The Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Iceberg Explained

[@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

Register for Dr. Ehrman’s debate: “Did the Resurrection of Jesus Really Happen?” gmskeptic--ehrman.thrivecart.com/jesus-resurrection-tc/ **Through my link you can get $10 off until April 3rd**

[@Viking_Luchador]

I'll save you even more money by summing up the lecture in one word: no

[@VaughanMcCue]

@@Viking_Luchador I think I will be having a bad hair day then, so I am also looking forward to missing it. It will be the usual lukewarm wash~rinse cycle, with nothing new. There are lots of arguments for gods because there is no evidence. Perhaps some trash lids could fly. kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZXFpn2hf9iLqpI kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXPZaYurgcmchqs

[@mil401]

@@Viking_Luchador Surely the debate will involve more than that? I guess we could summarise most open debate questions with single answers; but history, science, philosophy and maths etc. are all interesting precisely because it's worth finding out why the (sometimes simple) answers are actually true.

[@marknieuweboer8099]

@@Viking_Luchador Slightly longer answer than yours: read David Hume's On Miracles. That takes less time than watching this video.

[@marknieuweboer8099]

@@mil401 The question GMS asked can't be addressed by three of the disciplines you mentioned. As for the fourth, philosophy, I refer you to my comment just above. That leaves theology. It's capability of finding true answers in my atheist eyes can easily be guessed.

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

And then I realized how much richer the study of the Bible can be, once you start studying it in a mythological / cultural context, rather than tying yourself in knots to make it literally true.

[@shakesbits5220]

That’s how they taught Religious Ed in Germany, when I went to school there until the early 90s - or at least in my school district. We had two hours a week, either taught by Protestant or Catholic instructors. It was the only optional subject until 11th grade - unless the school district had an Ethic’s teacher in which case you were required to enroll in either one of the Religious Ed or Ethics. Anyway, long story short(er): As of writing this comment I’m at the part about the the different interpretation of the Messiah question by Jews and Christians and I’m really surprised that college students didn’t have any of this information. Even if the religious studies teacher was a pastor or priest (they could but didn’t have to be), we still got taught about all of the points mentioned up to this halfway point.

[@Ze_eT]

@@shakesbits5220 Same here. We recently discussed why certain stories (like the Flood/Noah's Arch) have contradicting details, and why almost all details from Markus makes it into the books, but Matthäus and Lukas have details not shared by Markus, plus Matthäus and Lukas also having their own stuff, leading to various hypotheses on how to explain them (e.g. Two Source Hypothesis). It's quite interesting for me, and certainly better than Ethics (which I could have gotten but since I had religious parents [not practicing], they thought Ethics would be a pain in the butt to do).

[@shakesbits5220]

@@Ze_eT It is so weird to me that literal Bible belief is something that’s not just reserved for fringe groups over here in the US. The most laughable complaint is how persecuted they are, when you can’t even get a day planner in an outlet store that’s not covered in bible verses - they’d take the pitchforks to one of my teachers that said “if you think about it Jesus was a heretic to the Jews of his time” when we discussed the church schisms in the Middle Ages :-)

[@uncleanunicorn4571]

@@shakesbits5220 and if you try to communicate the value of taking it non literally, then life has no meaning and you're a communist.

[@shakesbits5220]

@@uncleanunicorn4571 well yes as a half-German American I'm clearly a fascist communist atheist - and me saying that I'm actually none of these things is just further proof that I'm lying to advance the LGBTQIA agenda to destroy all pizza parlors lol (sorry I think there was too much herbal extract in my tea tonight ;-)) Joking aside, I think that the more historical context approach is a gentler way for someone to break out of a fundamentalist mindset. It may or may not lead the person to atheism, but I'm fairly certain that it'll at the very least lead to a humanist interpretation of scripture and that should be all that's needed to be able to have constructive dialogues when it comes to societal changes (hope I'm making sense... herbal tea and all ;-))

[@EatitHarvey]

It's so nice seeing athiests, former Christians, Christians of all sects, and newcomers in the comment section and agree in one thing: Studying the cultural impact of Christianity, and it's history, is really, really freakin' interesting.

[@yaoipurpleheart]

Yes it is! I am happy babbling to my friends all the new things i learn about the bible from a historical perspective

[@Catglittercrafts]

I hate it tbh

[@paulohagan3309]

Makes a change from some other YT threads...😀

[@greggoreo6738]

May we add? "Freaking Frustration." Gregg Oreo long Beach Ca

[@jackcasali4180]

dont you find it a little bit of a ... coincidence that Jesus Christ, who many here want to say was merely a man, had by far the greatest impact on human history despite the fact that he was poor, powerless, living on the fringe of the roman empire, without connections or anything? I mean, the only humans who even come close the Jesus' power and influence are people who wielded incredible military or economic power. Yet here is a carpenter who has had more of an effect on your life than the most powerful men to ever live.

[@stevenscott2136]

I've lived in the South all my life, and can confirm that the 98% of our population who are Christian genuinely don't think I've ever been told about this Jesus guy in my five decades here... or spotted the 200 little buildings in our county with crosses on them... or seen any of the billboards... or...

[@suitov]

This is amazing. I've seen that attitude on display in Chick tracts but thought that was some weird niche belief!

[@charlieevergreen3514]

I’m also in the South, and have mostly encountered people assuming I’m a Christian, but sometimes propositioned by the Baptists or the Witnesses, at my home, of course. I’m polite, but I set a firm boundary within a minute (when they take a breath). Only once did I offer a response, which was to outline secular Buddhist philosophy, and they were pleasantly surprised that they liked what they heard, but of course were not swayed from their religion. But maybe a little less hateful towards some Buddhists. No exciting ending, my apologies. Hahaha

[@indominuswrex9465]

It's the persecution fantasy. They think it's still 500bc and they're being hunted and silenced by the Romans or whoever

[@thomasdr08]

Native Alabamian here, I still haven’t found the Second Baptist Church…

[@jacobford3452]

Ive always just been assumed to be a baptist/church of christ by my neighbors (whichever one they believe). It is a regular thing for the local churches to do mission trips to other heavily christian states to "spread the word of of the lord"...as if Texas and Montana weren't already flush with other christians. And when I ask them why they are going to an already dominantly christian area they get confused and give answers ranging from "Maybe we're being sent to the non-christians?" to "I don't know."

[@GalacticGamerYT]

Hey Drew, I'm also from the American south, Alabama specifically. 20 seconds in and you're right! You can't even go on a single road without finding a church around here. You just encouraged me to act completely ignorant the next time someone asks, "Do you know Jesus?". I will confidentially act like this is the first time I've ever heard of him.

[@Kore2075]

Wow! There's at least 2 of us in Bama! Haha. I thought I was the only one!! My wife is almost there but she was raised Baptist and she is struggling with admitting to herself she no longer believes. This is mainly due to the public stigma that comes with non-belief here in Alabama.

[@nimajneb5901]

as a mobilian, I can confirm

[@NYCheescake]

I also can confirm, considering this stigma as well the entirety of why we think we're alone in this area is probably because when it comes to it, most will just say we are Christian to be left alone

[@melaniemanning2462]

Please respond, "oh you mean Jesus who works at the gas station down the road?" And say Jesus with a Spanish accent.

[@joshkresnik6402]

I’m a Christian who’s enthusiastically read the teachings of Jesus but I also enjoy listening to discussions and lectures from both ends either religious or historical or scientific, as well as atheist and agnostic discussions, from people like Owen Morgan (telltale), friendly atheist, Dr. Thomas J. Kindell, among others. It doesn’t shake my faith but it broadens my overall view and scope of what the gospel talks about and how it can be interpreted

[@mamontai]

You and I both....the more I listen to sceptics and Atheists question the bible, the more I learn and grow in Faith...I love this kind of contend

[@Tryyton]

Guess you both still don't get it then!? Maybe watch more videos like this and then one day you'll understand...

[@mamontai]

@@Tryyton or maybe you want us to understand as you do

[@Jesusfreak322]

Agree completely! This channel is helping me dive a little more deeply into scripture. I would love to counter the guest speaker in this video 😊 so much is left out that does explain it. People continue to pull things out of context on both sides of this coin, hence all of the confusion over the yrs. Example: in Isaiah 53, Isaiah uses the words righteous one with servant. That's a critical omission from this speaker. The entire OT shows just how unrighteous Israel was. He also left out the fact that Christ called Himself a servant in the gospels. What I love most about this channel is his compassion and fairness to everyone. That's very rare these days. He's a pretty smart cookie too!

[@Jesusfreak322]

@@Tryyton they get it, and so do I. Why do you feel the need to put anyone down for their beliefs? This is for discussion of the video, not personal attacks.

[@ryseely1]

Drew, you've convinced me. As an atheists raised fundamentalist christian, I've held on to my biblical upbringing. Most of the time, my biblical knowledge is shared at parties with other atheists who don't know as much about the bible. The story of Job is a particular favorite when everyone is blasted. With this video, I'm embracing that I am an atheist bible enthusiast. Thanks for the great content!

[@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

I can’t tell you how much I relate to this comment. I’ve been known to tell biblical and later apocryphal stories when everyone is lit.

[@hippykiller2775]

The dogmatism of the church is something I think pushes more people away from God than brings people to God.

[@raycaster4398]

@@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic Please tell some stories from The Gnostic Gospels, e.g. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas. I like the story of Jesus getting pissed and kills a kid. And why The Church disallowed these stories.

[@ltob86]

Totally agree. There’s nothing wrong with having an interest in Christian mythology the same way so many people have an interest in Greco-Roman Mythology. You don’t have to believe it for it to be interesting.

[@angryatheist]

I was raised evangelist, and it’s funny through my youth then deconversion agnostic stage etc I had no interest in the bible or the myth since coming to the conclusion that I’m atheist I’m so into all this sh t that it occupies most my free time thoughts and activities it’s fun and allows me to use critical and logical thinking

[@dragonspartan9031]

I've learned more about Christianity after i've became a atheist then when I was (admittedly not a devout) Christian thanks to channels that cover the whole spectrum of the bible and it's history.

[@NoahFrmSaturn]

Your a Christian now?

[@marcospatricio8283]

Same. I acted surprised at first too, but when you stop to think about it, it's really obvious as to why. Priests are salesmen, either they want to or not. Some are really good people who want the best for their communities, sure. But they're that and salesmen. They're selling a narrative, a moral code and a vision of community and superiority. And it's easier to sell if it's simple and pretty.

[@douggaudiosi14]

Same lol

[@dustinlines2181]

You should check out Jordan Persons lectures on the Bible.

[@kermit5281]

Lol you make life decisions off of youtube channels

[@lysander3262]

"religious traditions abhor a vacuum" Ah, yes, this explains all of the named side characters on the Star Wars wiki.

[@41-Haiku]

My thoughts exactly.

[@rogermwilcox]

Why, sir, are you saying that Wicket, Paploo, and Chirpa weren't CRUCIAL to our understanding of the Battle of Endor?

[@kevincrady2831]

And let us now discuss whether the Expanded Universe, or the Disney Sequels (cough--Heresy!--cough) are Canon! 😂 (Yes, it is literally the same process.)

[@micahwright5901]

@@kevincrady2831 The main issue with deep dives into the new canon is the fleshing out of side characters is being done for marketing reasons and to maintain the status quo rather than out of a genuine love for the lore and characters.

[@deathbydank3206]

As an atheist turned catholic I always love hearing people give a non-biased view of the story of Christ. I love the the implementation of historical and scientific evidence when it comes to biblical stories is becoming a more accepted practice as I’ve always believed that God and Christ would want me to look into my faith, rather than take everything written or spoken at face value. Researching religion was something Christ did and I believe he’d want his followers to do the same. Fantastic video mate.

[@zokora3656]

Very sad you turned to Religion in general. Like why? Especially as an Atheist it should be glaringly obvious that religion = brainwashing. Literally everything about religion is set up that way starting with indoctrinacting minors. And given the hundreds of religions in this world it makes even less sense to go and say "hey, this is the biggest religion. Must be right". I honestly employ you to turn away from this as religion is literally the biggest evil we have in this world.

[@karlrschneider]

Virtually every adult atheist is a former 'believer' of some kind of religion...whatever their parents and peers coerced them into accepting as a child. EVERY human is BORN an atheist, obviously, having no ability to form opinions or beliefs about ANY subject, let alone one as complex and confusing as religion. The upshot is that we adult atheists, having considered the evidence...or more precisely the utter LACK of it... with rare exception know more about the religion we escaped from (and others, too) than those who continue to accept their adopted dogma without evidence or the benefit of critical thinking.

[@arsenalrocky7273]

@@karlrschneiderI’ve never been any type of religious, but I’m so interested in why people believe things. And why they’ll tie their brain into pretzels to go against something obviously false. “TRUMP IS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE” - “well trump gave 83 percent of his tax cuts, billions of dollars, to people making over 500k a year” - “WELL TRUMP IS STILL FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, BC WOMEN ARENT MEN”. And the saddest part is that that type of response is common.

[@imperialpounder1213]

@@karlrschneidercan a newborn even acknowledge God? I don’t think you can say a newborn is an atheist when it doesn’t even know what God means

[@landenmoudy5749]

​@imperialpounder1213 you're using a definition of atheist that does not imply here. The baby can't conceptualize what a god is so it can't decide to believe in one or not. Atheism is the lack of belief. Atheism is not knowing of God and deciding to not believe. It's the complete lack of belief in a deity. So yes, babies are atheist when they are born.

[@pokemonfanthings4444]

I was raised Catholic, went to Catholic school, and became an atheist in college (I mean I never believed in the first place lol). However I am interested in history, historical fiction, and myth. So this was a treat. I just found this channel. I’m impressed by this and I learned a lot even though I thought I knew almost everything on this subject already

[@loturzelrestaurant]

My favorite Atheist-KZbinrs are Holy Koolaid and Telltale Atheist. And yours?

[@chronochrome7837]

Given the day this came out, I was fully expecting this to be a list like "Did you know Jesus may have pioneered early rap?" Instead, I get a bunch I've heard before, and quite a bit I hadn't. Absolutely stellar video.

[@FakingANerve]

🎶Blessed are my homies, not phonies, they'll inherit the earth Blessed are the bitches, not snitches, dat ass got some girth!"

[@man4437]

I read "walking, talking cross" and went "wait, this is a joke... right?" And nervously watched the last part to see if he pulls an "April fools!"

[@voxpopuli8132]

Ehrman is intimating most of the time. His "big proofs" can be explained with usally a small amount of thinking. There are no real (mutually exclusive) contradictions in the Gospels. But let's cut to the chase, shall we? 1) God exists. Why is there something, instead of nothing? 2) Jesus existed and he was the Son of God, and he proved it by performing miracles. 3) Jesus founded one Church, the Catholic one, see Mt16:18.

[@FaustCrowley]

Apparently the ancient Chinese poets pioneered rap battles, complete with beefs.

[@aazhie]

@@voxpopuli8132 that's not thinking that is faith. At least be honest about what you are doing.

[@thecyberhedgehog]

As a somewhat religious Jew, Dr. Erhman gave a great non-biased explanation of the Jewish perspective of Jesus.

[@robertsticek8382]

Jesus WAS Jewish. Hello?😒

[@alg11297]

@@robertsticek8382 Yes but wasn't the Moshiach.

[@robertsticek8382]

@@alg11297 you sure about that?

[@alg11297]

@@robertsticek8382 Just me and all the other Jews.

[@starcapture3040]

@@robertsticek8382 he spoke aramaic

[@BONETOASTER1111]

I’ve REALLY been enjoying this kick you’ve been on of early Christian perspective and history stuff. Learning about defunct Christian sect ideologies and things in that realm isn’t something I knew I’d have so much interest in! Thanks dude 👍

[@Viking_Luchador]

Cheap plug: check out Inner Traditions catalogue, they have plenty of books on the subject

[@FoxMacLeod2501]

I love hot, steamy, defunct Christian sects.

[@wesbaumguardner8829]

@Xeno The Strange aol!

Apocalyptic = از پای کار درآمد a Farsi word means, it lost it's footing

[@voxpopuli8132]

There were many ideologies and disagreements between the US founding fathers as well. Does that mean that american thought has never existed? Or it is somehow invalid? It is BS, of course. I cut to the chase, ok? 1) God exists. Why is there something, instead of nothing? 2) Jesus existed and he was the Son of God, and he proved it by performing miracles. 3) Jesus founded one Church, the Catholic one, see Mt 16:18.

[@kaseywahl]

After my deconversion, which happened slowly over the course of about 10 years, there's a strange comfort in coming back to Christian texts and theology, though reading through the lens of scrutiny I've cultivated in that time. It's a relief. It's empowering. Strangely, it's also comforting and familiar. I'm still unpacking some of it. Thanks for all of your work. I've been really enjoying these.

[@Acceptablehandleaheada2.-_]

As someone who is learning how to engage in civil, non-aggressive convos with the opposing side, I find your content helpful and inspirational. You definitely have a lot of experience but also know how to express it in a way that shows your unbiased understanding. There's a lot of cool stuff on your channel too, just wanted to mention.

[@lukesutton4135]

I too hate Christians and want to dismantle their beliefs through pharisees and clearly false teachers who believe nothing and know nothing of the subject. I too also hate Jesus and his love that is so strong that no one will remember our miserable hate but we'll still try to take our life grievances out on them! 26:45 "Jesus was not powerful" All sacrasm aside, you honestly can't be that daft as to believe in something that's clearly a joke. Who tries to talk about God, let alone Christianity, and think that Love, THEE strongest thing in the universe, is weak? Did you want YOUR God to just destroy your miserable sinful butt immediately or show your ignorance some mercy? Get real now before it's too late. Belief isn't called belief for nothing and God wouldn't need nor would I want him to want me if he had to prove himself to me and not the other way around.

[@Acceptablehandleaheada2.-_]

@@lukesutton4135 in all fairness, there are a lot of really smart people who hold beliefs in a higher power. Even if the story foolish and dogmatic, there's no reason to consider Christians condemnable as many of them have good intentions.... Although they may not like the idea of investigating their beliefs thoroughly.

[@QuinnPrice]

I love Dr. Ehrman’s approach. He and scholars like him place truth as the prize rather than belief reinforcement. Thank you for your insights on this important topic.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Except when it comes to things he doesn't like, where he just laughs it off and ignores it.

[@proculusjulius7035]

@@Lobsterwithinternet who?

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@proculusjulius7035 Dr. Ehrman, unfortunately.

[@nagranoth_]

Like taking the idea that jesus didn't exist seriously. He basically turns into an apologist whenever that topic comes around, whining it's ridiculous, that everyone agrees he existed, and that there are so many sources that show he existed without ever being able to give a single one of those sources. Throwing up nothing but strawman, and never actually engaging with the real peer reviewed literature on mythecism. It's embarrassing to the point I'm reluctant to take him serious on the points where he does seem to care about truth.

[@ya-boy-joshy]

@@nagranoth_ Honestly, The strongest evidence that we have that Jesus doesn't come from the gospels, but non-religious accounts. For instance, take the graffiti that was mention the fact that it references the Donkey and Crucifixion and was used as satires against the Christian is pretty strong evidence that christianity exist. surprised We also have a letter written that details a court case of Christians being put on trial. The fact of the mater is, that Jesus real name is Yeshua, and Yeshua was an extremely common name in first century Judea. Yeshua translated into english is Salvation and thats what most first century Jews wanted, Salvation from the Roman occupation the restoration of Israel.

[@QuinnPrice]

I compared resurrection accounts and found them to be irreconcilable. Anyone can do this. The contradictions mean these are not reliable witnesses.

[@isdrakon9802]

Can you elaborate on that, I'm curious how this thought came about

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@isdrakon9802 You can compare the scenes of the empty tomb between the 4 gospels and each one is completely different. You can look at the post-resurrection verses from the 3 Gospels (Mark has none). If you do, you can see how they differ irreconcilably.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

@@isdrakon9802 They have to basically be blind and without the speech controlling Holy Ghost for it to be reconcilable. Either one makes them unreliable by Christian logic alone or all the other religions are true.

[@proculusjulius7035]

@@Lobsterwithinternet not just the four gospels but also other non-canonical gospels have differing resurrection narratives. The whole thing is made up though I do agree with Dr Ehrman that there was a historical yeshua

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@proculusjulius7035 And how would you tell him apart from the numerous other Apocalyptic preachers running around saying nearly the same thing? As Dr. Price would say, “Even if there was a historical Jesus lying back of the gospel Christ, he can never be recovered. If there ever was a historical Jesus, there isn’t one any more. All attempts to recover him turn out to be just modern remythologizings of Jesus. Every ‘historical Jesus’ is a Christ of faith, of somebody’s faith. So the ‘historical Jesus’ of modern scholarship is no less a fiction.”

[@brunozeigerts6379]

When I was a Christian, some things in the Biblical narrative bothered me. The disciples never being right, the crowds all saying the same thing in unison... but I never thought to look at it as bad fiction until I became an atheist.

[@mbs8001]

What confuses me is all the writings about people who are alone. Moses is said to have written Deuteronomy…so he must have brought his journal up there to pen his last moments…and then someone else came along to add the last part? Also, the account of Jesus in the garden. How did they know all those details. Some have said Jesus told them, but that would have been a really odd conversation 🤔

[@brunozeigerts6379]

@@mbs8001 Or like Jesus being tempted by Satan... no-one was there beside them.

[@claytonreeves150]

@@brunozeigerts6379 Look into the history of Hindu and Buddhist disciples of teachers who were generally regarded as being wise. Their completely-made-up stories of impossible feats and "miracles" attempting to one-up some other student's teacher are very telling of what has occurred here. It's all just bad fanfiction by literal fanatics.

[@AnyoneCanSee]

@@brunozeigerts6379 - I would think it would bother Christians that Judas would have spent every day with Jesus for a least 3 years and therefore seen all the miracles and heard all his speeches and should have had no doubt he was the Messiah with wisdom and powers beyond any mortal man. Yet he decided to help the Romans kill Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. The story only makes sense if Judas was not convinced at all by Jesus or heaven and hell. Otherwise, he would know he'd spend eternity in hell. Greedy or not, you'd have to be stark raving mad to accept 30 pieces of silver knowing you'd spend eternity in hell rather than eternity in paradise. I was raised an atheist and so heaven and hell and everything else in religions have always seemed like believing in Santa Claus to me. I do see, however, how a Christian society could be culturally advantageous. Especially when you compare it to the religions they found in South America filled with bloodletting and human sacrifice. In practice, the Christians were no better than those ripping out intestines. Sadly the Bible supports slavery. Secular laws long ago surpassed those of the Bible. Sorry waffled.

[@tempoclasse2907]

@@AnyoneCanSee heaven and hell is real, Jesus is real and coming back soon to take back righteous. Repent and be saved

[@kirkmarshall2853]

In my experience understanding destroys hate. I grew up and encountered many many hateful Christians and grew to hate Christianity myself. Today I am happy to say I am an atheist who loves to study Christianity and philosophy and other religions and it was my growth in understanding of how the religious mind works that took away the hatred, leaving behind a kind of sadness that makes me hope that they learn to stop thinking so literally.

[@LouieLouie505]

“…many many hateful Christians….” If someone passes laws allowing and encouraging discrimination that makes others’ lives lesser, I am not inclined to give much sympathy or time for them. I have more than sadness for their audacity and arrogance forcing their beliefs on people outside their group.

[@kirkmarshall2853]

@@LouieLouie505 oh I still hate fundamentalist losers like Ray Comfort, Wretched Radio’s host, Kirk Cameron, William lane Craig and pat Robertson all deserve to be locked in mental institutions with no hope of leaving for how insane and hateful their beliefs are. I just no longer hate the Bible I just hate the losers that don’t have the first idea about the cultures that wrote the book but want to use that book to force people to live like it’s 2999 BCE

[@vedinthorn]

I've encountered every side of people both Christian and not. Mostly snarky internet atheists annoy me, but also the Christians who can't take a joke or discuss how their particular interpretation of the text is riddled with anachronistic thinking. But I've met some really decent atheists and some really decent loving Christians. Love, of course, being an action that is for your benefit whether you agree that it is or not. (And since we can't know what is always for our benefit, that's really the best humans can do.)

[@kirkmarshall2853]

@@vedinthorn oh I still think the word apologist is another word for liar. Christianity, if it were true, would not need apologists running around twist what the Bible says to try and shoehorn a literal interpretation of the story into our understanding of science. There is zero possible way that visions describing a flat earth could be right like in Daniel and Isaiah. Then we have Jesus being shown “all the kingdoms of the earth”. Also, as I have been reading the Nag Hammadi I am struck by how much more enlightened some of the Gnostic groups were than even many modern Christians. If you look at The Second Discourse of Great Seth and The Revelation of Peter you will read a great polemic against the idea that by just believing in a sacrificial lamb style human sacrifice you get eternal everlasting life. Instead the gnostics taught to seek direct knowledge of god and to follow the teachings of Jesus to become more like him. That is a teaching I can get behind but the idea that some sex offender can feel alittle bad about it and beg Jesus for forgiveness and still get to heaven but the exceptionally decent old lady who was always kind and loving will go to hell forever for not knowing about some human sacrifice is evil and a dumb theology. While paganism has a bunch of literal minded people who hope magick is really real most pagans are smart enough to understand that Gods are just archetypes to emulate. The idea of worship only makes sense in the bedroom with a partner one trusts deeply. Don’t worship imaginary beings, how about just learn what you can about yourself from them?

[@vedinthorn]

@@kirkmarshall2853 so your problem is Christians with bad theology and interpretations of the text and your own misunderstanding of Christian doctrine based on those Christians thinking that theirs is correct meaning not actually Christianity itself at all.

[@willm917]

Just found this channel, WOW! Was raised southern baptist and never really “believed” it.. when I was 16 I fell in love with physics and instantly knew I’ve been an atheist my whole life without really knowing.. I never digested the “kool aid” from church and thought I was a bad person, an outcast because I couldn’t come to believe like everyone around me. Am 34 now and still in love with physics.. the way you go about deconstructing is amazing. You do it THE right way…thank you brother!

[@p.moorewilson7917]

I love that you ended this with ‘Remember to be kind to others in the comments.” Some of the best ‘Christian-like’ I people know are atheists... 🙏🙏🙏

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Quite. Which goes to show, whatever you may believe, we are all human beings at the end of the day. And all the good and bad that entails.

[@mr.horrorchild4094]

Sadly in your estimation of atheists I sense some small amount of bias

[@p.moorewilson7917]

@@mr.horrorchild4094 nope 🤷‍♀️

[@mr.horrorchild4094]

@@p.moorewilson7917 What else would you say?

[@Ze_eT]

@@mr.horrorchild4094 While I am certain that there is some bias, on the basis that people are inherently biased no matter what, that kind of is what I see. Sure, there are calm practicing Christians, that can't be denied. However, in any comment section involving theology, you see pretty violent Christians, ranging from them being shocked that people do not see God, to them telling others they will die in the Apocalypse and that they deserve it. Not to say that atheists are perfect, I have seen a few atheists be violent, and there are also some which have an christian way of atheism, telling others it's the truth, however those are pretty much outnumbered by Christians doing the same, if not worse, from my perspective. I still believe there are way too many atheists resorting to the same methods Christians do; but to say that atheists are worse purely on the basis of "there might be bias" is not enough of an argument for me, especially if my experience reaffirms his statements.

[@danielhmorgan]

Thank goodness for thinking, scholarly communicators like you. You spend way more time in this field than I could ever endure; I am grateful for the results.

[@salis-salis]

I am a Christian, and yours is one of few channels actually taking my religion seriously and talking about the interesting parts of it; unknown gospels, the early church; I could go on.. I never miss a video, my Brother in Humanity

[@VaughanMcCue]

How do you shuffle stuff around to make the impossible fit when confronted with information like this? I had to leave when I discovered material like this because we were only taught platitudes and fallacious retorts (not responses) to anything like this. You could say I did what I was told to say and not HOW to think. I hope you escape soon.

[@stylis666]

You call him a brother, yet you bow to a narcissist and ask it for guidance and thank it for the evolutionary psychology that lead to us being what and who we are today, pretending that not our humanity but your god provided for our needs in everyday life. I call that a stab in the back of humanity and a cowardly surrender of your integrity and humanity - you do not behave like a brother but like a traitor.

[@Asymmetrization]

i highly recommend theramintrees too

[@VaughanMcCue]

@@Asymmetrization T T is wonderful - good suggestion.

[@Pedro-of4tn]

Matthew 12:46-50 New International Version 46While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

[@samanthahayman4539]

The deeper you went, the more the story resembled fan-fiction attempting to plug the gaping holes in a plot line. I always assumed the 'blaming' of the Jews for the crucifixion was more about exonerating the Romans by passing the buck on to the only other available candidates. Necessary if you want your sect to succeed in a Rome dominated world, after all being Roman was a much a mind-set as anything else, everyone who was anyone was a Roman citizen, even if they'd never been anywhere near Rome. I doubt Christianity would have broken out of the 'religion for slaves' category, to eventually become the state religion if the Romans had been the 'baddies'.

[@mrcombustiblelemon2902]

I thought that it was because the Jews are a walking refutation of Christianity. After all, it's a lot harder to convince someone that you came to replace Joe when Joe is right there saying "I'm still here, and stop lying to people that you're my replacement". The key part that supports my conclusion over yours is the verse where the totally-not-fictional Jews in the bible ask the readers of the bible to blame the Jews of the future for their crime, and to hate the Jews for all eternity.

[@samanthahayman4539]

@@mrcombustiblelemon2902 Yes, I get where you're coming from. Though I would add that the antisemitism of the gospels get worse the later in time they are made up. And, the last (written) and worst is barely even trying to pretend it was written by someone who might once have been an observant Jew. Early common era Pagans could reasonably ask any potential evangelist "well, if what you say is true, why are so few of your cult members former Jews, surely they would know", making it in the interest of second wave christians, who had never been Jews, or even had much to do with them, to paint the Jews in the worst possible light. (Which is just rephrasing what you said.) But you'd still have to convince those early former Pagan, now Christian Romans to convert first. Probably a bit from column A, and a bit from column B. Humans are messy and we can never know the full motivation of our contemporaries, let alone of people 1.9 thousand years ago

[@DANtheMANofSIPA]

@@samanthahayman4539 None of the Gospels are anti semetic. They are anti-Pharisee. Jesus’ entire point was to preach against hypocrites and the wicked of His generation. The Pharisees and Saduccees displayed both of those perfectly. They claim to be upright teachers, but in their hearts they arent circumsized. To the point where they have the son of God in front of them and they plot to kill Him. The whole point of the prophets is that eventually the sins of Israel will catch up with them and innocent blood will be on their hands. The blood is the blood of the Lord.

[@SerifSansSerif]

A lot of that is the way the bible was assembled and who the writers are. The gospels are FANTASTIC. whether you take them as fact or fiction or somewhere in between, Jesus seems more like a teacher and maybe something more, but it focuses more so on a very specific message of love and radical pacifism. The miracles are more like magic tricks... Quite literally. It says "this guy showed up and he had 4 fishing his hand but when he broke it up to feed people, he fed a LOT more people" , but it reads like, "I saw this magician who started out with a dollar bill, and he folded it a few different ways and somehow he ended up with a hundred dollar bill". Which even as a more faithful person, it's fine. The miracles aren't the message, just something to reinforce your faith in the message and it's legitimacy. When you get to acts and the rest, it's all Pauline texts. It's about the character and not the message, and the disciples are all the sudden going from constantly chastised for not having faith (if you had but a mustard seed of faith, you too could do this miracle) to not only doing miracles, but doing MORE miracles than Jesus and with far greater frequency. It's a shift from a role as a teacher to a role as a god. (And as Christianity became a religion and then the books were chosen for this new official religion of Rome, this makes sense as to why those books were chosen). Afterward, the non-biblical dogma is just patching and trying to speculate on how the magic tricks were done rather than a focus on the message (the most important part).

[@the_hanged_clown]

with regards to the spear, it was explained to me as a method of determining death. if only water fell from the wound it was supposed to indicate death. also the spear itself was a key plot artifact in the movie adaptation of Constantine.

[@geofreyshank]

I think they de-canonised the film Constantine at the Council of Nicea.

[@douggaudiosi14]

The Keanu Reaves movie?

[@the_hanged_clown]

@@douggaudiosi14 are there others? I didn't know

[@cassidygraybosch1040]

that's how it was taught to me too. I think once I heard that Jesus had been on the cross for a long time and the spear was basically ensuring that he was dead.

[@megancurtis9502]

I believe he was saying that one of the gospels describes it as being before he died, meaning he was probably stabbed, and one describes it as being after death with the blood and water coming out? Maybe I misunderstood. Edit: Looked it up. There's a missing section from Matthew 27:49 that is in early manuscripts that says he was stabbed, then verse 50 says he cries out so we can conclude that he was stabbed before he died. Then John 19:34 says that he was stabbed and blood and water came out, but in the verses prior it says that the Romans didn't break his legs because he was already dead, meaning the piercing was after he was dead. I think Christians justify by saying that in John it's not necessarily in chronological order and that he was stabbed before he died. The reason they're included is to fulfill the alleged prophecies of the messiah: "not one of his bones will be broken" (Psalm 34:20) and "mourning for the one they have pierced" (zechariah 12:10). People argue that John is not necessarily being told as a chronological account, but just parts of the story John heard pieced together to fulfill all the prophecies. Or maybe they're genuine contradictions who knows.

[@omegadeadpool2947]

It's my personal belief that All mythologies are like our Modern Comics and Mangas, they are just stories meant to give us a message and touch us and help us be the better us in some way shape or form. But you don't hear anyone say they worship Superman or Iron Man because we associate worship with Religion and Religion in all honesty is just Cultism with a less tingy name.

[@tjarkschweizer]

I heard of people who are convinced that iron man is real.

[@omegadeadpool2947]

@@tjarkschweizer Progress? I guess. I dunno

[@aresjerry]

Except Both of those things are for children and the story of Samson blows any marvel movie out.

[@MikeCrain]

I was confused when the senior pastor of a church I went to for a while, who was a biblical scholar with a degree having had to learn it in its original languages and its context of its time period, covered things in the Bible that seemed to contradict each other when I know he knew what he was talking about. Now I guess I know it's that a lot of books of the Bible just outright contradict each other. I really wish I knew how scholars of the Bible are able to remain Christian because I'm at a loss.

[@HopsinThaGoat]

They only do it because they see the monetary gain of becoming a pastor

[@ejwrites]

So many reasons. I tried to make sense of the contradictions because I hoped God would relieve my depression so I wouldn't have to deal with its cause. And because I loved the church, studying and explaining the Bible and ministry. And I knew leaving the faith would complicate my relationships. And I was afraid of rejecting my "saviour" and leading others astray. I was never going to get wealthy from ministry but I did hope to get something back for the years of study and volunteer work I had put in. I explained away a lot of contradictions because I desperately wanted to believe. But trying to find answers in the Bible ended up leading me away from Christianity.

[@HopsinThaGoat]

@Leon lionhardt Lol nah bro

[@ab-qf1iv]

Emotional motivations play a part. It's extremely painful to realize/accept one is wrong when it ties into your sense of meaning and purpose/hope to see dead relatives again and get around death.

[@MikeCrain]

@@ab-qf1iv I guess that makes sense. I guess I got too aged to keep doing something if I suspect it's stupid/wrong/whatever because I don't like to stress myself out on purpose like people who hate watch Velma.

[@arsennelupin8561]

Man, i live in Brazil. my faith is almost all deconstructed but i still go to the church. my marriage has serious risk of end if i reveal my atheism to my wife nd other family members. I keep feeding myself in books nd youtube videos that give me a good quality content about these subjects. I need to thank you for ur videos. Your way to talk nd your level of knowledge about these abstract subjects is amazing nd much more higher than any video in Brazil. Here the atheists are still fighting against fundamental churchies about texts of bible. I wish can translate your videos nd put on to any brazilian understand nd think with u. maybe some day ill be able to do it.

[@stefanvorster4410]

How's it going now?

[@isiswaleska8584]

Eae como é q tá?

[@arsennelupin8561]

Same as before. Im a hidded atheist... :)

[@vbh_23]

If your wife is willing to end your marriage because of your atheism, just end it

[@arsennelupin8561]

@@vbh_23 i have sons bro. Is not too simple. I care about them. I do not care go to church, im still free of all fears that religion input in our minds.

[@jakegreen5081]

Forget the resurrection. What about Mary's parents/Mary's existence. How do we even know those parents existed and who actually conceived Jesus. Where is that evidence? Furthermore, who reopened the tomb before it was sealed to check a body was even inside?

[@nenmaster5218]

Fun-Fact: The second Politics start being Religiouss, the moment Trump-Support become Odd or even Qanon, that's when Atheist-Channel activate with a click-sound. Telltale and many others, i warmly recommend them.

[@VooDooMusic]

10 years ago I was a Christian. Now, at 26, I am the happiest I have ever been, and I can tie most of it to leaving the faith. I still tumble with the fear of hell as an irrational fear in the back of my mind and I'm still uncovering traumas and secrets about myself and my family and the past. These videos help greatly with my coping, they help provide me with closure and allow me to feel solidarity and comfort

[@DiabloMet]

That's crazy becoming a Christian led me to being that happiest I've ever been

[@VooDooMusic]

@@DiabloMet How old are you?

[@VooDooMusic]

@@DiabloMet i only ask your age because im curious how much experience you have as an atheist prior to becoming Christian, and what your reasons are for saying this faith specifically has lead you to happiness, especially why Christianity versus any other religion

[@Colddirector]

@@VooDooMusic he never answered but decent chance it makes him happier because of the built-in community and life purpose, something a lot of young people are desperate for these days. his church/community also may or may not be as oppressive as yours was.

[@VooDooMusic]

@@Colddirector that's not a very fulfilling answer, but i would accept it as one. it's possible that it was one of the more easily accessible communities

[@raycaster4398]

Just one example from Coyne’s (academic evolutionary geneticist) book showing how the truth of modern science reveals the mythology of religion(!): “Evolutionary geneticists now know that the human population could never have been as small as only two individuals...The observations that different parts of our sequenced human genomes have different ages, some going back millions of years and that they come from different ancestors, completely dispel the biblical date of human origins and the idea that all of our DNA was bequeathed by a Primal Couple (“Adam and Eve”)...We can back calculate from DNA sequences the size of human populations at different times in the past. The total number of ancestors of modern humans then was not two but over twelve thousand individuals. This is a very strong scientific refutation of the Adam and Eve Scenario.” (In: “Faith versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible,” Jerry A Coyne, 2015). Also, the extensive fossil record, including intermediary forms and radioactive dating, demonstrates clearly that life began hundreds and hundreds of millions of years ago, not the the six or ten thousand years ago canard as expressed in the Bible. So(!), no Adam and Eve, no Original Sin, no need for Redemption, no need for a savior, no need for a resurrection. No need for Christianity. You can spend years debating specific passages of the Bible with it's myriad incongruities, disagreements, anachronisms, contradictions of all types. But if no Adam & Eve, then everything else in the Bible is a waste of time. Besides! Why all the dramatics?! Baby Jesus, miracles, sermons, beatitudes, admonitions, prophesies, suffering, death, etc. Just float down from the clouds and forgive Man. Boom! Instead, such ridiculous story-telling and myth. And since I mentioned sweet baby Jesus (ohhh!) -- let's talk about the 10,000 infants brutally murdered by King Herod as a direct consequence of Jesus's birth. I'd like to say you couldn't make this up but ....

[@dorememe8548]

I didn’t realize the ending of Mark was so deep in the iceberg! I thought people would have known this.

[@41-Haiku]

I had a NASB study bible that included all 3 endings. First in normal text, then in brackets, then in brackets and italics, to indicate "yes this exists but it is damn sussy."

[@slawssson9447]

@@41-Haiku the one i had literally had subtext explaining the additional ending

[@Looshington]

About the section with jesus on the cross with the criminals: When i was in confirmation class I asked my pastor how it could be that jesus tells him “You will be with me in paradise tonight” but then goes to hell to defeat satan for 3 days, comes to earth for 40, and THEN finally joins his crucified pal in heaven. I still don’t know the answer.

[@debranelson1987]

There is no answer... this is all fiction.

[@kylestateler]

There are no commas in the original language so logically it should be read like this: Truly I tell you today, you will be with me in paradise. I say logically because you’re right, and the original author would at least be smart enough to keep a consistent narrative through the rest of their gospel account. The comma (for whatever reason) is traditionally placed before the word today.

[@tgstudio85]

@@kylestateler If there are no comas in original language, why did you paste one? How do you know, that there should be coma there? *The comma (for whatever reason) is traditionally placed before the word today.* If there were no comas, how it was traditionally placed before the word today? LOL your comments are one big contradiction;)

[@delgande]

Two answers One It is a "grammatical error" meaning that he will tell him "today" but will be with him another time Two "Paradise" is the "Bosom of Abraham" a particular layer of the underworld that Jesus visited and there he raises him to heaven as some theology says that Jesus raised the Old Testament people who resided in that layer of the underworld that is a sort of paradise outside of heaven

[@monkeymode7529]

God can be in more than one place at once.

[@InfiniteAnvil]

Disclaimer: I am an atheist, so please understand the following as a discussion of the story's logic, not as a defense of its factual accuracy. The bit about crucifixion victims not usually being buried actually makes the story make more sense to me. If the story originally went that Jesus was taken off the cross illegally by his followers, then a number of small weirdnesses about the initial burial make more sense: 1. Putting him in someone else's tomb. 2. Rolling a hugeass stone in front of the entrance to the tomb, even though they knew they were going to come back after the sabbat to properly take care of the body. 3. Immediately assuming it was the Romans who had come and moved the stone, when according to the story as it's been passed down, there's no reason to believe the Romans would have given a shit. And if the "stealing the body off the crucifix" narrative had made the Romans look bad, like if they accomplished it through laziness or bribery or any number of shenanigans appealing to their baser impulses, that would provide sufficient justification to slice that bit out when Christianity started marketing itself to the Empire. Just like the addition of Pontius Pilate being weirdly sympathetic earlier in the story.

[@danielhoisington6973]

What is weird about Pilate being sympathetic? He questioned Jesus himself and was amazed and could find no fault in him. He asked the crowd what they wanted done with Jesus but the crowd just wanted him dead. Mark 15:12-15 [12] And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” [13] And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” [14] And Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” [15] So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. That question that he asks the crowd-“what evil has he done?”-makes it very clear that Pilate does not wish to condemn an innocent man. Thus, it is not weird in the slightest that Pilate would be sympathetic towards Jesus given that he suspected that the religious leaders wanted him dead out of jealousy rather than a clear evil act or deed. Pilate questioned Jesus himself, and asked the crowd why he should be crucified. “Why? What evil has he done?” The crowd provided no reason, but cried all the more for him to be crucified.

[@danielhoisington6973]

And instead of Roman guards, what if it had been guards that were loyal to the chief priests and Pharisees? Do you think they would’ve just rolled over and showed their bellies when the disciples supposedly came to steal Jesus body? I think they would’ve fought tooth and nail to keep them away. They would not be apathetic in the slightest, but they would be highly motivated to keep Jesus’ followers away from the body. But let us suppose that it was a Roman set of guards in charge of the body. The passage in the book of Acts depicts the severity of a Roman guard failing his duties, specifically in this instance of keeping prisoners in their cells. Acts 16:25-28 The Philippian Jailer Converted [25] About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, [26] and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. [27] When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. [28] But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” This jailer was prepared to kill himself rather than suffer the consequences of failing his duties. Do you think the Roman soldiers tasked with guarding the body would’ve been so apathetic as to accept a bribe or ignore Jesus’ followers? I think not.

[@danielhoisington6973]

One more comment if I may: you started with the assumption that Jesus body was obtained illegally, when the gospel according to Mark makes it very clear that Pilate granted the corpse to Joseph of Arimathea only after confirming with the centurion that Jesus was dead. Mark 15:42-47 Jesus Is Buried [42] And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, [43] Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. [44] Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. [45] And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. [46] And Joseph bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. [47] Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid. I hate to be this candid with you, but it is amazing what errors you can avoid by simply reading the text.

[@InfiniteAnvil]

@@danielhoisington6973 "I hate to be this candid with you" my left foot. You're clearly replying just to show off about how well you know scripture, without any concern for the context of what you're replying to. Didn't anyone teach you not to masturbate in public? This comment thread is about some ways the story of the crucifixion might have changed between when it was first told, and when it was written down. Now you're welcome to believe that due to divine intervention, whichever version of the Gospel you prefer was passed down with perfect accuracy over the decades or centuries (depending on the Gospel) between the crucifixion and when it was first written down. But if that's your point of view, the polite way to participate in this discussion if is "I think it happened exactly the way it says in [Gospel here], because [reason here]." It is not "Wow, you CLEARLY haven't read the Bible, because the Bible says something very different from what you're saying!" Like no shit, Sherlock, we're literally talking about the ways the earlier versions of the story might have been different from what the Bible says. Keep up.

[@mrcombustiblelemon2902]

@@danielhoisington6973 I was mostly following your logic, but then that last sentence about avoiding errors had me in stitches. Best joke I heard all week :)

[@komradenikolai]

I am going to be Honest. I am a Messianic Jew, I walked away from God a few years, but I am starting to be drawn back to him again, and I'm happy about it. My take on it goes as such: 1) The Bible is a collections of Stories, History, Prophecies, and Visions from various authors through out the early years of humanity's History. Each of the stories has something we can learn a moral from. Each of the prophecies and visions that, almost at face value, what looks to be a Riddle, but when taken to a deeper place, it holds much more meaning. Some of these prophecies are coming true today, as we speak. There is obviously something more about the book than we could ever realize. I believe the Word of God is literal. The events that happened Happened as so, and no matter how ridiculous it sounds for the stories to be true, that God Almighty caused them to happen as such. 2) The Bible does have contradictions, it has things that don't always seem to make sense. But it is a book written by humans after hearing the words of God. After many years of Translations changing, it can get muddled, word meanings change, and stories adapt. How much has it adapted? I do not have that answer. Have things been Intentionally changed in recent years to fit agendas? Absolutely. An example of this that we see is referring to Leviticus, when God tells how Man Lying with another Man (Homosexuality) is a sin. A lot of Modern day Christians like to fit in with the crowd, and say things like, "Well in the original Hebrew it actually says 'man shall not lie with a littleboy's, so God isn't against homosexuality. As a jew I am familiar with the Hebrew text. This is a lie, the original hebrew clearly condemns Homosexuality. God goes on within a couple of sentences to say that it is a Sin to commit Pedophilia, so the question is, if someone is trying to change the word of the Lord Now, did they do it back then? The answer is yes, they did. This is why there are contradictions all throughout the Bible. 3) Out of any Religion, Christianity is the only one to offer eternal life in paradise, under the condition that you repent of your sins, paid for by a blood sacrifice, which was paid for by God in the flesh (Jesus), whom explicitly says it does not require Good works to earn your way into Heaven, as every other religion teaches. Being a Christian means you help people because it's what God would want you to do, not because it's going to earm brownie points against purgatory. Would you rather be Endebted eternally, never knowing when or if you have done enough good works? Or would you rather have that solice knowing God gave his son in your stead, you just have to accept that gift and help others, just as you would want to be Helped. This right here is what made me turn back to God. God doesn't promise to erase suffering, but he offers comfort for you during the suffering. Life will always Suck, God just wants to help you see things in a way that makes Life Suck Less.

[@marknieuweboer8099]

Good luck. I don't want eternal life, so your story puts me off.

[@bing4131]

This if course leads to the quesion, why did God created a life full of suffering and pain ? Why don't create the paradise for humans in the first place, instead as a reward for a hard life-long task, which humans didn't ask for in the beginning. Just my two cents, about this topic.

[@komradenikolai]

@@bing4131 see that's the beauty of it. God granted us something that no other religion likes to talk about. He granted us Freewill. Yes, life does have Pain and Suffering, but life also has Joy and true Happiness awaiting us. I think that for a God who created everything and everyone, makes the solar system work, and gave us our knowledge of science and mathematics to help understand the universe, he also gave us a choice on how we can use our lives. It's the truly selfless people who honored him who are granted eternal life, because they made their lives about helping other people, not themselves

[@jannafrancis7452]

..according to Genesis, he did. Eden. He did cast out Man from that paradise, though. Because of disobedience. Which is much more interesting.

[@livrowland171]

@@komradenikolai freewill, but we don't get the 'reward' unless we have a belief in the fact that Jesus died for our sins... I would prefer to think of the Jesus who spoke of those who were kind to others as being the ones who would get a reward, which makes more sense. But I also think any set-up where there is eternal happiness for a few and eternal suffering - or in some interpretations - destruction, for the rest, based on one short life, seems unworthy of an all-knowing and loving God, who created us imperfect in the first place and must have know how things would turn out.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

It is weird the Romans in the Bible are vilified for doing exactly what the Christians are supposed to do with their Emperor and his enemies in place of Jesus. Jesus could have just been born as the Emperor's successor and avoided this whole conflict. He chose to appear as Mary's son because... she looked pretty to Jehovah?

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

But it wouldn't fulfill what a lot of Jews at the time believed about the Messiah. Gotta remember he was supposed to be the second coming of King Solomon or David and crush the enemies of Israel forever.

[@twiggledy5547]

The point is that the emperor is a corruption of what lordship looks like in God's eyes. Jesus describes his kingdom as "updside down" an inversion and refutation of the corruption that we see as normal. That is why his kingdom started with the least of the people

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@twiggledy5547 Or that was a motif that characterized Jewish history he was borrowing from: The small and weak Jewish people being kicked around by much larger and more powerful neighbors and fantasizing about beating them up while obsessing over the lack of piety.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

@@Lobsterwithinternet Easy just have the emperor adopt a Jewish kid. All of the New Testament conflicts solved.

[@UniDocs_Mahapushpa_Cyavana]

@@twiggledy5547 That is because he values loyalty and not strength. Strong people can try and take over your new cult.

[@sammyson3492]

Jesus was taken out because of the request from the Jews that the Passover, which is the day after crucifixion needed to be kept holy. So yes, traditionally, they display crucified cropses until decay, but the cases of Jesus was slightly different because Jesus prophecied that He will be taken away as the lamb of God which was the day before the Passover or the start of the holy week.

[@Beegee1952]

That was great, Drew! I have learned more about the Bible in the last few years than I ever did in 60+ years as a believer thanks to people like you!

[@rolfjacobson833]

After the resurrection no one could recognize Jesus suggesting to me that it was a different person claiming to be Jesus. The real Jesus was dead, but a completely different person was walking around being a stand in double to wrap up the Jesus movement. What leader would have a person step in to act the part? Simon? Joseph? Mary Magellan? Everyone just pretended it was Jesus out of fear or to claim the Jesus cult's power vacuum. Who benefited most from the resurrection story?

[@tabsinabox]

Probably Simon? First pope and all

[@Mady0]

What truly and finally drived the nail in the coffin and got me away from anything religious was the almost constant disagreements about the bible between different groups. I wasn't exposed to just one position growing up, my school had a different one than my church, we bounced churches a few times, and I attended a few religious camps that all spouted similar but very different stories. One claimed that very early on in the Bible people lived way long, like at least 3-4x longer and because ??? it was now shorter. Others didn't. There was claims various things were years instead of days and nights. This confused me. It wasn't even supported by the one group saying people had longer lifespans, because they believed that it was no longer that long way before Jesus, yet Jesus may have spent 40 days or 40 years just not eating. 40 years is a long time, 40 days not bad in comparison. What else? Umm some people believed the beginning was literally 7 days, others that it was 7 heaven days, heaven days beings 10s of thousands of human years. If there was so many disagreements within groups that claimed to be the same how could I know which one to trust. I couldn't know, so I didn't trust any of them.

[@douggaudiosi14]

It's almost like nobody has any idea what they are talking about and they are making it up as they go along to fit their agenda. Hmm who would of thought religion used as a device to control people hmm

[@DoctorWhoNow01]

I see what you mean but that's not really a good reason to stray away from it. I'm not religious myself, but obviously things get lost in translation and it's not always clear what is a metaphor and what is literal. If anything, the differences between the Old and New Testament are more likely to disprove Christianity, with God taking a bit of a turn in his morals and ideology, almost as if society progressed with it's morals and this the authors skewed the texts to reflect that

[@Mady0]

@@DoctorWhoNow01 I chose not to trust, not to disbelieve in the possibility of a God. I'm Agnostic. Distrusting and removing oneself from religion as Agnostic can spout from a variety of additional reasoning compared to being an Atheist. I couldn't know what was true, so I stopped pretending I did. It opened me up to thinking about other religions, how did I know they were wrong? I didn't. But I also can't practice them all or believe them all simultaneously. Even had I completely strayed just from that and became an Atheist, you don't get to decide what is a good enough reason for someone else. I had loose ties to begin with and its hard to ignore other reasons when the same group of people can't even agree on the Bible. The fact things can be lost in translation or easily changed just further proves that at the bare minimum whatever version of God I would have been worshiping almost certainly didn't exist. I saw first hand how one person saying something inaccurate about the Bible could lead people to believe it and disregard parts of the Bible for it. The fact it varies so much is a huge thing when they liked to claim their beliefs were the exact same. If you pointed out a difference, you were ignored. I don't just mean slight interpretations, I mean adding or removing parts of the Bible in their own head cannon that is then spread. I acknowledge the Bible and statements made by it don't always make sense or don't work together. It's illogical. I agree with that, but I only found out about a lot of them AFTER I was gone. On the subject of problems between testaments, when I found out some contradictions I looked into the Jewish beliefs, why they don't believe in Jesus, and the like. Honestly it seems as if I still believed and realized the contradictions between testaments, that I would have tried to convert. Someone could just as easily stop believing. I could claim they don't have a good reason to stray completely if that's the reason. I could just as easily say they should be Jewish just as you told me my reasons were sorta invalid. I could also claim the differences are from translation errors, an error back when they were copied by hand, or you simply misunderstanding what is literal or a metaphor. That doesn't make it more or less valid for that to be someone's reason or part of it.

[@JudahDavis]

The good of the Bible is probably the closest thing we have to a full understanding of god even as it is incomplete. The fact that it has any cohesive narrative over it centuries long journey is a testament to it's greatness. Every piece of art has multiple interpretations, we all are trying to get to the truth of it. You have abandoned it.

[@Mady0]

@@JudahDavis I could claim the same thing about the Odyssey or other old books. You wouldn't claim that the cyclops Polyphemus is real just because a book is still around.

[@cuckoophendula8211]

Thanks Drew for more videos like these! I say this as a weird one who went from agnostic to a strange combination of apatheism and Christian Modernism, and am currently wondering how "Christian" I am given that I don't really depend on the belief of Jesus's resurrection.

[@JtheCritic]

You could make it like Confucianism. Have Christ be a secular teacher instead of a divine entity. I've heard of the Jefferson Bible where Thomas Jefferson attempted the same thing.

[@watchmenoftruth5238]

Just cause the bible is false it dose not mean there is not a creator My friend you would not exist unless you was created creation can not create itself thats impossible Blessings dear friend

[@JtheCritic]

@@watchmenoftruth5238 all animals can create more animals fairly easily. I started as a single cell in my mother, so I don't find it hard to believe that all life started as a small single cell that itself grew larger.

[@cuckoophendula8211]

@@JtheCritic Nice, I heard about that, and I really should find my own copy just for the sake of my curiosity of what may be considered words of wisdom to the secular minded in the 18th century. The inner religious studies nerd in me would also appreciate seeing what the differences are to a traditional bible (before looking, my current educated guess is that the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and maybe Psalms may be the least effected given their independence from a narrative structure). Beyond that, I'll admit that my inner atheist is actually okay with looking at a regular bible too as my attitude as a Christian Modernist likes to distill the lessons of the stories without depending on their literal interpretations (i.e. parallel to not needing to believe that a tortoise and hare literally had a race in order to believe in the lesson "slow and steady wins the race"). I'll admit that I also have fun trying my best to explain religious concepts in secular terms. For example, the basis of my apatheism comes from seeing the God of the Old Testament as a representation of truth itself (can be arbitrary and overwhelming). While the Old Testament God can seem like a jerk, truth in an atheistic sense can be a real jerk as well. The common denominator is that they both compel humility when we get past the grieving process on what we want the "truth" to be. And before I drone on more in a tangent, I guess I may elaborate more on some of these themes as I respond to the other comment here if you're curious, haha

[@cuckoophendula8211]

@@watchmenoftruth5238 Thanks a lot for sharing, and I'll have to admit that there is this feeling of gratitude I have when I just sit back and ponder how we're here at all. I'll begin by saying that if there really is a creator, then awesome. But to me, the cool part is that even if the anthropic principle is true and we really were "created" by a bunch of soulless atoms bumping into each other via a repeated process of survivorship bias after billions of years of supernovae and Darwinian adaptations, there is still this overwhelming feeling of awe and gratitude. Whether it was a conscious being that willed us into existence or the cold, scientific universe that led us to our existence, we are still thankful and humbled by truth itself. This is kind of where my explanation here kind of leads to how I look at the God of the Old Testament as a representation of truth itself (which I went into a little in my response to the other comment here). And as someone who doesn't depend on the bible's literal interpretations, seeing God in such a way where we'd also humble ourselves to truths that we don't personally like, there are interestingly a lot of notions that stay consistent whether we're a theist or atheist. It's kind of a fun thought experiment to change the question from "Is God true?" (God being subset of truth) to "Is truth God?" (God being representation of truth itself). To those passing by, I also realize that this notion coincides best with Old Jewish theology when there was more of a theme of "Truth vs. Pride" rather than "Good vs. Evil" post second temple period.

[@albionicamerican8806]

Also the gospel stories *_make no sense_* for another reason: The Romans faced no urgency to finish Jesus' crucifixion by the arbitrary deadline of dusk on a Friday. One, Jewish superstitions about the sabbath didn't bind the Romans, and they ran the country. And two, even if the Romans had to go along with these beliefs for political reasons (to keep Jewish mobs from rioting, say), they could have simply held Jesus over the sabbath, then nailed him up bright and early Sunday morning, when they had a block of non-superstitious days ahead of them to do it properly, namely, until Jesus' decomposing body started to attract crows or something.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Which brings up the question why are they crucifying Jesus in the first place since the only real crime he committed was blasphemy and so the Pharisees could just take him out and stone him that night. There’s no real reason why Pontius Pilate would do a favor for the Pharisees to crucify him with how much they didn't like each other in the first place.

[@DarthObscurity]

The Romans were first and foremost; record keepers. If Pontius sneezed during his speech, it was written. Strange then, that when Jesus rose from the dead with the other zombies, that the Roman accounts are lacking any sort of 'rose from the dead' description EVER in their 1000 year history.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@DarthObscurity Or that any contemporary Jewish writers like Justus of Tiberias.

[@eugeneoisten9409]

Yeah that's why the whole..."Jesus was an insurrectionist, so the Roman's had to crucify him" Is absolute bullocks and shows a complete lack of understanding of the Roman's.

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

@@eugeneoisten9409 Doesn't mean that couldn't have happened, since we don't have much evidence as is. Just gives more credence that the Jesus of the Bible, even divested of his miraculous claims, does not reflect a historical Jesus.

[@Kloppin4H0rses]

I fave Christianity a legitimate chance after being a defacto Atheist for most my life. I read a ton of books (including the Bible), listened to Bart Ehrman, watched I spiring Philosophy, went to Church, watched you, etc. I walked away a solid Atheist but now religiously (eyy) consume content on Christianity because it is SO fascinating.

[@YeahBoiii-wc5ek]

The eyyy threw me off lol

[@kirkmarshall2853]

I got into studying the New Testament mostly cuz I was into the Richard Carrier ideas about mythicism but now I kind of feel that is a moot point. I like more the “minimal historicist” ideas of M David Litwa and Dennis R Macdonald. I have become absolutely fascinated with Gnostic Christianity and the earliest days of Christianity. I am still convinced that religion is not literally true but I am opening up to ideas about metaphorical thinking through the lens of mythology. Chiefly I like the ideas of Poetic Naturalism but I still like to put on the hats of different philosophies to play in the sandbox as it were.

[@gnatscrafts]

21:23 im no longer a christian, but i was always taught about the whole “numbers are metaphors” thing. so the idea of 40 days just means “a really long time.” so i was told that the jesus proving his resurrection to the disciples for 40 days was just extreme hyperbole lol

[@marcospatricio8283]

That do make sense. I don't remember the details, but "40 years" was used interchangeably with "a generation", for example. "40" meaning "a long ass time" does fit thematically.

[@peterbonucci9661]

I was taught the 40 meant "until it was completely done." Four is the number of wholeness and ten is the number of completetion.

[@AishiCheemo]

@@peterbonucci9661 that makes sense

[@ThatKid22101]

@@peterbonucci9661 what a silly way to tell a story as a historical event. "Oh, the rain was done when it was done, it coulda been a day or it coulda been generations, who knows, my family has passed this story down by word of mouth for generations."

[@peterbonucci9661]

@@ThatKid22101 It's not a historical event. When you treat it as a metaphor, a metaphorical time makes the most sense. Jesus was in the desert until the temptations were done. Moses wandered until the people were ready. It rained until God's anger was spent.

[@kenwiebe2473]

So I just asked my mother who is a JW, and she says she believed he would have had a different body and that's why the 40 days making them believe him would make sense, man I'd love for you to debate my mother

[@SnappyWasHere]

Why would he have a different body and he could I assume have any body he wanted why not make it the same as the old one? When I asked these questions growing up I was just told to quit doubting and have “faith”. Ugh

[@kenwiebe2473]

@@SnappyWasHere and that also would be my thinking, God surely would have a logical way of thinking and as all powerful wouldn't need to use a new body, yet they believe as such and it must be because of the logical falisies that spring up if you think it would have been the same body

[@juanausensi499]

He had another brand new body, but still had the marks of the crucifixion?

[@FrikInCasualMode]

Anyone noticed that Christianity as described by the Doc sounds suspiciously like a racket? "Obey and give us monies, or terrible things will happen to you and your family."

[@raf74hawk12]

I've really been enjoying the videos where you've gotten acedemics on. Great stuff!

[@Imagicka]

Jesus had to take 40 days to convince his disciples that he rose from the dead because Jesus had performed his greatest miracle, he turned himself in to a blue eyed blonde haired caucasian when he resurrected himself.

[@Dolirn]

Dr Erhman has cited several times the rather fantastical "40 days of proofs" verse, but the Book of Acts doesn't say that. It says that Jesus presented proofs, THEN it says he spent 40 days with them.

[@amyneu8078]

Absolutely incredible content. The depth you go into is really helpful. When I was Christian, I did Bible studies that felt like they were this through. This stuff is fascinating.

[@skyline_decay]

I'd just like to share that when I asked my partner your question of what did the resurrected holy people do for 3 days (I'm paraphrasing), his answer was "zombie orgy"

[@beetletuba1351]

Great video drew. Raised Christian and now atheist. You’ve been great at helping me deconstruct my previous beliefs. Thank you :)

[@rduse4125]

Why did you go from Christian to atheist? There are “miles” of possibilities in between…

[@beetletuba1351]

@@rduse4125 Thanks for asking :) After diving more into religions and beliefs I felt atheism was right for me. I’m still learning so who knows, it could change again :)

[@rduse4125]

@@beetletuba1351 - There is a big difference between religion and godliness. - Keep looking.

[@tgstudio85]

@@rduse4125 *There is a big difference between religion and godliness. - Keep looking.* What is that difference?

[@rduse4125]

@@tgstudio85 - Religion is more organizational, it provides “checkboxes” for how you’re suppose to do things. Godliness is a change of heart, it isn’t a series of steps to do the right thing, it’s just doing the right thing. Some people would equate this to being born again, or enlightened, or awakened. It is the transformation of a person from a natural being to a spiritual being. It’s hard to explain, but when it happens to you, you know it.

[@Nobody-zl3kk]

The healthiest way to consume christianity or any form of religion for that matter, the same way we today consume Greek and/or Roman Pantheons, as written and spoken myth that belongs, has been shapen by and has shaped a culture... no strict adherence to it, no fanatism, just a thinking human being consuming a piece of fiction and getting something out of it.

[@nonyabisness6306]

It strikes me how much these different stories and interpretations could very well be based on one crazy person railing against the romans with some religious undertones and everything that follows is just a long long game of telephone. Here's my interpretation: Some dude had some followers and was against roman rule, may have claimed some religious stuff as well. He get's executed and his corpse dissapears. Some followers attributed the missing corpse to resurection. The rest is just misinterpretation by believers and non-believers decades if not hundred of years later. These people didn't have photographs or instant-messaging. Everything is down to paper or word-of-mouth. We can see even today with our modern information services how 2 people interpret the same event wildly differently. People really need to learn what is and isn't solid evidence and allways keep in mind to consider alternative interpretations.

[@rafalpalma]

Yeah that's why all of the Apostles lived live of persecution and death... Because they invented a story. Even Paul who was persecuting them joined them. Why did he though?

[@nonyabisness6306]

@@rafalpalma Do you think people can't be persecuted and killed for believing things that are untrue? That's funny because there are a multitude of historical examples of both sides of an issue being persecuted and killed. As to your second point it almost refutes itself. Clearly people can believe false things. For example Theists and Atheists. Doesn't matter who's right, both have joined the other side so to speak on many ocasions, even with dire consequences.

[@rafalpalma]

@@nonyabisness6306 Yeah, but no one will put down his head under the axe for a story that he invented. I surely won't... I don't believe you would. It's so unbelievable that someone has risen from the dead I can't imagine how missing corpse will be enough proof to anyone. But eye witnesses of Jesus teaching actually throw their lives for resurrection that they believed to be true. I don't know what can make people believe in resurrection so strongly than actual resurrection

[@LouieLouie505]

@@rafalpalma Being sincere and having true faith does not make something true. As already pointed out by the OP here, people can believe in untrue things and be willing to die because they think those things are true. Faith requires no facts or evidence whatsoever.

[@davidm5707]

@@rafalpalma They're all stories, even the stories of the eyewitnesses. They're not real eyewitnesses unless they can be cross-examined, no pun intended, and they can't, because they're dead.

[@james_fisch]

I grew up Protestant and in my older years had a fascination with the historical context of the Bible, to a point of considering theological studies. It also led to my agnosticism in my early teens, as there were questions I asked the elders and teachers at my small church that I saw as contradictions I wanted to learn their interpretations on. These were civil discussions that weren't ludicrous, though often times the answers weren't that satisfying to my curiosity. I became an atheist in 2014, though my fascination hasn't stopped and I do enjoy reading or listening on these kinds of studies. This is a phenomenal video that explored tons of angles I had never heard of, and it's one I will likely share to deep thinkers regardless of belief.

[@svensvenforkedbeard170]

An excellent mindset, out of interest what contradictions in particular fascinate you? tudying contradictions is perhaps one of the richest tools we have for studying history

[@taylorbarnett1199]

You know what I wish someone would make a video about? The cyclical logic of Jesus / god / the trinity / sins.. it makes no sense. So he died for our sins? What does that even mean? Why? Why was that necessary? Why his son, or himself disguised as his son??

[@Loumo]

You’ve got humans after the Fall who are separated from God, God wants to reconnect, but because he’s so Good and humans aren’t there needs to be a ‘buffer’ between the two. That buffer is Jesus. The reason death was involved at all is because “the wages of sin is death”. Humans sin, the punishment is (eternal?) death (because God is life so opposing him = death...something like that). To take that punishment away someone would have to die in our place who doesn’t have their own debt to pay - a sinless human. No one else is sinless but God. So he dies as a human, and resurrects because God, and everyone who accepts this offer (ie this ’covering’ of sin with Jesus’ blood), gets to have God look at this covering as a buffer between him and our impurity. So we get to reconnect with him. This is why you get animal sacrifices in the old testament - to act as ‘temporary coverings’ until the eventual death of Jesus. Now could the same God who created entire galaxies have come up with something a bit more elegant....well, from what I understand the answer is he went along with what was familiar for that era. Animal sacrifices were a common thing for worshippers of other gods. Either that, or that was the inspiration for whoever actually came up with all this. Idk at this point.

[@taylorbarnett1199]

@@Loumo but why does he have to die “for our sins” it does make sense. Can’t he just live and forgive our sins? Also he didn’t reach that many people in his life, doesn’t seem very effective of a strategy. It kinda just seems like people made up a story to make it fit

[@Loumo]

​@@taylorbarnett1199 I guess it’s to show how serious sin is to God. There’s a terrible price to be paid because God is that holy. If God really is the manifestation of Good itself He’d have to be this serious about sin, as a fair judge. So the punishment happens to be death. But then we’re also told he’s merciful. You can’t show mercy and judgement at the same time, unless someone who has no judgement on himself offers to take the punishment on behalf of the perpetrator. That’s why Jesus had to “die for our sins”. You can’t really say he didn’t reach that many people since pretty much everyone knows his name now. Made up story or not, it’s a pretty powerful one that touches on a lot of values we respect as humans - sacrifice, love, judgement etc. I think that’s a big part of the appeal and spread. Btw I’m what you might call a christian skeptic, just trying to give the best representation of what christians believe. This is what I’ve been taught all my life.

[@jianchaowang1455]

@@taylorbarnett1199 "the wages of sin is death", in order to take away human sin and adopt them as children of light, God has to pay the equivalent wage through a perfect human sacrifice once for all. This perfect human being Jesus Christ who is born through immaculate conception. He has to die in order to pay the wages and bring heaven on earth.

[@joshuaa7266]

@@jianchaowang1455 God is all-powerful right? That means he could change the whole sin thing instantly, without any unwanted side effects. If he is all-powerful, by definition he can get rid of sin, but won't.

[@fjbz3737]

What if religion was just a really dedicated April fools prank…?

[@HistoryandReviews]

Religion started as entertainment

[@jimmorrison2657]

@@HistoryandReviews I don’t think so. I think it started from ignorance. And that is how the bull shit continues👍

[@crazypath573]

@@jimmorrison2657 lame skeptic view... your opinion is boring. So believing in nothing is better? Change your user name, you have no imagination, spirit, or worth to hijack a visionary poet's name. lol.

[@rayw3332]

Religion was started by accident from dreams of the deceased, and Man's strong sense of "theory of mind," that there are spirits in storm clouds, thunder, mountains, etc., and each other! Then it was purposely applied politically to gather others to fight and fend together, for power and control. Religion-politics is inseparable, like space-time. Next question?

[@kodiak_9169]

@@crazypath573 that’s the problem with his worldview, he calls religious people ignorant but can’t explain how and why the earth came to be from nothing, how is humans “evolved” to a point of where we’re at now with no destination or purpose just an endless dark mysterious void that he has no knowledge of. Calls out ignorance on Christians but we have an explanation he doesn’t, we know why we’re here he doesn’t.

[@daguard411]

If one reads the Babylonian Talmud, you will find that Mariam (Mary) is depicted more as Mary Magdalene, not as a virgin. To read a bit further you will find that in the New Testament the Apostles are told to spread the word of Jesus, but not in Asia. I always wondered why this was, until I found that the Romans had basically copied the story of one of the Incarnations of Vishnu, even to the Slaughter Of The Innocents. There is actually archaeological evidence, from credible sources, that this entered the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita at least 500 years before the Romans copied it.

[@daguard411]

@@jenniferbrower I wrote such because Mary is the Anglicised version of Miriam. I have no doubt that what you write is true, I just wanted to bring my information to the conversation.

[@dameongeppetto]

The entire Bible is plagiarism. The flood story is copy/pasted from Sumerian religious texts, for example.

[@k.umquat8604]

@@jenniferbrower not according to Islam for some reason

[@TheRaker1000]

This makes me think of the people writing the gospels in the same light as all the comic book artists giving their takes on Superman in various releases over the years.

[@thehipsterhamster1929]

Well Greek mythology is very weird in its own right. It's like the weirdest power fantasy with wacky subplots that has nothing to do with the main plot but exist anyways. Also remember that most stories came from rumors from the people of their times which makes them even more fascinating

[@celesteerendrea4762]

This video has cemented my feeling that the Bible in all its variations is fanfiction taken all too literally.

[@EpicGamerWinXD69]

Oh my lack of God, its an iceberg video! I love these!

[@pbezunartea]

it's... 😉

[@Lobsterwithinternet]

Oh Great Blibdoolpoolp!!! Love me some iceberg videos!

[@isdrakon9802]

If I can remember it I'm taking your phrase

[@FlowersforCapitu]

I laughed at the "oh my lack of god" lmao. That was clever!

[@tickaten]

the last iceberg i needed, now i have all of them

[@franman6831]

Define all kind sir/madam

[@lexx.wangmusic]

Now you can emerge as the avatar we all needed

[@hive_indicator318]

Now you can make a wish to bring Goku back!

[@DVous]

I love how you hear about what angels actually looked like and how they pretty much always say “do not be afraid” - makes a lot of sense lol

[@DriverGuy23]

I don’t need a debate to tell me wether the resurrection happened or not. If you believe in the Bible, then it did, if not, then it didn’t. I choose to not believe unproven man-made books with in evidence.

[@krishpatel3156]

But this video is for the willfully ignorant who do believe in the Bible in the literal sense. If they do believe in it, they should know the realities of it. Of course they would never click on a video like this though 😂

[@harveywabbit9541]

The Sun is resurrected from the dead (winter) every spring. We call it the Pass Over from Egypt (WINTER - darkness greater than light) to the Promised Land (SUMMER - light greater than darkness).

[@joed1950]

"Always look on the bright side of life"

[@edwardmiessner6502]

There is one detail about Roman crucifixion that you missed. I'm not faulting you for it because it's easy to miss. The detail is that the standard Roman execution cross had an item called the _sedile_ that made the cross five-pointed. It supported the individual at crotch level by either projecting between the legs or by penetration of the back passage which I believe was the standard. This can be verified by looking into modern scholarship on the subject. The modern sources I used were: Martin Hengel, _Crucifixion_ David W Chapman, _Ancient Jewish and Christian Perceptions of Crucifixion_ Gunnar Samuelsson, _Crucifixion in Antiquity_ John Granger Cook, _Crucifixion in the Mediterranean World_ Nineteenth Century source: J. Pearson, _An Exposition of the Creed_ 1832 ed., p. 310 Notable ancient sources: Seneca Minor, _Dialogue_ 6.20.3, _Epistulae Morales_ 101.10-14 Justin Martyr, _Dialogue with Trypho_ 40.3 & 91.1-2 Irenaeus, _Adversus Haereses_ 2.24.4 "The cross has five ends and high points" Not four like today. Tertullian, _Ad Nationes_ 1.12.3-4, _Adversus Iudaeos_ 10.7, _Adversus Marcionem_ 3.18.4 Some direct evidence: Pozxuoli Graffito Vivat Crux Graffito Bloodstone Gem at the British Museum

[@manuelcampagna7781]

Hi, Drew! In the Roman Empire Roman citizens, whatever they did, were never crucified nor whipped, etc; instead, they were decapitated. This was obvious in the case of Paul, who _was_ a Roman citizen.

[@JasonPSchafer]

Little awkward when a Skeptics Channel is helping you in your studies as a Christian. But I jokingly say awkward as someone who deconstructed and reconstructed as a Christian in college because I am a natural skeptic, it took me 27 years to totally surrender to God, because of rarionality and logic, theodicy, and many of the topics you talk about on this channel, all cropping up constantly, bothering me. Even after totally trusting God, i havent surrendered my rationality because God wants us to be intelligent beings and use our minds. Thank you for this scholarly content! I really appreciate it as a person working on becoming a lay minister.

[@lisagiesbrecht7088]

Im a few years late but ive been spending the last few months watching your videos and listening to Dr. Ehrmans audiobooks and podcasts so its SO COOL to see him in your video!!

[@thomasseichter5670]

As I had no Christian upbringing these stories never meant more to me than fairy tales. I was never taught that this has truely happened. As I learned about the origin story of the bible I was sure this is just fan fiction and it took me a while to realize these mean more to some people than just being stories where they can base their moral behaviour on, but they actually think of it as truth. To be honest although I'm aware of the fact that most historians agree that Jesus actually was a real historical person I'm not sure of this as I can't completely follow the reasoning based on the verified historical evidence why they think so. But even without this it is really interesting to see that deep dive into the lore of Christianity. Great video!

[@thomasseichter5670]

The argument with Bethlehem Nazareth is actually the most plausible argumentation in favour of Jesus being historical so far. I don't doubt that there has been a Jesus wandering around that time rather it has been the Jesus described in the bible. I would say if there really has been this guy described in the bible and has done the miracles described in the bible there have to be at least any extra biblical sources on these events. The historical sources on the existenten of Jesus are generally very vague, besides josephus wich has been proven to be altered by Christians afterwards. So the Argumentation to come to the best guess goes like this: to describe a fact as historic accurate we need multiple sources. We have the bible which can be doubted as reliable source for historical accuracy. We have some vague exztrabiblical sources, that are too weak. So we look at other claims of the bible, like the census that can be verified through other sources. But to be honest that argumentation is not sound to me. To write real events to a fictional story after the have happened is not that hard of a job and does not proof anything to me. To say it was needed to do some trickery in the origin of Jesus to fit a prophecy instead of completely making him up is actually a much more plausible hint.

[@thomasseichter5670]

@Bradley Wolfenbarger this are great arguments you are bringing up there. I never thought of these and honestly don't get why they are not part of the official scientific discussion. Probanöy because its based on reasoning and not on sources. But it is plausible. Adding stuff to his story like miracles or things he was supposed to have said is much easier than change parts of his life where at least back then it would have been easy to be proven wrong. To be honest in the favour of Christianity I was hoping Jesus was not a historical person, but just a symbol, a metaphoric entity. But if there really was that guy wandering around, telling he was the son of god i am all on the side of hitchens on this Clip you shared. Thos guy was a maniac with a god complex and we all know it is not a good idea to follow someone with a mental disorder like that.

[@barkasz6066]

Richard Carrier says there is a 1 in 3 chance that any sort of Jesus existed. He has wonderful talks demonstrating how Christianity evolved from Roman mystery cults, Jewish apocalypsism and Platonic philosophy.

[@calebbonny8848]

@Bradley Wolfenbarger except for the fact that the record of Jesus doing the miraculous is still being recorded to this day. It never stopped. It’s easy to call it fan fiction, until you pray for a blind person in the name of Jesus and watch the person see for the first time.

[@Quotenwagnerianer]

It's quite fascinating. From todays perspective this is exactly how we see Egyptian, Greek or Roman God's. We assume that people knew they were made up and just good fairy tales that deserve to be told again and again. But one has to realize that they were real to the people back then, just as real as the one God is to the Theists now.

[@magpiecity]

Another classic is the Coptic gospel in which Jesus is a shape shifter, changing his appearance quite literally, probably a misunderstanding of the figurative shape shifting of the Gnostic texts.

[@bernardopratta3076]

So many things that were said in this video that are simply not true, for example, the Quran does say that Jesus was crucified

[@TheAvalonians]

It’s funny how often Evangelical parishioners discuss the opportunity to reach out to people who have “never heard the word of God”. They seem to actually believe 20-40% of the American population has never been exposed to Christian teaching - or at least their version of it. Then they go pay for sappy highway billboards and think they’re converting people while they commute to work.

[@Dr_Armstrong]

I got a kick out of your opener. I lived in NC for a while, and I constantly saw the billboards and had people knocking on my door because of the prevalent belief that so few have heard the Gospel. I also love that Ehrman is always so frank.

[@SmoreMytho]

Oh It's a Jesus Christberg

[@mayorofbasedville7680]

Great video. I find Dr Erhman to be a fascinating character. He’s a well respected scholar within the community of NT scholars, there’s no doubt about that. But paradoxically, he holds many views that even the majority other secular NT scholars disagree with. His own doctoral advisor (who was a renowned secular NT scholar), disagreed with many of his interpretations. So while I don’t think it would be accurate to call him “fringe”, many of his scholarly opinions do make him an outlier.

[@dentoncrimescene]

I'm confused. How do they hold in their head that the Bible's true and they are such wildly different stories of the same event.

[@a77ackeranimations20]

It's like greek mythology. So many different versions; it just depends on who you ask

[@ModFactory]

A lot of it has to do with basic historical/anthropological method (this is mostly for Cathliocs/Orthodox) many of these conflicting interpretations are written by gnostics in the 3rd-4th century pretending as if they're from the apostolic age. It's relatively easy to follow the apostolic continuity though.

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

Different authors believer or not the Bible is just that a Collection of Books with vastly different opinions and views, also a witness can have different opinions and that just passing down the story enevitably distorts it.

[@forickgrimaldus8301]

@@ModFactory if you ment the New testament than the Gospels are written after it happened, if you mean the whole Bible than its so old its likely putting specific dates is problematic but it is known Old Testament books came way earlier than the New one.

[@ModFactory]

@@forickgrimaldus8301 We can find the same constants pre-gnostic in the Hebrew texts as well. Such as the books of Enoch, which are written centuries after the events they proclaims to detail. Detailing dates post 8th century B.C. is not too difficult with modern forensic and anthropological analysis.

[@JackgarPrime]

The ditched car near that billboard really makes that a perfect shot.

[@kennethrapp1379]

Voice in Heaven: "Cross... did you preach to the dead?" Cross: "My brother in Christ, I am two planks of wood attached at right angles."

[@Scrubermensch]

My favorite apocrypha crucifixion detail comes from the Gospel of Judas, where he talks with Jesus after the crucifixion where Jesus states the tortures that happen to "The one who beared me" suggesting Jesus was a spirit controlling a living body of some ordinary Jew. Much akin to demonic possession and just left (possibly to posses another body) before the torture began.

[@merbst]

as a math nerd + pedant, I must offer a correction to Dr Ehrman's included lecture at the end of part 1. A least probable thing can be the most probable if the set of things has only 1 element.

[@Mattz554]

Make this a Sermon. I'd go to church again if you were a preacher. This is honestly so interesting and amazingly watchable for both christians and non-christians! AWESOME DREW!

[@nenmaster5218]

Any Viced Rhino or Prothet-of-Zod Fans here?

[@kennethcook8857]

Totally fascinating. Thank you. As a "mythicist", one who believes no Jesus (even historical) ever existed, it's all irrelevant to me, technically, but that doesn't mean I don't have tremendous interest in this and other biblical topics.

[@jbaccanalia]

Geez Drew, I finally found someone I could trust to give me the goods without bias. If I wasn't already a devout atheist, you might convince me to go to church. You are providing a great service to humanity!

[@ketchmain]

This is such a thorough review of very interesting topics surrounding the story most central to Christianity. Once again, Great Job and Thank You!

[@melissarose7488]

I got a Steven crowder ad on this video😭😭I always get conservative or Christian ads on Genetically Modified Sketpic vids it’s kinda funny

[@plushman3685]

people didn’t recognize Jesus after the resurrection because he was in his glorified body

[@alg11297]

How about a logical question: If Jesus was dead and buried in a tomb with a huge rock in front of it, why did anyone come on Sunday to see the body? Were they going to annoint a body after it's been in the grave for days? This is like attending a burial and then coming back days later to have the body dug up. In addition, if they were annointing this dead body, why were women doing it?

[@twiggledy5547]

You don't know about Jewish funeral rights. They are different in those days you know

[@alg11297]

@@twiggledy5547 do tell us how you know thar

[@skrullmylove8345]

@@alg11297 because it was a different era of judaism, the hellenistic period. it's the same reason why the last supper is actually a passover seder but we modern jews dont celebrate it the same way that jesus did in the bible. Judaism, like every ethno-religion isnt stagnant.

[@alg11297]

@@skrullmylove8345 So even though it says in the Torah to eat Mazto for 7 days, and tell the story of the Exodus, Jesus figured he didn't have to do that? And you know this how?

[@skrullmylove8345]

@@alg11297 ….because we have a long and well documented history of different interpretations of the text? Because every Passover website you come across states the same thing about the history of the holiday? Because different midrash have different theological perspectives of exodus that wax and wane in popularity? Why are you so against the idea of a living religion?

[@willycormack3840]

Is 'The Life of Brian' a more realistic telling of these events.

[@j.christie2594]

Love that, flick, Great movie!!!

[@anarchodolly]

I've never understood why Jesus would be crucified anyway. If he was a blasphemer under Jewish law, then weren't the Jews scripturally obligated to stone him to death themselves? Could be wrong about that: it's a long time since I've read any of the Old Testament, but I vaguely recall something along those lines in Deuteronomy. I'm pretty sure that in the 1st century, "Roman Law" only actually applied to Roman citizens, or in cases of non-citizens vs Roman citizens. Living under Roman occupation didn't make you a Roman citizen - that was a privilege that had to be earned either by army service or by being part of some identifiable group who were sometimes granted citizenship en masse as a reward for their loyalty. The empire (at least before the early 3rd century) was a patch-work of local legal and political traditions rather than an homogenous state with only one system of law. The Jewish authorities should have had all the power they needed to deal with a Jewish non-citizen according to their own laws. So why would any of this crucifixion narrative even happen? Considered from the perspective of the Jewish religious leaders, the whole narrative is a string of improbabilities that make no sense. You'd think they would just keep him locked up for a few days and then start the trial themselves after the Passover. Instead they spend their own holy festival agitating for the Romans to try and execute a Jew? It's neither plausible or even expedient. The whole thing reeks of propaganda aimed at discrediting the temple authorities in my opinion.

[@venerexate1841]

It was in part due to your logical videos that I learned to question everything, which led me to becoming atheist. Thank you.

[@rduse4125]

Why are you thankful to be an atheist?

[@geoffmower8729]

@@rduse4125 Because to be a theist is to live in fear of an invisible psychopath watching everything you do and knowing everything you think threatening you with eternal hell for just trying to live your life and fit into todays society. Being an atheist is to be free. Free of fear of a psychopathic sociopath of a god that demands you love him and worship him even when there is no proof he even exists. Free to think for yourself and make your own decisions. To do the job you want to do. To be the person you decide to be and not what other people want you to be. To be an atheist is freedom from religion!

[@rduse4125]

@@geoffmower8729 - I believe 100% in the “higher power”, and there is no psychopath watching over me. I have total freedom… especially freedom from this world and it’s madness. Is it possible that you hate religion, and not necessarily God?

[@venerexate1841]

@@rduse4125 I only realized after I stopped being theist that when I was, I was overwhelmed with this needless cycle of praying, having them not be answered, and continuing the cycle in a halfway-hopeful belief that they would be answered. I didn’t know it, but I was hurt internally by the idea that my entire purpose of life was nothing but to worship my supposed creator, I thought becoming atheist would be terrible because I would no longer have a life purpose, but when the evidence showed against the biblical god and I was forced to become atheist, I was relieved of the prayer cycle, and I could make my own purpose.

[@rduse4125]

@@venerexate1841 No one can bear the endless cycle of this world. One path out of this illusion is up, and one path is down. The downward path is marked by substance abuse and excess, while the upward path is enlightenment. Keep an open mind… I’ve been where you seem to be.

[@3ggshe11s]

Seeing presentations like this reminds me that atheists and fundamentalists are mirror images of each other, either embracing or rejecting a literalist interpretation of the Bible while failing to look at deeper metaphorical and mythological meanings.

[@gurt_right1148]

Honestly. I grew up in a fundamentalist church, but spent my early adulthood trying to pick apart the Bible from a historical/literalist standpoint. I think many people who have abandoned their childhood faith probably have had a similar experience (especially from reading the other comments on this channel). But after spending a lot of time studying the history of how the Bible came to be, the evolution of Judaism, and the formation and spread of early Christianity, I decided that this kind of literalist deconstruction was the most surface level analysis I could have done. Whether or not the Jesus depicted in the Bible was the historical Jesus is less important to me than what early Christians believed and why. I don't doubt that there was a religious leader named Jesus whose ideas were influential enough to have stories about him spread via word of mouth. Eventually these stories were penned down, and the lasting influence of this can't be overstated. For some reason, these early Christians found these stories important. So instead of focusing on honestly trivial things like how many women may have been at the tomb, one could better spend their time trying to understand the overall themes that each book is trying to convey, as well as how and why they were written (historical context is very important). This goes for the Tanakh too since, although some figures may have been historical, it was written by many authors over centuries with the intent of making philosophical points on the nature of God, humanity, and the relationship between the two. I think this gets overlooked by many atheists and fundamentalists in favor of trying to prove whether events in the Bible literally happened or not.

[@exudeku]

I love a literal atheist (GMS) and a Sunday School teacher (Wendigoon) made me learn more about God and Jesus than my church and Catholic HS school

[@Gamertrip4life]

Really disappointed that you didn't utilize April 1st to play the obvious and iconic "Guys I believe in Jesus again" prank. Great video tho, I finally have enough context to truly appreciate these videos since I've started my upper level western religions course.

[@isdrakon9802]

Don't give people ideas

[@dogwalk3]

it's refreshing to actually have proper content today in a sea of tired silliness imo.

[@maythesciencebewithyou]

You know Christians would have believed that and kept using it to show that he converted back to Christianity, and used it as proof in their videos forever.

[@babsbylow6869]

I can't quite recount the number of times I've smacked down an evangelizer by asking them "Do you think I haven't already heard this story?" Or "You insult my intelligence by continually telling me that which I already know. Do you think I can't understand?'

[@LouieLouie505]

I just firmly say “Matthew 10:14” and ignore them.

[@iatebambismom]

You know, I'm beginning to think that this Bible thing might not be entirely truthful...

[@josephphillips2266]

I’m late this party but the idea of “Truth is the prize” to be the best line. But wether you are a believer or not it’s incredible to think that the disciples based off what they had experienced took it upon themselves to travel from Judea to lands unfamiliar to them as far as Goa India to spread the word peacefully and in many cases died horrible deaths for what they taught. The first church has a incredible history that is not taught enough.

[@Kaspar502]

I am not going to lie, anyone who follows an honest intellectual endeavor has to at least acknowledge the literary and theological depth of the gospel. Even if it were fabricated or embellished, it's a great view into ancient times.

[@jeremybumpermanpub7144]

Can someone please recommend sources for serious biblical scholarship like this one? Anyone know of secularist perspectives or atheistic takes on religiosity and theological academic study?

[@MrSaturn113]

You forgot the most important iceberg component. Every person's copy of the gospels is personalized.