only to then be told that I ought to uphold opposing values when it came to certain specific issues-and communities-that they were opposed to (lgbtqia+, evolution, atheism, etc). When confronted about the inconsistencies, I was frequently told that I had a "good heart," but that these issues were firm, and if I still had any concern that I should just pray about it. But I already was. Every single day. After leaving the church, and discovering philosophy, I still tried to uphold those Christian values that I saw as positive in my daily life. Multiple close friends and family members would tell me how conflicted they were about me because they saw me as "more Christian than the majority of people that [they knew], and [I wasn't] even Christian!" They couldn't easily resolve the notion that I would definitely be going to Hell when I died, but that I nevertheless had higher moral integrity than most of their fellow Christians. To be sure, I do not believe that sentiment today-that I am more moral or Christian than so many other Christians-but at the time, I was still living a very Christian life, just without the theology. Regardless, I think it shows just how tribalistic we can be. We can be so convinced of our communities' implicit righteousness that we allow ourselves to forego our faculties of reason, and even our otherwise allegedly held values if it conflicts with specific hot-button sticking points we've been taught are essentially gospel. Drew, I really commend you on standing up for pluralism. You've definitely inspired me to see more of the good in those who are not in my in-group. Thank you. It's truly invaluable.

[@Angel_Bob_]

The private christian school I went to, elementary - highschool, had a class during senior year on how to use library databases like you typically use Google Scholar and writing research papers based on cited research. Feel like that was much too helpful. Learning how peer review and meta-analyses work was the final nail in the coffin. The "creation evidence" classes leading up to then didn't stand a chance

[@SimplySkeptical22]

So glad you addressed AWANA. I was a part of this program for years and think it is important to talk about the indoctrination of children within evangelical Christianity. At 10 years old, I took these ideas as fact. Luckily, I was able to use ~discernment~ and eventually saw through the veil.

[@stayker]

My father, a Southern Baptist Deacon, looked at me in shock over a decade ago when he learned that I had voted for Obama. He said, “I thought I raised you better than that?” My response: “The way you raised me is WHY I am a Democrat. I believe in helping the needy, feeding the hungry, providing health care, and being non-judgemental”.

[@The_Keh27]

I'm pretty certain Republicans would treat Jesus just as the Romans did if he were here today, while also calling him a socialist and unchristian

[@User0resU-1]

Are you voting for Genocide Joe this year. Fyi democrats are war mongers, not democrats. The most Christian thing to do is to vote independent.

[@greenbeanb]

​@@The_Keh27 lmao yeah, if Jesus went to America today he would probably get randomly checked in the airport, a middle eastern man speaking Aramaic?? ain't no way he's getting through customs without any issues

[@chrischandler889]

Ha. Democrats are Repulican lite. Still hard core right wing nonsense.

[@carolbaker2773]

@@greenbeanb I live in NOLA and my family lives in STLMO, I have to drive the 55 north corridor for over 10 hours to visit them for the holidays. My husband and I have a game to see who can point out the "white Jesus" billboard first lol.

[@dragongirl7978]

As someone who's a former evangelical and now has a faith my former self would have found almost unrecognizable as Christianity, I found this extremely relatable. My family is varying degrees of horrified, and I'm like, you guys were the ones who taught me to think critically and carefully analyze everything I was hearing, even song lyrics. You taught me to look for the flaws in scientific arguments. You taught me to be like Jesus, who reached out to untouchables and challenged religious leaders who were using Scripture to hurt people. What did you expect? I even in my small conservative Christian college (and before that) had people always telling me to ask questions about my faith, kind of a "the unexamined faith is not worth having" approach. Apparently I was only supposed to ask questions the church had answers to, and only if I accepted those answers. But it doesn't work like that.

[@SirGreenVine]

Cliffe knechtle once explained how the disciple peter had his faith strengthened by asking questions. For example, when peter asked Jesus to call him out unto the water when Jesus was walking on the water, peter's faith was strengthened. Christ has saved him, and told him, "oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?"

[@gaywaffle3592]

@@SirGreenVine I'm not even sure which side you're trying to argue for here...

[@SirGreenVine]

@@gaywaffle3592 Im not arguing, im supportivley adding to what he said. Its good to ask questions, that way you may recieve an answer to strengthen understanding and faith. Jesus said, seek, and you find. Knock, and it will be opened to you. The Bible says that "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. " (Luke 12:2-3) God bless

[@trentitybrehm5105]

Regardless of how you feel about doctrine or whatever, the evidence for the Resurrection convinces me it's true.

[@Lord.1337-7]

@@trentitybrehm5105 What evidence lol? All the "evidence" is (conflicting) second hand accounts of story that can't possibly be true. Do you understand how much cellular decay and brain damage someone who has been dead for three days has?

[@Saffron831]

Also, as someone who was disowned by my own family after being outed, your genuine compassion and advocacy for LGBT people speaks volumes as to your humanity Drew. Thank you. 🤞🏻♥️

[@electrogeek77]

I hope you've found peace and stability in your life now. ❤

[@colepuleo6809]

I've been outed just for being an ally.

[@LaSpastica90]

So sorry. My son is bi, and I love him dearly. I couldn’t imagine disowning him. That’s not love.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Saffron831]

@@trentitybrehm5105 What does any of this crappy Christian copy-pasta have to do with my comment?

[@fray6258]

Misinformation, moral bigotry and moral complacency does permeate the church. Thank you for telling your story.

[@Kakaragi]

Which church are you even talking about?

[@JulianaBlewett]

​@@Kakaragiall churches, but primarily conservative churches

[@Kakaragi]

@@JulianaBlewett Which churches exactly?

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Kakaragi]

@@trentitybrehm5105 There is also Occam’s Razor to take into account too. The simplest answer to what the Apostles saw would be the risen Lord Jesus. Any other explanation becomes too complicated to justify.

[@yesitschelle]

Your story makes so much sense! Social psychology can explain your elders' conformity. People will go to great lengths to hold on to a place in a group. They usually don't realize what they're doing. From experience, I know how irrational a human can be when their social identity is threatened.

[@TheIronDonkey]

I totally understand. My pro-life views actually led me to look at my values and it led me away from the church.

[@krembryle]

Your pro-life views lead you away from church? Is there something like a pro-choice church? I think pro-life views should nail you to a church, if anything.

[@brenatevi]

Are you still pro-life now?

[@TheIronDonkey]

I still believe life has dignity and is worthy of preserving. But I am no longer anti-abortion.

[@angelikaskoroszyn8495]

My pro life views make me support many "anti-Christian" ideas like good sex ed. Which is crazy. Like. The best way of avoiding abortion is avoiding pregnancy. Obviously abstinence only education doesn't work. As such sex ed is the best choice available

[@rainpooper7088]

@angelikaskoroszyn8495 And yet, good sex ed and access to birth control for teenagers are the things Christians are blocking the most at school, even though it's been proven to work wonders against teen pregnancy.

[@aristeas4633]

Me hearing Adam and Eve sponsoring this video made me nearly spit out my coffee- I LOVE that website! And to see it HERE?! Absolute gold.

[@PhilLesh69]

I fought with my parents at the end of second grade to take me out of Catholic school and send me to public school with the normal kids. At 7 I recognized that I was never going to fit in with normal people if I went to a Catholic school. As a compromise, I could go to public school as long as I went to CCD (Catholic Sunday school.) By the third class I got kicked out because I kept telling the other students we only needed to pretend we believed all this religious make believe stuff while in church or at Sunday school but we could go back to believing in reality once we got home.

[@drewroberts139]

In Bible study and youth group growing up, the search for Truth was a big thing that was emphasized. Wow did that backfire over here, too!

[@JK88M]

I remember a time i church, like higher middelclass church, the pastor was "opening" the communion and I knew, that the citycouncil had plased a homeless gathering place just outside the church. The pastor told "everyone is welcome", I knew we should have a lunch after the service. I sugested that we invited the homeless. There was a lot of exuses. I left the chirch, went to the shop just across the street and bourght bread, sussage, milk and so on and went to the homeless, quite feerfull, and told them they could have lunch. Then "sneak" into church again.

[@bsnow304]

Glad to hear you're feeling better! I grew up in a Methodist church (so definitely not evangelical), and it took realizing that I was gay to really shake my faith. And the more I've thought about it in my decade+ of apostasy, the wilder I find the hypocrisy

[@alyssahallister]

For me, one of the things that led me out of the faith, such that I was questioning in middle school and had left by high school, was the story of the man who is caught in a flood and refuses a car, then a boat, then a helicopter, and then dies and then asks God why he wasn't saved, and God asks him who he think sent the car, the boat, and the helicopter. The problem with this parable though, is that the church I was most exposed to was Christian Science, which is all about rejecting the car, the boat, AND the helicopter whenever you get sick and praying for a miracle instead. My parents didn't reject medicine at all, I was fully vaccinated, same as my younger siblings, but they still took me to this church that held beliefs directly contrary to what my own parents had to say. The dissonance was too much for me to ignore and so I read more, asked questions, and the more I read, the less I felt convinced by anything at all. That then combined with my certainty that Paul had fabricated his 'vision' of Jesus in order to usurp the early Christian church for his own purposes, largely because many of his teachings directly contradicted those of Jesus, which made me think of Jesus warning his followers against false prophets... and was amplified further by being told numerous easily disproved lies about Dungeons and Dragons, about video games, about all manner of media that were considered 'satanic'. By the time I was done leaving the faith, the only thing I was truly certain of was that the faith relied on ignorance and credulity. I was lucky to not be brought up in a particularly conservative church, and was not taught to hate other groups, as that was considered especially un-Jesus-like, but the emphasis on emulating Jesus was part of why Paul was so dissonant to me.

[@AnnoyingNewsletters]

*_Amen!_* _It would have been better for that _*_[faith]_*_ if _*_[Paul]_*_ had not been born._ -Mark 14.21

[@LaSpastica90]

Honest question: what did Paul teach that goes against what Jesus taught?

[@janshirley]

Paul was an ass! And a pharisee. A high-ranking one. He saw an opportunity to gain power over the gentiles by using this new blood cult (Christianity) as a thing anyone could join. It helped to maintain worldwide power structures after the fall of the Roman Empire. It started out by recruiting volunteers (true believers) to spread the word of this gospel of peace. It became an audience for Paul to influence with his own biases. Later on, it became Join or Die, often at swordpoint.

[@ObsceneSuperMatt]

Christian Science is generally considered by other Christian sects to be a cult. Which teachings of Paul are you referring to? Other than the core stuff like Gentiles who become Christians MUST not be circumcised, since that puts them under the law, most of Paul's guidence is "best practices", at the end of which, he says if any of these cause divisions among you, don't worry and get rid of them since they are just recommendations I make based off how I run a church. The Satanic Panic is pretty interesting phenomenen. A schizophrenic guy, instead of standing on a street corner yelling, decided to sit down and draw little cartoon books and hand them out, and for some reason people didn't use any discernment and took them as gospel truth.

[@insersed6525]

Dang it's always middle school, I wonder why? Could it be because of indoctrination, nah? It's definitely not that the government can't be trusted. The government is so trustworthy, which is why we must always definitely trust politically motivated science. Did I say politically motivated? I meant [real] science.

[@gaileverett]

What you said at the end fascinated me - that the evangelical movement was started for political reasons! I wasn't aware of this. I've never been involved or much interested in religion of any kind but am basically terrified of evangelicals. Would you consider making a video about this political origin? I don't know where to go to research it. Thanks for your channel, I find it very interesting.

[@francisnopantses1108]

Evangelicalism is older but it got hijacked by the segregationist movement after they lost the moral argument and the political battle with the rest of the country. Look it up, there was a short lived segregation party, which failed, followed by the creation of the Moral Majority. Their work dovetailed with the "Southern Strategy embraced by Nixon in the early 70s to woo Dixiecrats to the republican party and it all culminated with the rise of Reagan in the 1980 election, backed by the Moral Majority. Reagan was divorced and twice married while his opponent was an actual born-again Christian, but that's not what mattered to the rebranded segregationists now cloaked in false piety.

[@tsuritsa3105]

Look into the Moral Majority or check out Rev. Jerry Fallwel's involvement in both politics and religion. In the early 70s, when Roe v Wade made abortion legal, the Southern Baptist convention supported the ruling. America had just gone through the massive Civil Rights movement of the sixties and overt racism as a wedge issue was beginning to have costs for the people using racist rhetoric. Abortion was selected and turned into a religious issue (previously it was mostly a Catholic issue) that could be used as a wedge issue for the right. The marriage of evangelicalism and right wing politics has been a disaster for the US.

[@AngelOfDC]

As someone who's father is (technically via an online church) an ordained minister and undoubtedly somewhat of a Christian he doesn't care that I am an atheist,and fully encouraged it. He knows that the church is sorta bullshit,but he believes in God and not the church

[@romansailer8052]

Ah yes. Deism / theism is good, sometimes wonderful. Organized religion, as a man made and often male dominated / domineering construct by and large sucks.

[@deevnn]

@@romansailer8052 There is no god or gods...it is but a fantasy in the minds of brainwashed children. Wake up to the REAL world. Deism/Theism is a LIE and a joke also. Follow the truth, that all religious belief is false and move away from "spiritualism" your mind will then be free.

[@hoytoy100]

And he probably loves that sweet tax exempt income!

[@AngelOfDC]

@@hoytoy100 we are absolutely not tax exempt

[@balanceofjudgement6136]

@@hoytoy100 you are thinking of churches, not individuals who are ordained on the internet lol. Plus, even individuals who have churches still get taxed on income not related to their church duty. But I would def agree if you are saying the churches should be taxed. They already often preach who to vote for ( Ik, not all), so just tax them already, right?

[@CJRamos-jv3pb]

I'm from the generation of your parents, and have to say kudos on this "mic drop", and with allowing your christian values to lead you into clarity of thought and perspective. P.S. Welcome back from you hiatus - you were missed.

[@carguybikeguy]

I wish you well, both of you. Whatever you’ve endured, I’m glad you both are emerging.

[@CrusherX1000]

Man, this is so well put. You're constantly told to discern the word of God, stand for something greater, be hated, blah blah blah But if you take it seriously enough you go in a direction your teachers don't want or you've "gone too far" DO YOU WANT ME TO GROW IN MY FAITH OR NOT!?!?

[@iantaakalla8180]

The funny thing is that God invites people to be humble, to serve others but not take nonsense, to keep going under hard times, to back your words up with action. In other words, to follow the word of God roughly maps on to existentialism when you strip away the epic about the salvation of Christians and everybody. There is a secular extension of Christianity and it sucks that analysis does not lead people to seek out secular versions of Christianity - being able to apply it beyond Christianity is the point of practicing Christianity. Of course, I could be wrong about this analysis.

[@telpewen]

This is a really great example of how a key part of indoctrination is training people to continue indoctrinating themselves on an ongoing basis.

[@alanmacification]

That's the key to every successful con game.

[@fionavanyel]

As someone raised conservative Christian who has walked away from the church at large and isn't sure where she stands on actual Christian beliefs at this point....man, did this resonate. My housemate (raised similarly) and I have had very similar conversations to this, about how the very things we were taught in those Christian environments were what drove us to walk away. Thank you for sharing this. It's so incredibly important for folks who've been through or are going through a similar process.

[@LukeSumIpsePatremTe]

It takes effort to change from 'If they disagree with me, they are wrong' to 'If they disagree with me, atleast one of us is wrong. Could it be me?'.

[@WSlopeAggie]

This is something both Christians and atheists must get better at. At the end of the day, we're all equally naïve. We're all human. Nothing we do will ever break the boundaries of our imagination or perception.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@Zahlenteufel1]

The discernment thing is so shocking to me. They literally TEACH you the mental gymnastics straight-out like that???

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

Kids are natural skeptics. If something doesn’t make sense to them they are going to ask “why” You got no choice but “teach” them those tricks.

[@AmyEugene]

Nobody's going to disbelieve their own eyes unless they are taught to. Children have to have it drilled into them from a young age that there is a vast conspiracy among scientists that Earth and human history are very different from what's in the Bible. I grew up going to a regular school and learned all the normal science everyone is taught and there's no way you can convince me that Noah's ark is literally true. Someone who believes every word in the Bible is literally true can't reconcile modern science with stories like Noah's ark, so they have to find a way to make all of science a lie and instill that into children over and over so they'll believe the Bible over things that can be easily proven like fossils or the age of the Earth.

[@alexajoyu]

Yes. Different denomination than Drew growing up, but I was taught the same mental gymnastics.

[@quiestinliteris]

​@@Mostlyharmless1985 It amazes me how many of these people take "faith like a small child" to mean "instantly and uncritically believing everything you're told" as though a four year old wouldn't look you dead in the eye and ask whether your teeth taste the same as their teeth and whether they can check and demand fifteen minutes of answers when you say no.

[@fawnieee]

​@@Mostlyharmless1985 it makes sense that they are. Otherwise, how would they learn to survive?

[@darrenkoobs6244]

“Leaving the church I was one of the most Christian decisions I ever made”…or something like that you said…I feel the same exact way. Having the moral freedom to treat everybody with care, respect, and concern without thought to who they are compared to who I am is Christ like. Breaking free from Christian chains allowed this

[@2to5Raccoons]

I can thank a Christian camp and a conservative classical school for showing me the way out of Christianity. They both taught me to question everything. I was already a curious kid who needed answers to everything but telling me it was ok to question my elders and their views opened a whole new world of ideas and information.

[@matthewkolyer597]

I'm a strong Christian and I didn't realize how much I'd agree with this video

[@lijohnyoutube101]

If you agree so strongly with it how can you still follow a faith that only exists due to indoctrination and brainwashing etc.?

[@tinala1014]

So am I and i did realize it! 🙂🫶

[@alexandra-q7u1m]

Are you born again?

[@wolftitan]

Perhaps one step further is in order? Be Atheist, perhaps Humanist evolve for humanity. Leave all the gods man has made behind.

[@onionbubs386]

​@@wolftitan are you trying to convert them to your beliefs? I'm an ex Christian but what you're doing is kinda hypocritical

[@rlyhot]

Wow. Just absolutely put so many of my thoughts into words that I’ve been aching for someone to resonate with for years. Thank you!

[@jefcaine]

One phrase that haunted me when I was contemplating whether or not I could justify remaining on staff at a megachurch - For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?

[@MrTrickatreat]

so many times i hear - well you just want to sin, you just want to be your own god, you think you are too smart for us - but in reality, what am i gaining?? i've lost friends, community, closeness with my family, i've lost so much. the only thing i gained was intellectual integrity and peace with how i feel about what i think. worth it.

[@jefcaine]

@@MrTrickatreat agreed

[@braddahg]

Too bad pastors like Kenneth Copeland didn’t think like this before buying a new jet.

[@trentitybrehm5105]

The Apostles willingness to be killed not for saying they believed Jesus had risen, but they had seen him risen. If the tomb wasn't empty, they would've paraded the body around to stomp out any idea of Jesus being ressurrected, but Christianty spread because there was no body in the tomb. If someone stole the body, why were nearly all the Apostles willing to be killed for saying they'd seen Jesus risen? They were thousands of miles away from one another before phones and the internet and were being threaten, tortured, and murdered for their claim. Not one "broke" and said it was a lie to save themselves. The archeology matches the Bible perfectly all the way from Genesis through the New Testament. We have the writing of the disciples of the Apostles and the disciples of those disciples, and they not only quote much of the New Testament, but all the core idea of Christianty are present. Jesus being God, the Son of God, dying for sins, burial, resurrection, ascension to heaven. We also have writing of Jewish and Pagan contemporary historians who were hostile towards Jesus, who say the same things : Jesus being worshipped as God, the Son of God, dying for on the cross, burial, resurrection. The fact that there are contradictions between manuscripts is often sited as proof against trusting scripture, when it actually does the opposite. The fact that there are so many manuscripts makes it easy to tell when someone changed one, and modern Bibles are transparent about any differences in the footnotes. None of those differences found between manuscripts change anything about any core doctrines of Christianity, they are mainly a handwriting error on a letter or a different way to word something that means the same thing. There is also all the undisigned coincidence between not only the four Gospels, but the rest of the New and Old Testaments too. Matthew 2:22 talks about Joseph not wanting to return to Judea after fleeing to Egypt because Archelaus was ruling. That's all the info on that the Bible gives. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the things Archelaus did and how evil he was. Put these two peices of evidence together, we get the full picture. This sort of thing happens through the text with the seemingly useless details matching up perfectly with extra Biblical sources, lending to the credibility of the text. It's because of the evidence that I believe in Jesus.

[@chrisn4220]

This hits way close to home. Out of all the teaching my parents (who are also ministers) thought me, love thy neighbor was the one I hold dearly. I always do my best for others, and be kind no matter what. That included the LGBTQA+, people with different faiths and beliefs, but my parents despise the idea of loving "queers and those who live with sin" in the name of religion. This led me to see the hypocrisy, and left the faith.

[@hayakawaken9493]

Wow, this is indeed the most intriguing and honest video I've seen for a long time. Thanks for sharing.

[@JoyfulArtist21]

I had a very similar realization. Long story short, I left my church of 20 years because of how they handled Covid and I stayed home to protect my loved ones, and spoke out to the pastor that we should consider the health of our mostly older congregation, and those of us who stayed home were mocked and ridiculed. Told we didn't have enough faith or trust god in a horrible time. I knew I couldn't go back as I didn't share the same values as them. I had been questioning leaving already because I was the only LGBTQIA+ supportive person in that church and was ridiculed for that, as well. And when I was in the process of looking for a new church, that's when I started to question why I even believed to begin with. I very much agree the values they instilled in me through Christian teachings growing up in the church and homeschooled really did help lead me out. You certainly aren't alone in that.

[@brianmccarty7289]

ah yes, COVID response. My church was the same way. Saying God would protect them, while buckling up in their cars when driving home, then getting home and locking their doors. What about God's protection in those instances? (Many who attended church during the pandemic got COVID, of course).

[@JoyfulArtist21]

@@brianmccarty7289 The icing on the cake is that church a few years prior started stationing "watch men" in the lobby who concealed carried guns in case a shooter tried to get into the building of our less than 100 congregation church. It was really weird to know they want to protect people with firearms but not a mask? And called those of us taking the pandemic seriously "living in fear." Ugh. And yeah, my ex-church had several rounds of people getting sick. I'm still friends with some of the people there, so I heard about it. I'm kind of glad in a way it happened, not for people getting sick. But I had thought about leaving for a few years before all that and it was just the final straw to go "yeah, I have no values in common with these people anymore." One of the best decisions of my life.

[@vintagearisen]

Thank you for this. I did not leave the church because I didn't care about truth, I left the church because I had been taught to care about truth SO MUCH, and it was becoming clear to me that many, many Christians will deny verifiable facts if they're uncomfortable. I have not changed my morals and thus left the church, I left the church because I saw that their teachings and behavior were morally incompatible with the values they'd instilled in me, values of love and justice and integrity. My Christian friends and family argue that I've changed; I'll argue that the same me who fervently searched for God is still searching, that the me outside of church is who I've always been. I just realized the box they forced us into didn't fit anymore.

[@tedonica]

I've said that a lot. Of course *some* of my morals have changed - the "outer layer" of my morals has changed a lot. But it's because I'm living my values more fully, and those core values of truth and kindness and moral responsibility haven't changed at all.

[@craigmiller4199]

As someone who grew up in the evangelical church, Awanas and all, this hit hard. One of the pivotal reasons for me to get where I am today was because of the deeply ingrained beliefs about living others and treating them well, and how that contrasted with the naked hypocrisy of Christian love.

[@wj2036]

Man, hearing stories about childhood in an evangelical setting makes me feel so lucky. I got switched to a public school when I was 6. I did have to go to catholic church every sunday, and participate in all their weird rituals. Then I had to go to bible school during the summer. But either I didnt listen well, or they just didnt teach these crazy methods of avoiding reason. It was more about just following the dogmatic rituals. So it was pretty easy to walk away when I realized my life was no different without the rituals.

[@bsnow304]

I think, at least in the US, Evangelicals are the odd ones out with this dogmatic avoidance of reason. My partner grew up Catholic and I grew up Methodist, and we both went "WTF" when I found out my (now former) boss is a young Earth creationist.

[@wj2036]

@@bsnow304 You're probably right. Although, in my experience, just being in a religion long enough leads people to avoid certain reasoning, even if the church isn't pushing it. The classic example is people who cling to faith as a virtue, even though I could use faith to believe in some horrible things.

[@msawyer406]

You are very lucky. Growing up evangelical sucked for me. The public shamings and constant othering was especially hard. I found more hate in the church than anywhere else in life.

[@wj2036]

@@msawyer406 there is a lot of guilt and shame in Catholicism, but yes, I'm lucky there was not a lot of hate. I'm glad you didn't fall into that trap ✊ becoming a better person than you were raised to be is such a great achievement

[@laurabowles]

This very much mirrors my journey out of the church. I was taught to "test everything and hold onto the good," and that's exactly what I did.

[@SamBroadway]

Your personal arguments within yourself are valid. As a Christian myself, I struggle with the American view of others... For nearly 30 years of my life I was amongst the others in lifestyle and personal choices. When I became a Christian I still really battled with the modern American Christians view of others. Even when I came into the church after 2 years of private study and meditation I involved myself in mission work and was never accepted by the quote-unquote church. My beliefs are personal and that's okay. I am a firm believer to each his own.

[@spiritandflesh8477]

My experience is somewhat similar. It’s hard to observe authentic Bible Christianity living in America. I think the comfort, wealth and lack of want in our country makes us numb to the lessons Christ taught. Anymore I try to be introspective in my own failures before God and focus my heart there and pray for those who God might reach. I have seen too much hypocrisy and been too much of a hypocrite in the past to ignore the log in my own eye for too long.

[@gracebenavente7431]

I grew up in evangelical Christianity and participated heavily in every aspect of the church. I went to Bible school instead of college. I planned to be a missionary. Ten years and a lot of trauma later I’m where you are and for these exact reasons! This is just so spot on and beautifully worded and it’ll now be my go-to piece of media to share with friends who want to understand how I got to where I am. Thank you so much!!

[@joshuah4952]

For me, it was the teaching that God wants a personal relationship with me. When someone wants a close relationship with someone else, it's pretty counterproductive to give them the silent treatment and hide all evidence of their existence. Edit: Ooh, I forgot about the policy of "Love thy neighbor" combined with insisting on voting against the people whose policies aligned with those values.

[@Duskbound]

It's also generally frowned upon to develop a 'personal relationship' by threatening eternal torment should they choose not to engage with you.

[@amberallen7809]

​@Duskbound Yeah, I remember reading my Bible one day after learning some of the signs of an abusive relationship, and having the thought, 'If this were just some guy I brought home, my family would tell me to leave him. He gets a free pass because he's God? This is still abusive. It isn't love. Why is God so insecure?'

[@wlhamaty]

That whole "personal relationship with God" and "accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior" thing is actually very modern, almost American, certainly not biblical. (I doubt they even know what it means to have a "Lord".) If anyone has a reference to that prior to maybe the 19th century, I'd be interested. The modern usage of "Born Again" arose during my lifetime. As did the emergence of certain political positions as being the "sine qua non" of what some call "Christianity".

[@OldMotherLogo]

Well put. I left the church 50 years ago and I am still sometimes deconstructing that experience. Like you, I took the moral values I was taught more seriously than most of the adults who were teaching them to me. Excellent video. Thank you.

[@phillyphakename1255]

I think there's a lot of these kinds of things that we'll be deconstructing and learning about for the rest of our lives. Religion, mental illness, abuse, chronic health issues, etc. I don't love it, I want to be able to put some stuff behind me and start fresh, but alas. That's reality, so we make the best of it.

[@Unzki]

Thanks for sharing, and hope your health gets back to peak! As a "natural born" atheist it's always a bit difficult for me to find ways of helping those who wrestle with their faith as I lack the personal deconversion experience, stories like yours give me more to share to others to think about and consider.

[@santiagorojaspiaggio]

Even if i know your general story, the details never cease to impress me hahaha. Great video. I always admire your way of thinking and the choices you made.

[@46raulfull]

For me it was also learning more about the lgbtq`+ community that started my deconversion. I was going to a pretty "progressive" church, but their stance on gay marriage and queer people was still very antiquated. It was at the time i was going to college, and at the same time that i was learning to be more critical of my "beliefs", or of the things that i thought to be certain in the world, i also began questioning my own sexuality. It's been a couple years now, and i'm so glad of the person i've become in this sense. Soon i'll be moving out of my parents' home and start living a little more like myself.

[@phillyphakename1255]

Feels not far off from my story. Obergefell v Hodges saw me agreeing with the evangelicals. A slow march of learning was moving me away from the church and away from discrimination, but seeing a college lecture series lecture from Jim Obergefell fast tracked it. He isn't some evil incarnate, he is a person who loved another person, and wanted to support them through a difficult medical time, just like they had done together for 40 years. How can I be taught to love thy neighbor, how can I be taught that America is founded on equal protection under the law, and yet think that my neighbor is an evil sinner, and that codified discrimination is good? No. We should treat him with love and compassion and respect. We should give him the benefits of humanity without qualification. Oh also btw im ace, so that's fun. Maybe one man one woman is dumb if I don't feel that sexual attraction. That was a journey of self discovery and acceptance that was harder than it needed to be...

[@ronaldmartin2666]

Thanks for your work. You were one of the first outside voices I stumbled upon on my journey out of the Mennonite church.

[@jonathangillsr6266]

This resonates a lot, even though I still consider myself a Christian (no longer an Evangelical, though I still attend my childhood church). I recognize not only the teachings you describe here, but agree that they've been instilled well enough that they were indeed what led me to question things in the first place. That and "study the Bible with all your heart," which led me to see that scholarship didn't agree with much of the claims being made about it. The inconsistency of the "Moral Majority" was likewise instrumental in leading me away from that brand of Christianity. It's good to know that (a) we can see the value in these values (i.e. our entire childhood wasn't wasted), and (b) whether one chooses to leave the church/faith or not, we can salvage these values and be better people even after the "backfire" happens.

[@timv82]

Yeah, I am an atheist/agnostic (don't believe in anything and seriously doubt any of it exists (and I honestly just don't care) while still being open to the possibility as there are plenty of things we don't understand yet) but was raised Mormon and I still hold very strong to a lot of the morals the church/my family instilled in me since early childhood but likewise those same values (plus being gay) led me to leave the church and eventually also led me to leave my belief behind as well. It took me a while to realize my youth wasn't wasted and I still got a lot of good out my experiences.

[@Okla_Soft]

Dude, that was an incredible monologue…. The way you posed that question at the end was brilliant, our parents and the generation that raised us did in fact manage to Instill good values in us, and that’s the exact reason we left our faith and the church behind. We’re just doing what they taught us

[@dawnbustanoby6595]

So relatable. My Christian values ultimately led me out of church, where I didn’t not see Christ’s values in action. Once I started questioning, the whole house of cards gradually game down. If I were rich and needed to start a foundation to change the world, I’d start with researching how to liberate young people from religion. You’re doing good work. Thanks.

[@beyondallmeasure]

I still consider myself a follower of Jesus but I left organized religion years ago. I feel so much of this.

[@boxie13]

I resonate so so so much with this. I was taught to question things and not trust things on their face. What that meant to everyone else was to question everything that wasn't the faith but I applied it to the faith. I was the "problem" child because I called things out that were incongruent with what we were being taught in Sunday school. Then I'd be told the opposite of what I was taught. That I wasn't allowed to ask questions about some things. So I stopped asking and started searching for myself. I still have the values I grew up being taught. I just refuse to give the faith a pass.

[@JenniferQuigley-w7b]

I grew up with parents and a liberal Christian Church that asked Questions. The sermon was designed to teach, I.e. give you information you might not have since the minister was well educated and to make you think about your Christian life. Sunday school was full of interactions and children could ask questions and were not shamed. It was an open, loving, fellowship church. I really can’t go to another type of church where the minister tells me was to do or Sunday school lessons can’t be challenged. I’m sorry you were not exposed to more open Christianity. As a follower of Christ, my way may not be your way. It is not a one size fits all. God bless you in your continuing search to find your way through this life.