4 Things I've Learned from My Conversations with Atheists

[@michelepascoe6068]

My father was kept from seeing me much as I grew up, by my mother, as there were no father's visiting rights at the time. But whenever I did see him, he was delighted, and loved me unconditionally. So although I grew up in a broken, unbelieving, unhappy home, I understood the concept of a loving father whom I can't see, but whose love is unchanging. I was introduced to Jesus in my twenties and He changed my life.

[@ginemclaurin632]

This man is Right On. God Bless All.

[@edoardo_roncelli]

I have "liked" the video even before to start to watching and listen to it! (such my expectations as being saved by Jesus from a godless atheist anti-christian previous life of mine). *Praise the Lord!*

[@stephenszucs8439]

You are right about the affect an abusive father can have on one's belief in God. My Baptist minister father was abusive. I grew up absolutely believing in God, but I still can't see the "love" part. The judgement I get. The love and acceptance is an intense struggle for me to comprehend.

[@georgewagner7787]

I wish I had a video of my (formerly Baptist minister) dad so you could see a reaction as it should be. When I went home as an adult, his eyes lit up and he said, HI so glad to see me. That's how God really is. How i miss my daddy

[@klangloisstewart]

I'm praying for healing for your heart and that you would experience God's love in a BIG way 🙏

[@iw9338]

I can relate with you. As the 10th kid and all rules and little relationship. When I did my own search in the Bible of being known by God some healing took place. Praying for you 🙏💜

[@blueskiesandgreenpasturesp3848]

I struggled with God over “does he really love me?”. I had a breakthrough when I was in a crisis and I had to decide if I really believed in God or not. I struggled with him in a battle in my soul! My chest literally ached. He won and I finally surrendered my heart , not just me mind. Then I felt his grace and mercy flood my soul. God really is love.

[@alisterrebelo9013]

If you make a thorough examination of conscience, you should hopefully realise that you've grieved God quite a bit. I had such a moment and it was overwhelming to realise that God still accepts me even after all the sins. That's how I realise the depth of his love and mercy.

[@Sorana44]

Im so grateful for this channel. Thanks for all the hard work

[@peterinns5136]

My dad was an agressive atheist. Thank God, He led me to Himself anyway. As someone else has said, it was hard to accept that God loves me. 50 years later, I'm convinced of God's love. The cross says it all.

[@AncientApparatus]

The last point made is highlighted by what I like to call "Bumper Sticker Theology": GOD said it, I believe, that settles it. It's these kinds of Christians, many of whom have been in the Church all their lives, who don't even understand the most basic foundations of their faith or those who are "Christian" in name only but then live however they please all week long. Some of them don't even make it out of the Church parking lot before they flip someone off & have their radio tuned in to listen to vulgar godless music. Christians have helped create the world we now live in by their failure to understand what they believe, by not living up to what they do believe, & by not being involved with the very reason for our salvation; to exalt the Name of GOD & to make disciples!

[@lindawarner7496]

I’m so sad to say I agree.

[@ritastevenson5639]

And I would argue that the fruit in the lives of those "Christians" proves they probably aren't born again, Holy Spirit in-dwelt Believers that make christ the Lord of their life and do all things for His glory. Jesus says to them, "I never knew you. Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness." A terrifying thought!

[@klayvertrodrigues1453]

This video is so great.

[@davidbell2547]

It's up to us, don't get lazy, get busy

[@JonathanMeyer84]

I agree that we don't want to divide ourselves needlessly. However, when I have heard my fellow Protestants say that, I ask, "Okay. There are far more Catholics than any other affiliation so it stands to reason we should join them for the sakeof unity. Will you submit to the Pope as the spiritual (not solely administrative) head of the church, and invoke Mary and the Saints in your prayers?" They inevitably say no, as they should. Therein lies the issue. The differences seem vague and small at a distance. Some continue to be vague and small up close, but others are much more significant.

[@seaknightvirchow8131]

I thank you for your teaching and winsome approach. My interest has been apologetics for thirty years since becoming a Christian and I used to think that if people would listen to the evidence they would believe but so often the conversation never gets that far. Even when the conversation gets to evidence, the atheists believe so many things that they have been told e.g. the late dating of the gospels or Jesus never claimed to God. Another ‘tactic’ is to point out talking snakes and donkeys or floating axes to ridicule the Bible.

[@gergelymagyarosi9285]

The majority of atheists think the same: believers are just dismissing evidence, denying the obvious. I wonder how many people can realize this isn't working.

[@danminer5343]

100% of all science does agree with the Bible. I can show the fraud and/or deception in every argument that atheists/evolutionists have used.

[@Jon-ti1rb]

People don't believe the way they do so much because of logic but more because of EMOTIONS! I say that as a believer.

[@jennifermoore2944]

Amen Bro Amen!

[@sneijder023]

Wickedness in the last days. Man is for a woman. No man to man and woman to woman. Repent and believe in Jesus Christ our Lord and savior today

[@pescatoralpursuit1726]

I appreciate the criticisms towards believers leveled by Mr Wallace. However, it is quite absurd to legitimize the criticisms of the non-believers who themselves have not applied logic, reason, or critical thinking to arrive at their own world view. At best they are projecting.

[@deniseb2746]

The gospels have different eye witness writings from each apostle. They each saw a little different way but they still all complement one another.

[@nicholasrose6556]

Ya, God exist without a doubt, he will show you if you seek him.

[@timothykeith1367]

More people would "believe" if it were about making humans into gods. The entire vastness of the universe points to the fact that we are weak and our knowledge is limited - we are definitiey not evolving to be gods. That Jesus temporarily become one of us in flesh and blood and served is what the world needs to hear, but the majority want the power themselves.

[@dagwould]

When you say 'disinterest', do you really mean 'disinterest' which is what a judge is in the court, or 'uninterest', which is what a judge certainly isn't.

[@bluebluedogbooks]

Interesting.

[@yzerman123]

Jim, the Catholic Church wrote the New Testament and canonized it. Christ himself entrusted it with its authoritative interpretation through the Apostles and the bishops they appointed. The evidence is very strong. Most people have never taken the effort to review this evidence or oppose it for emotional or volitional reason.

[@wintermatherne2524]

The Catholic Church literally did NOT write the New Testament.God used the gospel writers and the apostles to write it in the first century.The Roman Catholic institution didn’t even exist for the first three centuries because Constantine wasn’t even CONCEIVED until the third century. So much for its “strong evidence “.

[@jettruth]

The Catholic Church has far too many unbiblical teachings that lead people away from salvation. Idolatry: Worship and prayer to idols such as Mary, Saints, and Popes. This is against the second commandment which the Catholic Church has done away with. They don’t believe Jesus’s sacrifice is enough for salvation. They teach you need a team of priests to confess sins to, to sacrifice again and again at mass, and they teach being a Catholic is a must for salvation and that good works contribute to salvation. All you need to be born again and saved is to: Repent of sin and trust alone in Jesus by believing the Gospel. This must be sincere and you can’t be a hypocrite by calling yourself a Christian while still living in sin and justifying sin. The Catholic Church did not write any of the Bible. The canon of the Bible was discovered not decided on. The Bible is a list of authoritative books not an authoritative list of books.

[@williamcarr3976]

If you are going to make assertions such as this, you need to cite your sources so others can verify what you are saying.. Otherwise you are just giving your personal opinion

[@davidagin1827]

Can anyone give a decent % of athiest cops especially in new England?

[@allenbrininstool7558]

America is not nor was ever a Theocracy, let’s don’t push our beliefs on others in politics

[@tjames6427]

That's not exactly true.. in God we trust is on the money and in the pledge of allegiance, and most importantly religious Christian pilgrims colonized America and left Britain to have religious freedom from the Catholic Church which at the time was fighting hard to keep the Bible out of the common hand. The pilgrims figured out that the church is the body of Christ and is not just a group of authoritative fallen men claiming to be sinless in a fancy looking building. The Vatican is not afraid of looking bad either by knowingly allowing pedos it's all in the devil's plan to tarnish the reputation of Christ and give atheists more of a reason to turn away from religion in general.

[@allenbrininstool7558]

I don’t accept the dad argument. Mature people can see through their childhood and see truth

[@jennifereverett6298]

In public, the way I usually start the conversation is with some version of this: (I pull up my KZbin channel's video of my testimony which has a graphically modified photograph of an escalator with down leading to fire and up leading to bright light, and I say...) I have something to show you! (Or, if you're interested, here's some evidence for the existence of God!) You see this photograph of an escalator with down leading to fire? About 5 days before seeing this image in my Facebook news feed, I had a dream that I was standing at the top of a down escalator. Also at the top was a man who asked me which was I wanted to go. My reply was down. (If I have time, I tell more of the dream which was that I then sat in a roller coaster car, and a few people sat in it behind me. Halfway down the first hill of the ride, the man gave a sinister laugh indicating that he was going to kill us all at the bottom. At the bottom of the ride, I got out of the car and spent the rest of the dream trying to find an escape for myself and the people who sat in the car behind me.) At first it was just a concerning dream. But after seeing the photograph on Facebook, I realized that something was trying to get my attention, and it wasn't the god of the new age! But it wasn't until I read Jesus' message in the Bible that the default for all of humanity is an eternal lake of fire--because we've all broken God's laws by lying, stealing, having sex before marriage, etc.--that I realized the dream was telling me I'd chosen Hell. The Bible says that Jesus is our creator who became flesh to pay the death penalty for us so that we can go to Heaven, but we must turn from our sins, obeying him with his help, and trust that he's our creator and savior. Many eyes are being opened with this short introduction. People are starting to thank me for sharing this with them.

[@TearDownThisWall]

Evolution. Literally impossible.

[@rocketscientisttoo]

What is being said about the opponents of Christianity is magnified by the multitude of deceived people who regularly follow and support the false teachers, and their mega-churches, that are more often exposed as false teachers than not; It is also a sign by the mercy of God.

[@rontcurry]

Jesus saves

[@Mr.Batsu12]

What I've always found weird about atheism is how dedicated so many atheists are to their "religion" of atheism. Sorry to any atheists out there but many of you do treat it as a religion. A real atheists would think there is no God at all, when you die you just stop existing and they believe you should do what makes you happy while alive - providing you don't hurt or affect others. So why do atheists try to 'convert' people to atheism? Wouldn't the logical thing for them to do is say "Happy you found what you enjoy. It's not for me though." and that's it? Why do they try to convert people to atheism if those people are happy believing in whatever they believe in? Isn't doing that anti-atheism? I also find it very interesting that I often see atheists debate/argue with Christians but I don't see them do this with many other religious groups. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just that it's mostly Christians they have issues with. I think this is very telling of where the truth is located.

[@Xgy33]

100%

[@stevepa999]

The problem with relying solely on scripture is that you are assuming that all meaningful things that should be known were written down and that no traditions were passed down orally.

[@sdrchannel576]

It's the Chinese whisper effect. Which is why written is better than hearsay. We can compare the existing documents to see which one is corrupted and throw it out. We have multiple copies of the scriptures so we can compare and see.

[@jonathanccast]

It's not an assumption; it's a Biblical teaching (II Timothy 3:16).

[@ucheodozor4147]

Thank you for what you do out here on KZbin! May God continue to bless your ministry, and grant you increase, in the name of Jesus. However, Your closing utterances about the Catholic Church are downright erroneous and insulting. The Church is not a one-man business where one person establishes a community of worshippers, funds it and dictates what happens therein. Also, it's not an individualist oriented enterprise in which everyone is left to their own devices, personal tendencies and idiosyncrasies, which have led to the chaos and proliferations we find out there in the world today, naturally leading people in society to question and doubt the authenticity and truth of the Christian Faith. The Popes of the Catholic Church neither determine nor originate doctrines for the rest of Catholic faithful worldwide as individuals. Rather, the Church has a Magisterium, an equivalent of what's known as the elders in Protestantism, whose job it has been, in the past two thousand years now, to teach and to preserve the different elements of the faith that have come down to us from the Apostles of Jesus Christ, through almost twenty centuries of Apostolic succession. Don't just do Protestantism for the sake of it. Study Catholic history, and not just Protestant Catholic history. Many blessings!

[@danminer5343]

You need to learn how the "Catholic" church violates Scripture and is satanic. Also read Revelation 14 which describes the Roman Catholic as satanic.

[@ThomasDowdall-mh1es]

The 7 years tribulation started with covid thank God 🙏 for your work

[@robthesaxon1116]

Its starts 2027.

[@ratkicker007]

Covid started in late 2019. Lock downs happened in March and April 2020. If what you say is true that the 7yr tribulation started with Covid then we’re past halfway through the tribulation and the antichrist should have already entered the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and committed the abomination of desolation. But he hasn’t and the temple isn’t even built yet so Covid didn’t start the tribulation.

[@ratkicker007]

@@robthesaxon1116what makes you say it starts in 2027

[@bobhenricksen248]

Where does the Bible state the seven year tribulation? And what biblical basis do you start it from COVID?

[@williamcarr3976]

Tribulation ended in 70 AD Preterism proves this with scripture

[@jakeand9020]

Two of these observations were remotely relevant. Obviously upbringing, being born in an atheistic home vs a Christian home has a huge impact. Also, people who want nothing to do with religion at all for whatever reason. Although, that almost always requires the person was not raised in a religious family. The rest, at best, are reasons people begin to question faith, but not the reason they are atheist. You can not 'choose' not to believe. 'Atheists just want to sin' is literally the height of ignorance about atheist mentality. Sure, 'I don't understand why homosexuality is wrong' might lead to someone questioning their faith, but you CANNOT chose not to believe 'just cause'

[@sunstruckfarms4489]

Umm actually not really true

[@williamcarr3976]

My half sister, raised in a “fire and brimstone” Christian household and is now an atheist. And myself, raised in an atheist home, agnostic for 34 years, now a faithful believer and you couldn’t drag me within 100 feet of a modern American Evangelical church.

[@rafaelshumaker1883]

At the age of 10, I got tired of not knowing who was right, those in the church who were adamant that the Bible was completely true, or everyone else who were equally adamant that the Bible was a collection of made up stories. So I set out to find the truth. I first recognized my own bias by asking myself what I wanted the results to be. Then I asked myself if I was willing to risk finding the opposite to be true. A few days later, I decided that I would rather know the truth, regardless what it might be. I went to the library and found all the books I could on both sides of the issue. The average person cannot tell you the faults in his own position, but is happy to tell you the faults of his opponents. So I collected all of those that I could find in books. Then I took those faults to the other side and asked them for responses. And I would take those responses back to the side who claimed the faults. Along the way, some of the responses gave me new ideas to search for in books. So back and forth between people on both sides, and books on both sides, throughout my entire fifth grade year. I did my best to give both sides a fair shake. But after beginning to peel off the first few of the outer layers of both onions, I soon discovered that the arguments began falling apart on one side, but not the other. But I did not let that stop me. I kept on peeling deeper and deeper. In the end, I was left with only one reasonable conclusion. The Bible is not fiction, not in the slightest. And because of that research, it is not easy to get me to doubt the Bible. Even so, I do still investigate new evidence, and give it all consideration possible. And I even revisit previous research again, just to make sure I did not simply fool myself. My belief is securely built upon a foundation of strong evidence, a foundation which I still inspect regularly. Years later, I encountered the teaching of evolution. The research on that got its own thorough investigation, which, due to the sheer size of it, continues even now, years later. I can say a few things about it with absolute confidence. The theory of evolution has never been proven to be true. Real science actually proves it to be false. And the theory of evolution is the biggest piece of fiction ever to be imagined, and the worst fable ever believed by the masses. And the most intelligent seem to be the most susceptible in regard to that fable. Very strange. Then again, it's not actually a problem with the intellect, but rather with their loving darkness and their repulsion to God.

[@rmdeb]

Bravo for being so young and having such a curious, mature mind

[@keepthechange2811]

Exactly. I've developed a saying through my own research. "How smart is the smartest man if he completely wrong?" You see it all the time. And once you know the absolute truth all else is a fairy tale.

[@keepthechange2811]

What tipped the scales for me was the discoveries made by Ron Wyatt in the 80s. Once I saw these things I was terrified and so very glad. I knew then that the Bible is utterly reliable. More than that God absolutely wants us to know Him.

[@WisdomThumbs]

Reads like my own journey, except my parents were Christians while I took a strong bias in favor of Darwinian evolution. My mentor was an atheist polyglot educator and writer with a passion for scientific thought… Fifteen years later, my mentor and I reconnected having become Christians. And the bible holds up, while entire fields of science fall apart into a new kind of strange religion.

[@toeknee5565]

​@@keepthechange2811 I just googled Ron Wyatt because I had never heard of him. His Wikipedia entry is less than flattering.

[@bible1st]

One thing I learned is that 99% of them have never read a Bible.

[@MaryAnn_Pimentel]

I feel like I’ve experienced every single one of the reasons why people don’t want to accept God but it’s true the Bible has the answers to everything

[@GreatBehoover]

But could you DEFEND each one. As a former atheist, I didn't care that your God made you FEEL good or satisfied you. I saw scientific conflicts. I know now that the ACTUAL UNASSUMED OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE completely aligns with scripture.. but I had no idea back then that scripture aligns with scientific reality. I k ew nothing about the PROVEN IMPOSSIBILITY of DNA CODE SELF-CREATING and SELF-ASSEMBLING into cells ACCIDENTALLY. I BELIEVED that DNA CODE could because of all the lies the atheist scientific community promotes. It FACTUALLY CAN'T....IMPOSSIBLE. THis FACT alone destroyed atheism. When yoi present them with facts they get ANGRY thus proving that their FAITH in naturalism is EMOTIONAL and not rational.

[@passivesocialbuzzmarketing8739]

The fatherless claim makes a ton of sense to me. The more I consider it, the more credence it has based on my experience. Love the content... God bless

[@rodneyholmes642]

Again, great stuff.

[@captainfantastic7843]

Thank you Jim!! You help me greatly! God bless you and your family!

[@traceykt3506]

Thankyou for this, so much important knowledge, we need to take seriously

[@danielanthony8373]

Always ask an Athiest if they believe in Human Rights

[@christopherkennedy9377]

If we think that we can stop people from mocking, we are making a sad mistake. Mockery is a choice.

[@jeromesmith9765]

I LOVE YOUR WORK. JESUS4LIFE

[@lynnv8501]

Exactly. People deny God because they want to be god and continue in their sin. p.s. I consider myself non- denominational. I do attend church, sometimes a denomination for example if I'm singing in a choir. But I want my focus to be my relationship with God through bible study and prayer. I've found the denominations get in the way. I also think that some people need the structure and rituals the denominations bring. From being a school teacher I know people learn and experience the world differently. And I equate this with why people might actually need a denomination as it fulfills their experience.

[@knightclan4]

I highly recommend Andrew Farley. World renown books and his KZbin videos are an essential part of my life. I don’t have a home church anymore and my old pastor referred me to Dr Farley. He has a PhD in Linguistics and God truly gifted him in interpreting scripture.

[@DD-sz8nw]

Great piece! Thank you for sharing your observations!

[@ColdCaseChristianity]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@SkyKing101010]

I mostly tell people I'm Christian by faith and I'm Baptist by denomination. When they ask me why Baptist, I tell them that generally, Baptist theology aligns with what I believe the Bible teaches about the 'cardinal doctrines'.

[@CynVee]

I know this is nine years ago, but your advice is still so rock solid. Unfortunately lately, the divide between nonChristians and Christians has grown even wider and more hostile. I've read most of your books (currently reading, "Truth in True Crime" which I'm greatly enjoying and learning from) so I'm aware of your "shuns." In this video what really stood out to me is how you are 100% correct with the way I offer my reasons for being a Christian. They are much too benign and simplistic. I do have more in-depth, informed reasons why but don't often offer them straight out just only as a type of rebuttal if challenged. Thank you for encouraging me to understand why this is and to offer more solid and evidentiary reasons in the future.

[@EcclesiastesLiker-py5ts]

Logical reasoning leads inevitably to God, we see the wise and open minded finding this time and again, and the nature of Christianity, its accuracy, prophecy and morality, should show that it is the true religion. The Bible can't fail, but we can. The fact so many people refuse to accept the reality of YHWH God is not the result of logic, but of emotion, reasonable, justified anger, contempt and disgust at the things Christians, many genuinely devout, have done and do. Christianity should never have wolf herself to political rulers, should never have taken up the sword. These things are sin at best, blasphemy and false religion at worse.

[@grantbartley483]

Includes a nice apologetics for apologetics. That would be a meta-apologetics, then. ('Metapologetics'?)

[@reeb9016]

22:40 This is so so important! What does scripture say? Not,what does my church say or what does my preacher say? There is no growth if you don't study and re-examine.

[@GenealogyGuy1947]

Did you host a talk about scientific references in the Bible? Mainly from the book of Job. If so, I would like to watch it again. Can you direct me to the site?

[@LadyB777]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jn7Rm4tji8yDg80 I think you might be looking for this one

[@ttimetotroll]

9:15

[@rafaelshumaker1883]

I think most believers desire to easily, and with finality, pin down every right view and dispel every wrong one. But one of the wonderful things that God did for us in scripture is to fold in enough ambiguity to make it necessary for us to study and dig to find the truth, and make it that much harder for his enemies to figure out. (Had the devil known what would be accomplished by the death of Jesus on the cross, he would have done everything he could have to oppose it.) When any of us thinks he has some nugget of truth from the scripture, others look for the cracks in it. Whether the nugget of truth stands or fails, the whole Christian community benefits from the increase in knowledge of the scriptures. The ambiguity is a good thing. It is something that tends to dwindle as you study any topic more thoroughly.

[@hannannah1uk]

Often atheists blame God for what is clearly Satan's work, saying "if God is so good, all-powerful etc why does such and such happen?" They pretend not to know that Satan is in charge of the world. Jesus said Satan is the "Prince of this Earth". But tells us elsewhere his reign will end. Legion, the group of devils Jesus sent into the Gaderene swine, asked him why he called them out when it was not the end times yet. And in Rev 12 12: "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” Likewise Peter warned "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:” God WILL rule when Christ returns (bringing a New Heaven and a New Earth) but not until then. Meanwhile it's up to each of us to watch, pray and resist the Enemy by obeying Christ's two commandments "on which hang the whole of the law and the prophets." (Unbelievers love variations on the second one but like to ignore the first.) We must also obey Christ's Great Commission to "make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." That way the unbelievers get some help in their own personal battle against Satan, the Enemy. ✝️

[@dianawise203]

What do we say to someone that believes that Jesus was an alien from an advanced civilization. He thinks that the whole thing of Jesus life death and resurrection was a grand experiment for this alien civilization. He has me completely shocked and confused. What to say?