DDOJ-6 Christian Superstition Becomes Reality TheFaithCheck 2011-09-10 | This is a true story that showed up in my facebook news feed a few months ago. I am doing this from memory so the wording is not 100% accurate - but it's really close.--------------------------------------------Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments.Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day.Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Welcome to the 6th installment of DDOJ - Meaning Daily Doses of Jesus - the series where I solicit the best responses for Obnoxious or just plain crazy religious posts that I see on facebook in an effort to plant seeds of doubt that help cure our Christian friends and relatives of their faith.This DDOJ shows just how superstitious and socially irresponsible Christianity can make you.Let's get to it."The DEVIL is at work in our car today, and we need $400 to fix it. I am SOOOOOOO BUMMED but I know that GOD WILL PROVIDE! Jehovah Jireh ALWAYS provides for his children, and we know that ALL THINGS work together for the good of them who love God and are called according to his purpose!!!"This just looks like typical Christian nonsense to me. I used to think like this when I was an indoctrinated child. Let's look ahead to the next post.2 days later:"PRAYER WORKS! A few days ago we needed $400 to fix our car and GOD PROVIDED! We found exactly $400 in our mailbox this morning! I am so excited! PRAISE BE TO JESUS!!!"Here is my response:Do you really think your superstitions had anything to do with any of this? Your car broke down by some natural cause. The mechanic needed $400 to fix it. You went begging for it on facebook, and one of your friends was nice enough to bail you out. If Jesus really wanted to provide, then why didn't he just fix the car magically?Or maybe something shorter - like this:Mooching off your friends in the name of Jesus? Hallelujah!
Drug Education for Your Teen - THC TheFaithCheck 2023-08-21 | This message is intended for my daughter - who is about to start high school. If you have kids of a similar age, then you might choose to watch this with them to start your discussion about drugs and alcohol.Sources:dea.govnida.nih.govwebmd.comhopkinsmedicine.orgVarious government websites such as courts.ca.gov/prop64.htmVarious books such as The Addictive Brain by Thad A. PolkPersonal Experience- As an Army Officer I was the Unit Prevention Leader for my battalion and was trained on common drugs of abuse, risks, warning signs, and how and when to conduct drug testing. More on this program at: https://home.army.mil/okinawa/index.p...- First hand experience with recreational drug and alcohol use since early adulthood
Drug Education for Your Teen - Part 1 Intro TheFaithCheck 2023-08-06 | This message is intended for my daughter - who is about to start high school. If you have kids of a similar age, then you might choose to watch this with them to start your discussion about drugs and alcohol.Sources:dea.govnida.nih.govwebmd.comhopkinsmedicine.orgVarious government websites such as courts.ca.gov/prop64.htmVarious books such as The Addictive Brain by Thad A. PolkPersonal Experience- As an Army Officer I was the Unit Prevention Leader for my battalion and was trained on common drugs of abuse, risks, warning signs, and how and when to conduct drug testing. More on this program at: https://home.army.mil/okinawa/index.php/about/Garrison/DHR/army-substance-abuse-program/unit-prevention-leader-training- First hand experience with recreational drug and alcohol use since early adulthood
Star Wars Bible Parody Cartoons TheFaithCheck 2016-04-17 | Channel Link: youtube.com/channel/UCm0VjekR-4a-sUftCHzAAvgMy Brother (Prophet of Zod) is a talented writer and he has begun turning his content into videos. If you like my channel, you will love his. He has started with The Rescue of Han Solo - a parody of the Exodus story. Enjoy! Rescue of Han Solo Chapter 1: youtube.com/watch?v=iF0rKJG6970Rescue of Han Solo Chapter 2: youtube.com/watch?v=6YUu5vPUyJARescue of Han Solo Chapter 3: youtube.com/watch?v=kifbX8PtbGM
Episode 16: The Button and the Trigger TheFaithCheck 2015-10-12 | WARNING: This video contains content that some viewers may find unsettling.We mean to be sober and thoughtful - never sensational - in our discussion of violence.However, this video is not intended for children. Parental discretion is advised.This episode, as well as episode 15, are both authored by my brother.
Episode 15: Homosexuality and Gods Top Ten TheFaithCheck 2015-09-21 | This episode was written and co-produced by my brother - who recently came out as an atheist. The issue with Kim Davis a few weeks ago got both of us pretty fired up and so we plan to produce several more videos together about random other religious topics. Stay tuned!Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve
Kim Davis - I almost felt bad for her TheFaithCheck 2015-09-11 | This is Kim Davis, The Rowan County Clerk who was recently jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples, and released five days later on the condition that she stop using her public office to impose her religious beliefs onto the public.I actually felt bad for Kim for a few minutes. Like maybe she was in a tough spot. Maybe she was deeply convicted and followed her conscience. Perhaps she is a victim of her own religion making itself incompatible with a secular society... but then I looked at her again and realized I think she's a piece of shit.Opening music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by the Verve.
Promoting the Phoenix TheFaithCheck 2013-09-16 | Link to the Phoenix Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi-KTJOEGhg
Episode 14: So Ignorant its Magical TheFaithCheck 2013-07-08 | Important Note: If you are a baby boomer, I am not calling you ignorant. What I am saying is that you were most likely ignorant when you were in your 20's and 30's compared to people who are in their 20's and 30's today. You have most certainly kept up with modern knowledge, research tools, and technology and stayed ahead of us young whippersnappers.Sources:The Bible by The History ChannelAt Home by Bill BrysonThe State of Publishing by Timothy McSweeneyOpening Music: Bitter Sweet Symphony by The VerveThe purpose of this video is to paint a picture of just how ignorant people were when the Bible was written, so that we can quit treating it like a mystical, powerful book and start realizing that it's a bunch of nonsense written by ignorant fools.
An Atheists Christmas Greeting TheFaithCheck 2012-12-24 | Merry Christmas everyone! I might not be religious, but I love Christmas. To me, Christmas is the great American holiday of commerce. It is a special time in which we all get together with our friends and families to celebrate our massive surplus of wealth.And actually, Christmas has been humanity's favorite holiday for at least 10,000 years! Unfortunately we are in an awkward phase right now where the name of the holiday is tied to the most popular religion of our region. Actually, it is not that awkward. It has happened many times before with Yule, Saturnalia, Koliada and many more. But don't worry! As Christianity inevitably fades away, Christmas will live on - and hopefully one day we will give it a more reasonable name that everyone can appreciate.In the mean time, I wouldn't worry too much about the name. Consider this: When the average person hears the phrase Merry Christmas, do you think they picture this? [nativity scene] Or this? [santa clause] I still receive Christmas cards like this one about the true meaning of Christmas. And yes. It is slightly annoying. But the true meaning of Christmas transcends any religion. It's about humans living it up in the dead of winter to celebrate the knowledge that spring will come again.So for lack of a better name. Happy Solstice! Happy Winter Hump Day! Happy Holidays! And oh, what the hell. Merry Christmas :-)
DDOJ 11: God Told Me to Get Off Facebook TheFaithCheck 2012-11-26 | Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments.Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day.Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Transcript:This DDOJ is a fun one. It illustrates to me that today's Christians do not really take their faith that seriously. Am I picking on one crazy person who happens to be Christian in order to get a laugh? well, maybe. But let's have a look anyway."Procrastinating... Not focusing.. . Allowing myself to be distracted (as always)."The following part of the post is a prayer:"Me: Lord, give me the focus and attention to do what I need to do. Help me to trust you and to see what I need to do. Amen."And then a miracle happened. God answered the prayer! And this person posted God's response. It says:"God: Get off Facebook and I will."Uuuuuuuhhhhhh...Am I reading this correctly? You believe that the creator of the universe just told you to get off Facebook, and so you just went onto Facebook to tell everyone about it. Right?
Legends Over Reality TheFaithCheck 2012-09-04 | Legendary Creatures 1st Episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RUTmgaFowI
Episode 13: Do You Really Believe? TheFaithCheck 2012-08-15 | Footage of Elf and Gnome experts: Taken from an AronRa video (who knows where he found that crap??) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMPTquSgmc0Opening Music: Bittersweet Symphony by The VerveBackground Music: Dune Messiah and Inama Nushif (From the Children of Dune Soundtrack)Footage of Elf and Gnome experts: Taken from an AronRa video (who knows where he found that crap??) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMPTquSgmc0Transcript:If you subscribe to the following rationale, then the message that follows is for you.God is not hiding from us. We are separated because of sin. Christianity is not about simply believing God exists. God cannot have sin in His presence. If we have the stain of sin when we cross into eternity, God has to punish the sin and the soul with it. That punishment is called hell. God made a way to have that sin removed. Jesus Christ - God manifest in flesh to restore the relationship He desires to have with His creation.This is copied almost verbatim from a comment that was recently posted on one of my videos. I really like this comment because it succinctly describes what many christians believe regarding the apparent absence of a god. To the believer, this logic is sound. It beautifully re-affirms what you already want to believe. But please know. That this only bears any resemblance to a sound thought process if you have already been indoctrinated into Christianity. That is - if you already believe, then this serves as a nice way to back in to your belief system. Now put yourself in the shoes of a non-believer or even in the shoes of someone who believes in a different religion. With that mind-set, I invite you to pause this video and read it again. I hope you found a new perspective when you read it in that state of mind. But if not then allow me to share how it comes across to me. As a non-believer, this 100% Pure Nonsense. It is nonsense to at the same level of a Leprechaun specialist explaining all the details of what the leprechauns are doing in their hiding places, and why they seem to disappear as soon as we shine light on them. But besides being nonsense, the statement is riddled with issues. Do we really have an omnipotent, being - who created everything, but is not capable of intermixing with his beloved creation? He created everything, but oops, most of what he created was so terrible, that he cannot even go near it? Not only that, his creation is so bad that he has to burn it, torture it, and make it suffer ... forever! What a colossal failure!And what was it that sprang from his massive glorious creation and caused all this? It was two naive little humans who managed to ruin everything on the behalf all of humanity and the rest of the animal kingdom. And what did they do that was so bad that they damned all living creatures on the planet? They disobeyed God's command to refrain from seeking knowledge. Look at this statement again. Do you really believe this? Is this the root of core of your values? What drives your actions - your way of life?If so! If you actually do believe this then what in the Hell are you doing? How could you not spend every waking minute of every day trying like a mad man to save everybody from everlasting torture. If you believe in hell, then you are morally obligated to grab people in the street, shake them by their shoulders and make them hear your message. You should spend all your free time knocking on doors and making people believe. You should never - EVER pass up an opportunity to find out who is a Christian, and who isn't and to start saving those who are not. This includes everyone regardless of the short-term earthly consequences - your neighbors, your parents, all your friends, your boss, your customers. If you let them suffer in hell forever because you were too lazy or too scared to save them, then you are a moral failure. Now I am an Atheist, and I hate being proselytized to. So I say all of this at the risk of having more Christians pushing their beliefs in my face in the most obnoxious way. But I don't think I have to worry about that. Because most of you won't do anything about it. Because you don't really believe. Seriously. If you really believed, then you would have already been doing it.
The History of Rome - Podcast TheFaithCheck 2012-08-11 | Uploaded with the permission of the creator of The History of Rome podcast. Please go to one of the following sources to download the entire series for free. On itunes: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-history-of-rome/id261654474?mt=2Official Website: http://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com The podcast you are about to hear does not need a shout-out from me. The History of Rome was so great that I just really want to share it with you. If you are in to history, then you will really love this. If you are not in to history, then you probably will be after listening to the History of Rome. That's what happened to me. I listened to the first podcast, got sucked in, and then proceeded to listen to the entire 72 hour series during my evening jogs and my commute to work. Please enjoy this playback of the first episode. If you get hooked then go to iTunes, search for the history of rome, and download the entire series for free. Enjoy!
Episode 12: Regarding Mormons TheFaithCheck 2012-07-31 | With the upcoming elections featuring Mitt Romney, I thought this would be a good time to share some of my experiences with Mormons. Disclaimer: While I have had extensive close interactions with Mormons, I am not an expert on LDS (Church of the Latter Day Saints). If any of the content in this video is inaccurate, keep in mind that this is how Mormons are perceived by those around them. As with any religion, the best way to understand Mormonism is to understand Mormons.Opening music is Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve. The music video at the end is a song from the Broadway show "The Book of Mormon" performed by Andrew Rannells at the 2011 Tony Awards. The full video can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlbDHejQFV4 Transcript:I often wonder how awkward the Christian Republican majority must be feeling about their Mormon presidential nominee. Because, I'm pretty sure that most Christians do not consider Mormon's to be real Christians. As a young pentecostal youth group member, i was really disappointed when learned that I had missed the boat on a missions trip to Salt Lake City. Our youth pastor (we will call him Jeremy) got us so charged up on the correctness of "Christianity" and the wrongness of Mormonism, that we thought we could bring the fire of God to Utah and start saving some souls. The trip took place - without me, and the results blew my mind. At one point in the trip, Jeremy had a brilliant idea, "Hey, since god is on our side, then we should be able to walk right into the Salt Lake Temple and convert the top Mormon leadership"He was pleasantly surprised to find that not only was his group of young pentecostals admitted into the temple, but they were additionally led up the top where they were given the opportunity to have an audience with some top church officials (clearly a miracle). Jeremy was filled with joy as the church leaders allowed his group to sing christian songs and praise god out loud speaking in tongues. As their voices echoed he realized they were doing it! This was nothing short of a miracle. Finally a high ranking Mormon evangelist (we will call him Eli) offered to answer any questions that Jeremy and his kids might have. This part didn't end up going so well. After several failed attempts to pin him down and get him to admit to a contradiction between the Book of Mormon and the Bible, one of the youth asked what she thought would be a damning question. She said, "Do you believe that Jesus is the only son of God?" Eli made a calculated pause before responding. You see, we were all taught that the Mormons believe that Satan and Jesus were brothers, and that Satan had defected in a fit of rage because Yhwy chose Jesus' plan over his. Eli finally responded. "Yes" he said, "I do believe that Jesus is the only son of god. And I believe that Jesus died for our sins so that we could all be with god in heaven if we would only accept him as such. He turned on the emotions, the power of his voice was almost hypnotic. I also believe that the Church of Jesus Christ has suffered over the centuries, but that it was restored to it's fullness through Joseph Smith when God anointed him with the power of Jesus' blood..." As he went on, our youth pastor realized he was in way over his head. And so he cracked. "Everybody get up! We are getting out of here, let's go!"At the time, when I was a bible believing pentecostal Christian, this was a tough pill to swallow. If we were right, then why didn't god step in and help us out? How did my youth pastor just get his ass handed to him by one of these false prophets? But now, as a free thinker, this is a very amusing story - and it makes perfect sense as well. Of course the high level executive evangelist crushed the eager but faithful youth pastor.Get the full transcript at http://thefaithcheck.com
DDOJ 10: God Will Calm the Storm (Well He Might) TheFaithCheck 2012-07-16 | --------------------------------------------Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments.Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day.Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Transcript:Before I go into this DDOJ, I want to recognize that yes, it has been 6 months since the last DDOJ, and I want to say a quick thank you to those who have encouraged me to keep the videos flowing. I am glad to hear that the videos are helpful, and I will do my best make regular updates. It has also been 3 months since I posted the last regular Faith Check episode. Those will continue again shortly as well. I have been absent from YouTube not because of a lack of content or ideas, but because of a simple lack of free time. Well, with that behind us, let's have a look at today's DDOJ. Sometimes God calms the storm...Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child. The interesting thing about this statement is that I almost couldn't think of a better way to say "There is no god" Because this statement basically says that God doesn't do anything - he just leaves things to chance. The other thing about this post is that while it is intellectually bankrupt (and thus very annoying to me), it is actually a positive post designed to be uplifting to those who are in times of trouble. Let's keep that in mind as we look at some potential responses...
Episode 11: Is there a God? TheFaithCheck 2012-04-15 | I cannot imagine believing in a god as an adult. Here is my thought process around it. All creative assets used under fair use. Music Credits: Opening and Closing: Bitter Sweet Symphony, by The Verve Transcript: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A friend recently asked me, "why don't you like religion?" It is a fair question, and it deserves a real answer. I could have went into a tirade about how divisive religions are, or the effect that religions have on children, or I could have referenced some of the terrible stories in the Bible. Fortunately my mental faculties were in order and I was able to provide a truthful answer that went right to the core of the issue. I said "I don't like religion because I don't think that there is a god." After-all, what would you think of religion if you didn't believe there was a god? What would you think of all the time and money spent promoting a god that wasn't real? What would you think of all the horror stories told to children about how they will go to hell if they don't worship the right god? How would you feel if you realized that instead of talking directly to the creator of the universe when you prayed, you were actually just talking to thin air? If given the time, I could have gone further to explain why I do not think there is a god. Is there a god? For millennia, we have asked ourselves that question and yet no-one really knows the answer. Millions of people think that they know. In fact they are certain beyond a shadow of a doubt that their god exists. But then again, there are of millions of other people who know beyond a shadow of a doubt that their own god exists instead. What would it mean if there was a god, what would it be like? Given the absence of any facts beyond hearsay, and given the lack of a specimen to actually examine, we should consider what we do know from what we have seen in nature. If a god is an intelligent being, then what do we know about intelligent beings? For starters, every intelligent being that we know of is a living creature. It is born, it lives, it reproduces, and it dies. Furthermore, every living creature that we have seen is part of a larger group - a species. I think that if there is a god, then there must be many gods (a whole order of them). In order to be considered gods, they would have to be so great that their power, and in their intelligence, that their very nature would be far beyond our understanding. Their ways would seem like magic to us. There ways would in-fact BE magic - though this begs the question what is magic if not just a natural phenomenon that we don't yet understand. Would we invent this sort of being if it did not actually exist? That wouldn't make sense, would it? Isn't that an indication there must be a god? Well, looking into history, we have invented thousands of gods that don't exist. The ancients, the various tribes around the world, the norse, the greeks, the romans, the Arabs, the Jews, even modern day americans are still inventing gods. But what if these people are all just inventing the same god? What if they are just getting it slightly wrong? That is a great question. And that is also a big problem. Why would a god let all these people get it wrong, and in the case of the most popular modern religions, he would send everyone to hell for getting it wrong. To me, it all boils down to one simple thing. Is there a god? If there was, then no-one would ever have to ask. The other day I saw this article in the newspaper. It is a picture of the Pope on his recent visit to Cuba. They say a picture paints a thousand words. And this one does not fall short. If anyone ever wanted proof that there is no god - or at least proof that the catholic god does not exist, then here it is - right here. The Pope riding around in his armored box. Why would god's holiest representative on earth need to ride around in an armored box? All around us we see evidence like this. Things that tell us that we are on our own. The pope's armored car. Churches who buy property insurance. Children starving to death all over the world and all throughout history. The fact that bad things happen to the most pious followers of all religions. The fact that where holy books get it wrong, modern humanity gets it right. These all stand as evidence that we are, indeed, on our own. And we've done a damn good job of being on our own... Transcript continued on http://thefaithcheck.com
Episode 10: Christianity - The Container for Western Values TheFaithCheck 2012-02-07 | The target audience for this video is the hundreds of millions of people who don't quite believe the whole Bible, but still propogate Christianity because of its value as a set of moral guidelines. All creative assets used under fair use. Music Credits: Opening and Closing: Bitter Sweet Symphony, by The Verve Yoga Nidra, by Meditation Spa Meditation, by Relaxing Piano Music Consort One, by Metallica, played by a tribute band Meditation Spa Canon, by Meditation Spa Richard Dawkins video at the end: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSYosM2ZhzY Transcript: ---------------------------------- Many Americans use Christianity as a way to teach very positive modern values to their children. In this video i will address the following question. Is religion good or harmful when used in this way? [The majority of the story in this video took place in the late 1990's and I have no remaining legal obligations based upon these events.] In his recent book Beyond Religion the Dalai Lama proposed that religion based ethics are no longer sufficient for our modern world because we are too diverse too connected and our weapons too powerful for us to go on living by "revealed" moral codes that conflict with one another. He proposed that we develop a common set of secular ethics that everyone can agree upon. In the beginning of the book he said that if internal values are like water then religion is like tea. And while no-one needs any specific type of tea, we all need water. His opinion is that religion, like tea, bears other benefits that you would not get from inner values alone (such as sweetness, and good feeling), but that we really only need the inner values (or the water). For the record, I do not agree with his holiness on this matter. He neglects to mention that religion, like tea, bears harmful traits. I look at modern Christianity as a container for western values. As western values evolve, they are often attributed to Christianity. So what about our question? Is christianity good when used as a vehicle to teach modern values to children? Absolutely not. The problem with using faith based religion to teach inner values is the problem of false association. When a child's inner values are tied to a belief system that he later finds to be false, he has potential to throw out the baby with the bath water. Meaning, when he ditches his faith, he ditches his inner values along with it. I know that this is possible because I did it myself. I grew up in an extreme religious environment. In fact, I went to private, Pentecostal, Christian schools from K-11th grade. I was raised to believe that morals can only come from God, and to hell with it all if you don't believe in Jesus. When I got to college, I quickly realized that my parents were wrong about a great deal of things - especially religion. The same people who taught me that it was wrong to lie, cheat and steal, had also taught me that non-Christians were bad people, that the earth was 6K years old, that witchcraft was a real problem, and many other false beliefs that were to be held in equal importance to the morals. After I de-converted, I was a 19 year old kid with no way to discern which values were important and which were BS. My moral compass had been shattered. And over the next few years, I transformed into a bad person... Complete transcript available on http://thefaithcheck.com
DDOJ-9: Merry Christmas! TheFaithCheck 2011-12-25 | Merry Christmas Everyone! At least that's what I am getting on my facebook news feed. Lots of it. And sometimes it's accompanied by DDOJ-worthy statements like this one. --------------------------------------------Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments.Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day.Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Transcript:Merry Christmas Everyone! At least that's what I am getting on my facebook news feed. Lots of it. And sometimes it's accompanied by DDOJ-worthy statements like this one. Or this one. Or how about this one?Many Christians feel persecuted when other people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas, even though Happy Holidays is inclusive of all lifestyles - including Christianity. Must they really be unhappy that others are being included in the good will of the holidays?Here is my response to this:As a non-believer, the word Christmas doesn't bother me in much the same way as it doesn't bother me that the planets are named after the Roman gods. But I don't say Merry Christmas to my Jewish or Muslim friends. That would be rude.Furthermore, considering the fact that almost every Christmas tradition existed before Jesus was born and especially before Emperor Constantine rebranded the pagan solstice holidays as Christmas, non-believers should have an equal share in Christmas, and you are lucky we don't change the name to something else.Happy Holidays! How would you respond to this post. Because I'm looking for the best ways to proactively respond to Daily Doses of Jesus.I look forward to more exciting YouTube action in the new year. Until then, please enjoy this clip of me doing karaoke at my company holiday party. I was feeling the Spirit! And by spirit, I mean the peppermint schnapps in my hot coco :-)Happy Holidays!
Episode 9: Faith, Hell, and the Fear Trap TheFaithCheck 2011-12-21 | All creative assets used under fair use. Sam Harris Debate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqaHXKLRKzg (thought experiment is at 1:31.00) Music in order of appearance: Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Paul & Chani, From Dune Original Soundtrack (SciFi Channel Mini Series) Promise, from Konami Kukeiha Club Dreadnought Sideroad, by Jonathan Keevil Bracketflower, by Jonathan Keevil The Kiss, from Last of the Mohicans Transcript: --------------------------------------- I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. - Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear, Dune Is fear really the mind killer? Fear is a very powerful and useful emotion. Those who evolved a strong healthy fear of snakes, spiders, darkness, large animals, and heights survived. Guns and cars kill more people than poisonous animals but we haven't had sufficient evolutionary time to develop a natural fear of them. And that lack of fear can cost an individual dearly. In fact, it contributes to the demise of more than 60K Americans every year. We need fear. But fear can also be a crippling emotion, and it is a destructive emotion when the level of fear is disproportionate to the actual danger. Fear causes the reptilian brain to monopolize your thoughts so that you can fully focus on evading or eliminating the danger. This provides a survival advantage, but it comes with annoying side effects - especially considering that we live in a relatively safe world compared to that of our ancestors. Although no-one likes to admit it, fear is a very critical component of religious belief - especially the belief in hell. Once you believe that a danger exists, the fear becomes real and you are forced to confront it. And in the unfortunate case of hell, it is a fear of failing to believe. The most natural way to deal with that fear is to reinforce your belief. The fear of not believing becomes a vicious cycle that locks the believer in to a scarcely escapable fear trap. Considering meme theory - the evolution and survival of the ideas that are most likely to get passed on - it is no wonder that the world's most popular religions include a myth about everlasting punishment for disbelief. There is another form of fear that helps perpetuate world religions. That is socially driven fear. It's often said the people fear public speaking more than they fear death. While this is not probably not true, the cliché stems from the fact that people are generally terrified of public speaking. Why is that? As humans, we are completely dependent upon our societies for our survival. For our ancestors, being ousted from society meant death by starvation, predators or the elements. In some cases, saying or doing the wrong thing will even get you killed by your society - that still happens in many parts of the world today. So how does this affect religion? As religions take root in societies, two fear traps emerge and feed off each other. Our deeply rooted fear of being socially ousted kick-starts the process and the fear of hell locks it in. So then why is it so easy for non-believers to feel no fear when believers are locked into this terrible cycle? Western society has made significant progress in the way of human rights - as a result, we no longer have to live in fear of being kicked out of society or murdered for not practicing the most popular religion. That could explain why we are not afraid of being socially ousted. But what about the fear of hell? I am going to borrow a thought experiment from Sam Harris to help convey how we feel as non-believers. "What if Muslims are right? What if Islam is true? How then should we view god in moral terms? How would we view god in moral terms? Or I should say Allah. We have been born in the wrong place, to the wrong parents, given the wrong culture, given the wrong theology. Needless to say, we are all doomed and we are thoroughly confused. Where is Allah's compassion? He's Omnipotent, he could change this in an instant. He could give us a sign that would convince every one of us. And yet he is not going to do it. And Hell awaits. And hell awaits our children because we can't help but mislead our children. Now just hold this vision in mind and first appreciate how little sleep you have lost over this possibility. Transcript Continued on http://thefaithcheck.com ...
DDOJ-8: I am worthless without Christ TheFaithCheck 2011-11-25 | In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the fact that you are all probably half brain-dead from eating too much turkey, I thought I'd make this DDOJ a total softball. -------------------------------------------- Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments. Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day. Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Transcript: In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the fact that you are all probably half brain-dead from eating too much turkey, I thought I'd make this DDOJ a total softball. It is very rare that someone sets themselves up as such an easy target for ridicule. The actual DDOJ that I want to solicit your responses for is in the comments. It started with a status update where someone posted this quote from one of their favorite authors. When you believe nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have declared about yourself. - Blackaby The first comment was a typical Christian running on about what a bunch of morons the unbelievers are. It was followed by a comment that was absolutely filled with bloody nonsense - feel free to pause if you want to read it. It was really hard for me to actually decide to take part in this thread given the nonsensical nature of the comments. But I did anyway. Here is what I said: On the flip-side, believing you can do something significant (and actually making it happen) says nothing either way about your belief in god. And here is the softball posted by one of the Christians: Nothing significant can happen through me but all things significant can happen through Christ -- that is how I feel about myself. Oh, boy. How do you respond to someone who has just proudly admitted that their religion makes them feel worthless? How about this? I am sorry that your religion makes you feel that way about yourself. Perhaps it's time to pick a different world view that is more uplifting. Or perhaps this? This looks like a typical mind control tactic by an abusive husband. I.e: "You aint shit without me, so you could never leave me and you'll never do better" Trust me. You'll get on just fine without Jesus.
Episode 8: Curse You Charles Darwin TheFaithCheck 2011-11-20 | This video is what I would say if I could write a letter to Charles Darwin. I am not a biologist, so please notify me of any errors.I think the best way to help other Americans accept evolution is to educate them on the basics. As a young Christian child I was taught all kinds of incorrect statements about what evolutionists believe (for example, I thought that evolutionists believed that dogs evolved from cats).Music: Bitter Sweet Symphony by The VerveAll images and video clips used under fair use.Transcript: Dear Charles Darwin,This should come as no surprise to you given the prevailing world views of your time, but I was never allowed to learn about evolution as a child. I was brought up in a fundamentalist Christian family, and so I was taught that Evolution was a lie from Satan to trick mankind into disbelieving the Bible. You have been demonized by religious zealots all over the world - mostly in the United States. I shed my faith as an adult due to a number of factors not related to your influence. Since then I have been free to learn about your theory of Evolution by Natural Selection and the subsequent research that has shaped many scientific disciplines since you published On the Origin of Species. I recently opened up some science books and educated myself. And what a beautiful world have I discovered!Science has filled a lot of the gaps and you would be amazed at what I have learned.While we still don't know the origins of life, we do know that given the right time and conditions, self replicating molecules (called DNA) form. I learned that the DNA drives an embryological process where cells divide and unfold into physical features of a life form. And that sometimes there are errors in the replication process - changes in the DNA that cause physical mutations. I learned that most mutations are devastating - causing the recipient to die before producing offspring. But that on very rare occasions, a beneficial mutation provides a survival advantage and ultimately gets passed on to subsequent generations to form new features within the group as a whole. I learned that this process is terribly slow and requires eons of time to cause noticeable changes within a group. I learned that individuals don't evolve, but that entire species evolve ever so slightly from one generation to the next as the beneficial mutations are passed on. I learned about how evolution happens so slowly that even though we evolve, every child is the exact same species as its parent, but that there may exist minor changes that when piled on over thousands of generations cause major changes.I learned about speciation - the process where geographic or other types of dividers between groups cause them to evolve in different directions with different environmental pressures driving the acceptance of different mutations until the groups are too different to procreate with each other. And thus multiple species emerge and that's what causes the diversity of life on this planet. And suddenly it makes sense to me why there are so many millions of species on this planet that all seem perfectly suited for their environments. Why there are so many different species of deer, cattle, goats, wildebeests, buffalos, rhinos, sheep, zebras, donkeys, horses, giraffes and other hoofed animals that feed on plants but have different features that help them survive in their different environments. It makes sense now, that humans were able to cross breed cattle and buffalo to create a new species called the beefalo - which tolerates colder climate than a cow, but is more docile than a buffalo. It makes sense why it is so difficult to draw the lines between the more than 300 different species of ducks, geese and swans.And why some salamander groups that migrate into dark caves lose their eyesight after several hundred generations, but develop other features that their surface-dwelling cousins do not posses - like the ability to detect prey by vibrations in the water.Now it makes sense to me - why we humans are so fond of monkeys and why we look so much like all the other primates - to whom we are so closely related.It makes sense how we became intelligent bipeds - because geological events on earth created an environment where standing upright worked to the advantage of a group of apes in the newly parched African savanna. But you know what doesn't make sense to me now? Star Trek. So curse you Charles Darwin! You freaking ruined Star Trek for me. That was my favorite show you heartless monster!
DDOJ - Contest Results (Daily Doses of Jesus) TheFaithCheck 2011-11-07 | Original contest announcement video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t86u3i_8VLcChannels Mentioned in this video:http://www.youtube.com/user/gamutman http://www.youtube.com/user/grapplingignorance http://www.youtube.com/user/discoveringreligion GrapplingIgnorance Response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAabHxlg064 GamutMan Response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rel7sRr5eZo DiscoveringReligion Response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjGd8AAVMgoA few weeks ago I posted a video encouraging everyone to make their own DDOJ videos to help exchange ideas for how to respond to the religious posts we all see in our facebook news feeds - also known as DDOJ's (or daily doses of Jesus). I kicked it off by running a contest. This video is to review the entries and present the results. (please pardon the lack of visuals in this video. I am extremely busy for the next two weeks, but I didn't want to leave the contestants hanging).The respondents were Gamutman and GrapplingIgnorance. Gamutman's DDOJ post was from an old Christian acquaintance that he went to school with. It was a post to complain about a group of Muslims requesting to have crosses removed from their catholic school. Gamutman responded in typical atheist fashion by doing a fact check. It turns out the Muslims were simply requesting a single room in the campus without a cross on display where they could gather and pray. His acquaintance responded in typical Christian fashion by claiming that his rights are being stripped away.This video really highlighted the Christian persecution complex. Christians tend to complain that all their rights are being assaulted whenever someone of another way of life pushes for some basic personal rights that usually don't even affect the Christians. Additionally the whole topic really illustrates how divisive religions can be within a society. Great video Gamutman!!!GrapplingIgnorance started his video with a great introduction where he elaborates on the topic of DDOJ's. He describes how facebook creates a public forum where obnoxious posts from the religious majority go largely unchallenged, and he presents a compelling case for the importance of speaking out against it.GrapplingIgnorance's DDOJ was a post from a family member. It was a poem about a woman who died and went to heaven and was then surprised to see that a bunch of people who she thought had been burning in hell had actually been admitted into heaven. She asked Jesus if God had made a mistake and Jesus told her that none of those people had expected her to be there either. The person who posted this added a jab to non-believers after the poem. She said: Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point.Aside from the jab at non-believers, this was a great example of a DDOJ that would be easy to let slide and go unchallenged. After-all, it did have a good overall message. Do not judge. In his response, GrapplingIgnorance exposed a number of issues with this DDOJ post including the fact that the woman in the poem seemed to be disappointed that certain people were not burning in hell. I believe that if GI didn't post a rebuttal, his facebook friend would have went on about her business feeling good about herself for posting a good Christian poem. But instead, she must have been at least a little embarrassed for posting such a stupid-ass poem and being called out on it. Nice Work GrapplingIgnorance!!!Both GrapplingIgnorance and Gamutman submitted great DDOJ videos.The winner of the contest is and the official copy of Adobe Premier Professional is ... GrapplingIgnorance! While Gamutman had a higher comment/view ratio, GI had a significantly higher ratio if you only include unique user comments - so he had more people weighing in. Both videos were well presented, very entertaining and thought provoking, but the preparation and care that GrapplingIgnorance put in really stands out.Thanks to both of you for participating, and another thank you to DiscoveringReligion for helping kick this off. From this point forward everyone is welcome to make their own DDOJ videos. Have a great day!
DDOJ - New Twist - Contest - Win Adobe Premier Pro! TheFaithCheck 2011-10-21 | Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments. Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day. Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve DiscoveringReligion's Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/DiscoveringReligion DiscoveringReligion's Example DDOJ: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjGd8AAVMgo Transcript: -------------------------------------------- Welcome to another installment of DDOJ. The series where I solicit feedback to... I previously mentioned an new twist on the DDOJ series, and here it is. DDOJ has attracted the funniest, most intelligent comments I could have imagined. And it's been great for me personally - to read through your comments, to laugh and get great ideas on how to respond to these obnoxious religious posts. But I am not doing this for myself alone. I want to help everybody. We need to change the mindset of people on facebook. I want your religious friends to be too embarrassed to post in anticipation of the type of comments they will get from the free thinkers who give a damn. So, here is what I am proposing. I would like to encourage each of you to start making your own DDOJ videos. Whenever you see someone broadcasting their faith in an embarrassing way, put them in your video, call it a DDOJ, and solicit comments. This will get the ideas flowing and arm more free thinkers to respond appropriately. Many of you have more subscribers than I do. With your help - an occasional video from each of you - we can really make a difference. To provide some incentive to get you started, I am running a contest - starting now. The winner will receive this copy of Adobe Premier Professional CS5.5. With a retail value of $799, Adobe Premier Professional is the best video editing software on the consumer market today - and I'm sure you'll find another use for it if your computer isn't fast enough. To participate, please create your own DDOJ video and post it as a video response. I will choose the winner based on the following: Originality of the facebook post that you are rebutting Comment-view ratio on your video combined with the quality of the DDOJ responses. Presentation/Style of your video Entertainment value Please remember to block out names and pictures in any facebook screenshots to protect the privacy of your friends. Video responses must be submitted by 3am Eastern time on Saturday, Nov 5 to be considered for this contest. You may create and post your own DDOJ videos for as long as you like after the contest is over. Any questions or feedback, let me know! if you've seen discoveringreligion's ddoj video, you notice that he set the bar extremely high. Don't worry, he was part of the beta program - and he is not participating in the contest. Good luck!
DDOJ-7 One Nation, Under God - The Pledge of Allegiance TheFaithCheck 2011-10-18 | I love the USA and I love our flag. So I get super annoyed whenever I think about the fact that our country had a lapse in its commitment to religious freedom when we added "Under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance back in 1954 and "In God We Trust" to paper money in 1957. Are we going to slip into theocracy? Well, fortunately I think our government was set up to move way too slow for something like that. But the words "Under God" can still annoy the F' out of you! The Pledge of Allegiance is becoming a hotter topic in certain places because free thinkers are starting to stand up for their rights to send their children to public school without indoctrinating them. -------------------------------------------- Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments. Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day. Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Transcript: Welcome to the 7th installment of DDOJ - Meaning Daily Doses of Jesus - the series where I solicit the best responses for Obnoxious or just plain crazy religious posts that I see on facebook in an effort to plant seeds of doubt that help cure our Christian friends and relatives of their faith. This DDOJ should look familiar to most of you. Posts like this one drive me CRAZY! And I bet they drive you crazy too. Let's have a look. I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!!! : I was never the type to be concerned about whether or not I was offending someone. Don't like it...leave, look away, or my personal fave FUCK OFF. Uggggg... We must have been going through dark times as a nation when we added "under god" to the Pledge of Allegiance back in 1954. It's worth noting that that is only 3 years before "in god we trust" was added to paper money. Here is my response: It's so lovely how you Christian's demonstrate your faith by showing off how nasty you can be to everybody else. Actually, I'd rather get to the heart of the matter and fight Theocracy. I would never want to censor anyone from saying it. But to me freedom of religion means not forcing children of all different beliefs to say "under god" when they pledge allegiance to our flag in public schools.
TheLivingDinosaur (Mirror: 15 Questions) - False Flagged TheFaithCheck 2011-09-28 | This video from TheLivingDinosaur just got a false flag for spams and false advertising. Spreading the word.
Shoutout: FishHeadSalad TheFaithCheck 2011-08-22 | FishHeadSalad's Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/FishHeadSalad First Featured Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JE98Yl0uKcA Second Featured Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01VEITDK2TI Transcript: This is a shoutout to my good buddy FishHeadSalad. While his videos are interesting and well produced, it's the subtle things he slips into them that get me. He manages to ignite sparks in little corners of my brain that normally lie dormant. He just did a great shoutout for me. So I recognize that I could not possibly look at this objectively. So I will let you decide for yourselves. Here are a few sample clips from his videos.
DDOJ-5: Satans Slaves - Fun with Church Billboards TheFaithCheck 2011-08-15 | I have plenty of genuine content from real Christians for upcoming DDOJ's, but this one is a bit of fun that I saw in a Free Thinker's facebook post. As requested, there's a little something for the ladies toward the middle of this video :-) -------------------------------------------- Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments. Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day. Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Welcome to the fifth installment of DDOJ - Meaning Daily Doses of Jesus - the series where I solicit the best responses for Obnoxious or just plain crazy religious posts that I see on facebook in an effort to plant seeds of doubt that help cure our Christian friends and relatives of their faith. Today's DDOJ was actually posted by an Atheist who was having a bit of fun with church billboards. The great thing about this one is that it came with an image and it's own comments. So here it is. "A FREE THINKER IS SATANS SLAVE! " Here is the image that came along with it. And here are the comments. Of course there are comments about being a sex slave and wearing cat woman outfits -who could resist? This DDOJ is a total softball for comments like that. There's a comment about "How can this church have members?" The first comment here is my favorite. "Okay Satan, what's next for me to do?"
Sex Sells - This Ones a Quickie TheFaithCheck 2011-08-14 | Just something fun I noticed in the analytics from the last videoTranscript:-----------------------------------------------Youtube automatically generates thumbnails for you based on the content in your video. You get to select one from the three that it creates for you. For obvious reasons, I stuck with the default - which includes the beautiful miss america bikini photo. I thought I'd share some interesting things that I noticed in the video analytics.The audience for my videos is usually about 30% female, but this time it was only 13%. I think that's more likely that this video attracted more men rather than fewer females. Here's another interesting bit. This insights report shows audience attention levels for various parts of the video. Humps like this one appear when people go back and watch parts of the video more than once. Let's look at this one. Not surprisingly this happens where the beautiful women appear. Shame on You! ;-)
Moderate Islam - A Free Thinkers Perspective TheFaithCheck 2011-08-11 | It is hard to see the whole picture from where we sit in a 1st world country. When I search Google for anything related Islam, I find a bunch of terror shots. It was hard to find images of moderate Muslims. But I spent several months in the Middle East in 2002/2003, and I know that the majority of Muslims would not kill for Islam. Is it all rosy? No. It is probably true that most Muslim's are not moderate by western standards. However, the fact that moderates exist, and that they have a small foothold in Islam is a huge positive sign for the future of human rights. - Apologies for the hoarse voice. I'm just recovering my voice after a rough week. - Flying Spaghetti Monster on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster - All images and video footage used under fair use. Transcript: Many of us look at Islam as a grave threat to humanity - and I too hold strong to the opinion that the Islamic Theocracies (or any theocracies) are dangerous and that we should fight against any form of blasphemy laws because freedom is more important than avoiding terror. I also agree with Sam Harris - that the stance of religious moderates is completely intellectually bankrupt - and that religious moderates do a disservice to humanity by creating a safe haven for extremists and by perpetuating the popular myth that *faith* is a good thing. But if you came looking for another video to re-affirm your strong distaste for Islam - this isn't it. There are plenty of other videos out there for that - and I agree with them. But I wouldn't be adding anything if I simply made another one. So here is a different point of view. This is a touchy subject, so bare with me on this one. Lately I have been noticing more Muslims in my area. (Transcript continued on http://thefaithcheck.com)
DDOJ-4: Obnoxious Pastor Wants Theocracy TheFaithCheck 2011-07-28 | DescriptionIn light of Texas Governor Perry's Day of Prayer Silliness, I thought I'd pick a government related DDOJ today. Note: Unfortunately I defriended this pastor several months ago. I'm tempted to send him a new friend request now that I am doing DDOJ videos!--------------------------------------------Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments.Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day.Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve Transcript:Welcome to the forth installment of DDOJ - Meaning Daily Doses of Jesus - the series where I solicit the best responses for Obnoxious or just plain crazy religious posts that I see on facebook in an effort to plant seeds of doubt that help cure our Christian friends and relatives of their faith.I would categorize today's DDOJ as Obnoxious. It betrays the Christian agenda to turn the United States into a theocracy - though that agenda really is not really a secret is it? This is a quick one from an old family friend who is now a pastor."It's official. Our district has just elected two pro-death, pro sexual sin representatives."There are so many comments you could make here.Boo-hoo, cry me a river. A couple liberals get elected and your dream of turning America into a theocracy is shattered. I'm so sorry for you.How about this?Well, we all die, so Pro-Death should be okay. But I am confused on one thing - what does sex or sin have to do with the government?Or this?Pro-sexual sin? Sweet! Any word on how soon will prostitution be legal?
BananasOfReason TheFaithCheck 2011-07-23 | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lujTe6dFivsThe Guys at BananasOfReason made TheFaithCheck the promo of the week! Big thanks to these guys:Grappling Ignorancehttp://www.youtube.com/user/GrapplingIgnoranceProportionalResponsehttp://www.youtube.com/user/ProportionalResponseTheRedPillDistricthttp://www.youtube.com/user/TheRedPillDistrictMeridianFrosthttp://www.youtube.com/user/meridianfrost-------------------------Background video borrowed from Dole.Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve
DDOJ-3: Jesus Facebook Posts - God Cant Find My Keys! TheFaithCheck 2011-07-20 | Here's a DDOJ to help lighten up the hump-day blues. Happy Wednesday! -------------------------------------------- Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments. Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day. Opening Music is Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve
Episode 6: Seeing the Obvious - The Emperors New Clothes TheFaithCheck 2011-07-18 | When I point out the obvious problems about religion, I feel like the young child pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. * apologies in advance if you find the fake accent annoying. All Questions from background scrolling text:If God is so important, then why is he hiding?If God randomly answers prayers by saying yes, no, or wait, then what's the difference between that and doing nothing at all?If we are all descendants of Noah - then why are there so many different races of people.If the Bible is all true, then why does it keep conflicting with science?After Noah's flood, wouldn't a whole species go extinct every time a bear or a lion had a meal?If the universe is only 10 thousand years old, then why can we see stars that are more than 10 thousand light years away.If the Exodus story is real, then why does the Israeli Archeological Society say that it never happened.If God created all the languages at the tower of Babel, then why can we trace the evolution of languages over time. Also, spoken language was independently developed in 8 different places.If God is supposed to be perfect, then why does he makes mistakes, need worship and he get jealous?If God is supposed to be timeless, then why does he change his mind?If God is supposed to be good, then why is he such a jerk in all the Bible stories?If God loves his people, then why does he send all the natural disasters? If God created everyone, what did he have against the Egyptians and the Canaanites?If God never changes, then [the same yesterday, today, and forever] why do you need Jesus now? Shouldn't you still be able to sacrifice a goat to atone for your sins? (noone comes to the father, but by me)If humans have been on the earth for over 100,000 years, then why did God wait to send Jesus until 2000 years ago?Howcome there are so many other religions?If Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus do their best to be good then howcome they still go to hell?Why are there so many different types of Christianity that all disagree with each other?Howcome most Christians haven't read the whole bible?If the bible is the infallible word of God, then why does it contradict itself so much? If slavery is bad, then why does the bible say it's okay?Was Jesus' mother really a virgin?If Mary was a virgin, then why is Jesus' lineage traced to David through Joseph?Why do Matthew and Luke completely disagree on Joseph's lineage.If Jesus came to heal the sick, then why didn't he teach anything about germs.If Jesus was so smart, then why did he mistake mental disorders for demon possession.Howcome God never heals amputated limbs?God told Abraham to murder his own son and Abraham was rewarded for his willingness to follow through. If God told you to kill me, would you obey him?Sources: Music: Bitter Sweet Symphony by The VerveQuote on Nonbelieving Preachers (Essay by Danniel Dennett): http://www.epjournal.net/filestore/EP08122150.pdfBible Contradictions (Project Reason): www.project-reason.org/bibleContra_big.pdf Emperor's New Clothes Cartoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGDr69VOv6g
DDOJ-2: Jesus Facebook Posts - Your Own Personal Jesus TheFaithCheck 2011-07-10 | Another DDOJ :-) -------------------------------------------- Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments. Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day.
Episode 5: Heaven - Do you really want to go there? TheFaithCheck 2011-07-05 | Aside from dodging Hell, my primary reason for holding on to my faith was the promise of Heaven. Without the faith goggles on, Heaven looks a lot different. Have you ever stopped to think about what heaven would actually be like if it became a reality? This exercise will help you imagine what heaven would be like from the perspective of a nonbeliever. It is much easier to think of heaven as a good thing if you don't actually believe you will ever go there in reality.* note on forced immortality: I don't think all forms of immortality would be bad. It would be great if we could live as long as we wanted (thousands of years) through gene therapies and organ replacements - as long as we knew we could die eventually.
DDOJ-1: Jesus Facebook Posts - How would you respond? TheFaithCheck 2011-06-27 | Tired of all the Jesus posts on facebook? This is a new series called DDOJ (Daily Doses of Jesus). Each video will be a status I see on facebook, and a request for how you would respond in the comments. Note: I will not be posting a new video every day. The word "Daily" refers to the fact that my friends post this stuff on their facebook statuses every day.
Episode 4: The Battle of Faith and Truth TheFaithCheck 2011-06-25 | Are religious people delusional? No. Do billions of people believe in things that are not true because of their religion? Yes, It would be hard to find someone who would deny that. This is an excercise for Christians to help you determine if you hold onto beliefs that are not true.
Episode 3: Gods Gender and Other Human Qualities TheFaithCheck 2011-06-11 | A brief look at how gender applies to gods and how that plays into the other human-like traits of the Christian God.
Episode 2: Accepting Jesus After You Die TheFaithCheck 2011-06-04 | A brief exploration of Christian Salvation - and why you can't choose to accept Jesus after you die.
Episode 1: The Reality of the Rapture TheFaithCheck 2011-05-29 | A brief look at the reality of the biblical end times prophesies - or lack there-of.
