How a Relationship With God Torments Children Prophet of Zod 2024-10-19 | How a Relationship With God Torments Children
How Gods Not Dead 3 Tries to Silence Non-Christians Prophet of Zod 2024-10-17 | Some people consider God's Not Dead 3 the more thoughtful movie of the series. Its atheist characters are sometime actual sympathetic humans, and the Christians stop to wonder how much they should fight. But I don't think this movie is any better than the rest. In this video, I explain how its phony sense of nuance is just a façade meant to obscure and sometimes rebut criticisms of the series. STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Christian Excuses for Why God Made the Devil | Mike Winger Response Prophet of Zod 2024-09-26 | The existence of the Devil is very hard to explain within the context of modern Christianity. If God is all-powerful and all-knowing and created everything, then how could he have an arch-rival who challenges his plans and threatens the safety and salvation of his most valued creation? Today we'll watch apologist Mike Winger make his attempt at offering some of the standard excuses for why God made the Devil.Mike Winger's Video: youtube.com/watch?v=koThw46lleg&tSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How I Started Doubting Christianity | My Deconversion Story, Part 5 Prophet of Zod 2024-09-05 | How did I go from a full-on Bible believing Christian to an atheist? What set off the change and made me start doubting my faith? In this video I look back at my first years of college, when I finally broke out of my Christian school environment and was extensively exposed to "the world." It's hard to point to what set it all off. It was a series of things less dramatic but more substantial than a direct challenge to my beliefs. I hope this video helps those who have left the faith understand a little more about what prompted them to first start questioning what they believed.Playlist for my deconversion story: youtube.com/watch?v=XNqfScrzbSU&list=PLfLmCgDe9HvjEwPx_nx1f4KKOcx2eJEm5STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Top 10 INDESTRUCTIBLE Proofs of God (Parody) Prophet of Zod 2024-08-25 | I present you my parody "Top 10 INDESTURUCTIBLE Proofs of God." I'm releasing this as its own video due to popular demand, as many people said it was their favorite part of my last video and some asked for it to be its own video.For context, it is a parody of this video: youtube.com/watch?v=mZHwDTsdfmI&t, though I think it works as a general satire of the common apologetics being presented.It was originally released in my reaction to that video: youtube.com/watch?v=Yf7F6jOuBjYSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
I React to (And Parody) 10 Infallible Arguments for God Prophet of Zod 2024-08-22 | Christians always seem to think they have open-and-shut arguments that prove God so absolutely that not believing is silly - but every time, the arguments are just more of the same familiar nonsense we've heard a million times.This video will be a multi-part celebration of these kinds of arguments, in which I:- Give an unscripted reaction to a video called "Top Ten Infallible Proofs of That God Exists."- Break down the number one argument in more detail.- Make a parody of the video and its all-too-common arguments.The Rabyd Atheist's Channel: youtube.com/@therabydatheistOriginal Video: youtube.com/watch?v=mZHwDTsdfmILinks to other videos I mentioned: - My "Explains to Babies" video on the "Why would the disciples die for a lie" argument: youtube.com/watch?v=V4G7kEhOq2k- My video about the historicity of Jesus: youtube.com/watch?v=Rcd5VXkoz0s&t00:00 - Introduction04:47 - My Reaction to the 10 Infallible Arguments37:58 - Breakdown of the Ontological Argument41:08 - Conclusion44:43 - My Parody of the 10 Infallible ArgumentsSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
William Lane Craig Misrepresents Deconstruction | A Case Study in Willful Ignorance Prophet of Zod 2024-08-08 | William Lane Craig recently gave a baffling, apparently confused answer to a question about deconstruction and what's causing it. You've probably seen it around. Today I'm going to break down in detail what was asked of him and how he answered. in short, his answer shows him to be either ignorant of deconstruction to an extent that seems to be willful, or else just plain lying about it. It also reveals that his entire apologetics schtick is just completely empty. youtube.com/watch?v=oTz3u6EcRksSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
The Myth of the Angry Atheist | @BrianHoldsworth Response Prophet of Zod 2024-07-25 | The "angry atheist" trope is pretty popular within Christianity. It allows Christians to dismiss non-believers as nothing more than angry people who are lashing out because they have some kind of grudge against the religion or are just mad at God. They're not interested in rational discussion because it's all sheer irrational anger against a God they don't even believe in. Today I'm going to look at a video by Brian Holdsworth (yes, I know), who uses his anecdotal experience to suggest atheists are pretty much universally angry and nasty and acts totally baffled by this, as if their anger just comes out of nowhere with no provocation from Christians.Now of course some atheists ARE angry. Sometimes their anger is a reasonable response to a belligerent Christian or a horrific doctrine, sometimes they lash out at the wrong person because of pent-up frustration over how other Christians have acted toward them, and in some cases the atheist is just a hot-headed or annoying person. In other words, atheists are people, so some of them are good and others are complete jerks. I'm not denying this. I'm just pointing out that the sweeping generalization of atheists as angry people is a simplification.ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=rkYTdJXa47A&tSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Christians Pretend Theyre Not Judgmental Prophet of Zod 2024-07-11 | Christians like to act like they're not judgmental. It's something a lot of them have historically done, but it's not really fashionable to be judgmental in today's society. So a lot of apologetic fundamentalists have held on to a lot of severely judgmental positions while using a lot of semantic wordplay to pretend they're not judgmental - or at least that "the world" is equally judgmental.However, it's all nonsensical, so we're going to look at an example of how Frank Turek does this (in an apparently staged conversation in a car) to see why.ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=FevLIuT6zlESTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Prayer is Just Imagining God While You Meditate | Response to @imbeggar Prophet of Zod 2024-06-27 | Christians like to think that prayer is a conversation with God. But this gets tricky because God never talks back and doesn't appear to be there with you. This causes some Christians to feel a lot of confusion and shame over their inability to connect with God. After all, it can't be his fault, right? So the Christian must be doing something wrong - or even worse, they probably don't even love God enough to want to connect with him. It also causes parts of Christianity that value an experiential "relationship with God" to develop prayer techniques meant to mimic connection to God.Today we're going to look at a video where Christian YouTuber IMBeggar describes some of these techniques. In reviewing them, we'll see that prayer is basically just a meditation exercise. And in teaching Christians to engage in it, people like IMBeggar are basically just leading them through Chrisitan-themed guided meditation. Hopefully this will help reveal something to nonbelievers about what their prayer life was and maybe help current Christians feel less ashamed for how they struggle with prayer.ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=eGqQKmvN8T0STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=yqvoszaVTGQ&t=9s
Christians Cant Explain Away Bible Contradictions Prophet of Zod 2024-06-13 | The conversation about Bible contradictions has become almost trite. Skeptics point out common places where the Bible seems to contradict itself, and apologists retort with equally common explanations meant to show why those parts of the Bible don't actually contradict each other. They also enjoy referring to them as "alleged" or "supposed" contradictions.So what's the story? In this video, I'll discuss this phenomenon using the Gospels' various account of Jesus' empty tomb as an example. I'll look at possible contradictions that CAN be resolved using semantics and discuss whether these excuses - even when defensible - represent a likely reading of the text, as well as digging deeper into how the texts contradict each other in more obvious, unavoidable ways. I'll also look at examples of how apologists try to reconcile these.NOTE ON TELLING ME TO READ APOLOGETICS BOOKS BEFORE I CRITICIZE THESE IDEAS: Honestly, this is kind of a cop-out. In my experience apologetics books really aren’t any better than apologetics videos. They’re just more of the same thing pontificated about in a longer, more tedious format. If they WERE somehow just absolutely brilliant, we’d see at least SOME distillation of this brilliance surface in apologetics YouTube. But we don’t. And that’s a telling sign of whether apologetics books are worth my time. Sorry, but short form presentation is your chance to sell people on whether your book is worth reading. Books aren’t automatic homework I should have to do before criticizing your publicly expressed ideas.STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=yqvoszaVTGQ&t=9s
The Depths of Christianitys Cruelty | A Rebuke of@MikeWinger Prophet of Zod 2024-05-30 | If there's one thing worse than justifying the abstract idea of people going to hell, it's justifying the idea of specific people going to hell - especially if those people happen to be your closest loved ones. In this video, we're going to see Mike Winger tell a viewer how to feel good about (indeed, encouraged by) the fact that his family is going to hell.ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=7qUqgOZdUoQSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=yqvoszaVTGQ&t=9s
When Christians Try to Trick You Using Wordplay Prophet of Zod 2024-05-16 | A surprising amount of apologetics is just confusing people with an endless string of wordplay. You probably KNOW they're wrong, but they keep running you around with so many semantic twists and turns that it can be hard to pin them down on WHERE. Today we'll look at an example of that as we watch a guy named "JimBob" try to argue that it's impossible for anything to be "true" or "false" in a purely natural universe. His point is based on misusing words in a way that seems confusing at first, but once you see how he does it, the pointlessness of everything he says becomes incredibly obvious.ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=yqvoszaVTGQ&t=9sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Christians Try to Co-opt the Language of Skepticism Prophet of Zod 2024-05-02 | The idea of "deconstruction" is naturally threatening to Christians. In recent years, many former believers started coming out and talking about how they re-evaluated their faith and gave up traditional Christian belief or even belief in God. This seems to imply that Christianity doesn't stand up well to open inquiry, so naturally Christian speakers are going to have a motivation to counter this narrative. In today's video we'll watch Gavin of "Truth Unites" set out to do that. He tells his own version of a deconstruction story, but he does so with the stated goal of showing that deconstructing your faith can lead to STRONGER Christian belief. Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=hWmY_eyQoj4STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Christianity Attacks the Idea of Truth | A Response to My Old Pastor Prophet of Zod 2024-04-18 | Christians often claim that "the world" thinks everything is relative and that they're the only ones standing up for the idea of truth. But this is absolutely untrue. Not only does Christianity propose untrue things, but actively undermines the only reliable methods we have of inquiring into truth. This is especially dangerous in this current age of rampant misinformation. In this video, I will take a look at a sermon by my old pastor for an example of this.STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Christians Don’t Actually Believe the Bible | @bibleproject Response Prophet of Zod 2024-04-04 | Christians have a weird relationship with the Bible. They believe it's the totally perfect, inerrant word of God, but they also seem to think parts of it are dumb. At the very least, a lot of it doesn't fit their theology or their modern sensibilities. Thus they re-tell versions of Bible stories that are drastically different from what the Bible actually says. Today we will look at how @bibleproject does this with one of the stories Christians like to change the most: The Garden of Eden.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=TJLan-pJzfQSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkWebsite: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Christians Pretend Theyre Being Picked On Prophet of Zod 2024-03-21 | Christians like to feel like everybody's out to get them. That much is obvious. But when they're not actually being persecuted in any tangible way, one easy way to feel like they are is to act like any pushback against how they express themselves is an attempt to silence them. In this video, I respond to a video by a small channel called Faith & Reason claiming that people who don't like evangelism are picking on Christians.NOTE: I mention this in the video, but I do address behaviors like street preaching and door-to-door witnessing that the F&R did not advocate for and to some measure seemed to distance himself from. The reason is that he seems to be proposing this very passive form of "evangelism" that largely involves things like writing books and making videos. This confuses the conversation, because he's being vague about exactly what form of evangelism he thinks is appropriate and missing the point of why people get upset by it. When I address other behaviors, I'm not trying to change the subject or strawman his position. I'm trying to get the conversation back to the point and calling out the fact that he's not acknowledging what people really don't like about evangelism.The original video appears to have been made private, but here's a link to the channel: youtube.com/@faithnreason446/videos?view=0&sort=dd&shelf_id=0MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent).The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
The Armor of God is Stupid Prophet of Zod 2024-03-07 | The "Armor of God" is one of the most horrible concepts in Christianity. It might look like a cute illustration for kids - and the declaration that Christians use it to fight a battle against spiritual forces instead of people can make Christians sound like they're peacefully rising above human conflict. However, the illustration itself is incredibly vague, while the overall message is a call to a radicalized posture against all other ideas and people. In this video, I'll explore what happens when Christians try to flesh out what it means, as well as calling out the cult-like undertones of the whole thing.Tonight's Zodanza stream: youtube.com/watch?v=28MX6f9Jz4UORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=e6X-c3QcSX4MUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent.The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Reachers Christian YouTube Channel | Tour of @InstaChurch Prophet of Zod 2024-02-22 | I recently discovered that the actor who plays “Reacher” has a Christian YouTube channel. In this video, I take you on a tour of the channel, showing some of the highlights of the good, bad, and weird of what I discovered. It ends up being an interesting but kind of sad look at how religious assumptions can stunt the thinking of generally well-intentioned people.The videos I look at are:youtube.com/watch?v=g5cXvcpVfEoyoutube.com/watch?v=wEWEG16EeeQ&tyoutube.com/watch?v=xhbxSBJIBuE&tyoutube.com/watch?v=9QXyz2zU6xsMUSIC CREDITSThe opening and closing theme is based on "The Game is On" by @RossBugden (The song is royalty/copyright free and intended by the composer to be freely used by others. Any copyright claims made on the music are fraudulent.The arrangement used in this video was created for use on this channel by @FireflyProductions - Links at https://campsite.bio/clockworkkSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Jesus Sacrificing Himself Makes No Sense (Inspiring Philosophy Response) Prophet of Zod 2024-02-08 | Jesus dying on the cross for our sins is one of the weirdest aspects of Christianity. It's central to the religion's narrative, and at a glance it can feel emotionally impactful. But once you actually think about it, it makes no sense. God didn't HAVE TO send his son/himself to die. This was only a requirement because HE dreamed up the mechanics of blood sacrifice out of thin air because he wanted to.So how do you make sense of this? Most Christians just refer to it as something that had to be done or something inherent to God's nature, which is just ignoring the core problem. However, apologetic YouTuber InspiringPhilosophy actually acknowledges the nature of the problem and tries to untangle it. As I respond to this video, we'll see how impossible it is to make sense of why a perfect, loving God would sacrifice himself to himself to satisfy a requirement he came up with for forgiving sins.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=lNdf0PWnXyUSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITS
I Speedrun the Arguments for God Prophet of Zod 2024-01-25 | In this video, I try to speedrun all the arguments for God. I do this by replying to Redeemed Zoomer's video "ALL atheist arguments answered in 10 minutes." Since "atheist arguments" are just reasons for not believing in God, then answering atheist arguments would by definition involve presenting arguments for believing in God (or at least for opening up that possibility). Thus by replying to his video, I would be answering arguments for God. And if he indeed presented "all" the arguments for God, then my video would be speedrunning apologetics.This turned out being a really fun way for me to quickly compile a lot of my points against theism/Christianity, so I hope you enjoy it. I know this video has been done to death since I started working on this, but I hope you still enjoy it. LINKS:Paulogia's video about Gospel authorship: youtube.com/watch?v=svgM9Q84AFUMy "Dumb Things" video "Atheists Have Killed More People: youtube.com/watch?v=6JfTm29242A&t=2s Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=k02_gcrsnLs&tSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITS
Arguments for God are Just an Excuse for BLIND FAITH (according to a Christian) Prophet of Zod 2024-01-11 | Why do Christians believe in God? Is it because of blind faith? Because of arguments that clearly show he exists? Or maybe something in between?Today we'll watch Father Casey Cole ("Father Kenobi," from a previous video) discuss the roles of faith and evidence in the thinking of a Christian. He suggests a weird combination that waffles between the two, often in ways that appear contradictory - but when you stop and think about it, he seems to unintentionally capture a reality about how Christians think and converse. Join us live! Tonight's episode of Zodanza: youtube.com/live/EaQ9CoM8ogk?feature=shareOriginal Video: youtube.com/watch?v=T95ehAuV5wg&t=0sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITS
How Christians Just Make Stuff up About Hell Prophet of Zod 2023-12-28 | Today we’re going to watch Mike Winger try to justify hell. He does this in a very strange way, which is cycling through a lot of varying and often contradictory ideas about how hell works and trying to come up with ways each one is justified. It’s very strange, and in doing this Mike is implicitly admitting to something very obvious: He knows literally nothing about hell. He ASSUMES hell is true in some broad sense because he accepts the Bible as true at face value, but even then the Bible itself is unclear about hell. Winger himself admits this and expresses uncertainty about the nature of hell, so he just uses a series of assumptions about hell as hypothetical possibilities each of which serves to fit the excuse he’s currently on.It’s weird, but it illustrates a plain fact at the core of the hell narrative, which is that it’s just all made up. There’s absolutely no informed reason to think a hell exists, so worrying about it (or warning others about it) is totally pointless. More than that, each denomination, sub-denomination, and often individual Christian forms their own concept of hell that works for them. Once we realize how unserious the whole thing is, we can hopefully shed any lingering fears of hell and recognize that warnings/threats about it deserve nothing more than to be immediately and fully ignored.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=lFIKjt2WZ8wSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITS
How Christians Use Nitpicking to Cope with Atheism Prophet of Zod 2023-12-14 | Do we as atheists believe God does not exist? Or do we just lack belief? These kinds of questions really don't matter, and I don't care to split hairs over definitions. However, I DO care when Christians get pedantic about terminology to make us account for our exact level of disbelief, usually for the sake of reversing the burden of proof. So today I'm going to respond to a Christian who does just that. He has a very small channel, but his video is one of the best one-stop examples of all the ways Christians nitpick the terms of atheism.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=P9CVWolvygcSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITS
I Watched Gods Not Dead 4 Every Day for a Week Prophet of Zod 2023-11-22 | Last month, I watched God's Not Dead 4 every day for a week straight. In this video I analyze the movie and discuss what it told me about extremist Christian thinking in our society. This will be VERY different from most of my videos. I'm showing my face and not reading a script, so it will look and sound quite a bit different.The video is also quite long. I put a lot of detailed chapters for each topic I talked about so you can skip around to whatever interests you if you don't feel like watching the whole thing.In order to avoid the headaches of automated copyright flagging, I didn't use any audio or video clips from the movie._______________________________________________MORE NOTES ON THINGS I WANTED TO SAY BUT DIDN'T HAVE TIME FOR:HOMESCHOOL SPORTS: This movie is set in Arkansas, which allowed districts to include students and now requires school districts to include homeschool students in sports and to transfer in credits earned while homeschooling. This movie is obscure about its setting, but this shows how utterly sloppy it is with its facts. Also, Dave says homeschooler families should be able to participate because they paid taxes (dinner and dessert). That’s not how it works at all. It’s not like everybody who pays taxes can participate in high school sports, because there are rules for enrollment and residency, right. This is a transparent example of just how totally unserious this movie is.COMMON CORE: This movie acts like Common Core is the first set of national educational guidelines and thus some major overreach by a controlling secular Federal government. This is simply not true. Various forms of educational guidelines have been getting set up on the Federal level for decades - and Common Core isn’t even one of them! The Federal government was not involved in Common Core. It’s a set of guidelines set up by a co-op of state and local governments, and it was offered as something states/districts could voluntarily opt in to in order to meet existing educational standards. This movie is as demonstrably wrong about Common Core as your average drunk uncle ranting at Thanksgiving. It’s embarrassing.YET *ANOTHER* NOTE ABOUT MINORITY CHARACTERS: One thing I didn’t say explicitly enough is that I don’t mean to imply that minorities lack their own sense of political agency and cannot choose to adopt the conservative points of view espoused by this movie. The point is just that IN THIS CASE, we are clearly looking at a situation where minority characters are reciting lines from white writers (Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman).MUSLIMS IN THIS MOVIE: Compared to earlier movies (especially God's Not Dead 1), this one appears to be trying to come to an uneasy truce with Islam in the battle against non-believers. References are made to the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China, and Ayisha's father is shown in a much more sympathetic light. Of course that sympathy is shown alongside some kind of growing recognition of and drift toward Christianity, so..._______________________________________________00:00 Introduction02:23 Sunday: Thoughts before watching03:35 Sunday - First reaction: The opening montage 04:36 Sunday - First reaction: The movie escalates quickly!06:44 Sunday - First reaction: Public schools and militaristic/civil war rhetoric11:09 Sunday - First reaction: Are kids parent property or public property?12:09 Sunday - First reaction: Mean atheist Congressmen and the “Christianity is true vs there is no truth” false dichotomy14:28 Sunday - First reaction: “We the People” and Christians pretending they don’t want religion to be an issue 17:46 Monday - The movie’s idealistic portrayal of homeschooling24:32 Tuesday - Funny random things about the movie29:25 Wednesday - The story of a homeschool kid and his “girlfriend”38:42 Wednesday - The story of chain email character “poor mom” and her surprise twist52:01 Thursday - This movie is starting to wear on me!54:42 Thursday - Martin and Ayisha recite Christian talking points01:07:31 Thursday - Mister Smith goes to Washington and discovers mean atheists01:17:24 Friday - A few more funny random things before I watch01:20:41 Friday - How the movie represents public schools01:29:55 Friday - The movie’s bad guys (the social worker)01:38:25 Friday - The movie’s bad guys (Congressmen)01:42:41 Saturday - The movie’s apologetics01:58:36 Saturday - The hidden aggression of Evangelicalism02:08:32 Saturday - The court cases in the end credits02:13:19 ConclusionSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Why Christianity Cant Understand Other Religions Prophet of Zod 2023-11-02 | Christians tend to believe some pretty ugly things about people in other religions. Part of this is just simple in-group thinking, but part of it comes from their religion's narrative about "unbelievers." This video explores that phenomenon by examining Allen Parr's thoughts on why so much of the Jewish population did not convert to Christianity. He expresses a strange level of puzzlement that overlooks the obvious: That other people feel about their religion what Christians feel about Christianity. Weird, right?TONIGHT'S Q&A STREAM ON ZODANZA: youtube.com/live/3ftIElAPh5g?feature=shareOriginal Video: youtube.com/watch?v=XspdYlpifkc&t=44sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITS
Why Christians Cant Explain Free Will Prophet of Zod 2023-10-19 | Apologists love saying that atheists have no way to explain free will - which is strange, because it’s practically impossible to reconcile their concept of God with free will. If he made everything knowing what would come of his act of creation, then not only are our fates determined, but he decided what we would and wouldn’t do before we ever existed. It’s hard if not impossible to resolve this problem. So for fun, today we’ll watch Frank Turek try to dance around it. His attempt will be similar to (though not identical to) those made by other Christians. The reason is obvious: You can just declare God gives us free will, but you can’t explain HOW. Or at least I’ve never heard a Christian take the first step toward actually explaining how.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=kKKiqvF-_pcSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITS
J Warner Wallace Responds To My Video (And Makes Things Even Worse) Prophet of Zod 2023-09-28 | After I revealed signs that Wallace was not a cold case detective before his conversion, he responded in an interview with Greg Koukl. For the most part he rambled through a lot of really vague excuses that didn’t tell us much about when he started working cold cases - the primary one being that he worked cold cases collaterally before becoming an official cold case detective.Today I will respond by doing two things:First, I will sample ways that Wallace seems to inflate his cold case experience through insinuation while trying to avoid direct claims.And second, I will break down Wallace’s response to examine whether his “I worked cold cases before being a cold case detective” holds up under scrutiny. I’ll be looking not only at how TECHNICALLY true it seems to be but at whether it aligns with the spirit of what he suggests to his audience when promoting himself.My original look into Wallace’s timeline: youtube.com/watch?v=_TA5_lisYNkWallace’s interview with Koukl: youtube.com/watch?v=aQrxjNVpdfM&t=262sWallace’s book promo screenshot in the video: coldcasechristianity.com/alive-by-j-warner-wallaceWallace’s blog post screenshot in the video: http://coldcasechristianity.com/2016/when-we-spend-more-time-arguing-about-how-to-make-the-case-than-we-spend-making-the-caseThe Alisa Childers blog post screenshot in the video:alisachildersblog.com/blog/from-atheism-to-christianity-a-homicide-detectives-journey-with-j-warner-wallace-alisa-childers-podcast-10Greg Koukl’s interview with Wallace (where Wallace responds to me): youtube.com/watch?v=aQrxjNVpdfM&t=549sInformation on time needed to become a detective in California:allcriminaljusticedegrees.com/how-to-become-a-detective-in-california/#:~:text=It%20depends%20on%20how%20and,and%20have%20an%20excellent%20profile.detectiveedu.org/californiaDaily Breeze article placing the Terry Hollis case in 2000: dailybreeze.com/2019/09/12/the-terri-lynn-hollis-murder-investigation-a-47-year-timelineSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
How Christians Try to Explain Away the Unforgivable Sin Prophet of Zod 2023-09-07 | Many Christians struggle with the idea of the "unforgivable sin" of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. What does this mean? How do you commit it? How do you AVOID committing it? Can you know you haven't already committed it? It's hard to give good answers for any of these questions, because Jesus only briefly describes it in the vaguest of terms, and then that's it. The Bible never again says a word about it.This leaves Christians stuck with weird idea that doesn't seem to fit with the rest of their theology or their understanding of God's character. It also leaves a lot of believers in a perpetual state of fear. So what do they do? Well, most of them try to define it out of existence, to the point that they no longer have to confront the actual idea of an "unforgivable sin." Today we'll watch a video from "Impact Ministries" doing that exact thing.Origial Video: youtube.com/watch?v=uIb7zvS5cIsSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
How Christianity Warped My Thinking Prophet of Zod 2023-08-17 | How much does Christianity affect the way you think and act, even after you leave the faith? It's a question that's worth thinking about. The religion can get deep in our heads and fill us with all kinds of biases, attitudes, and mental shortcuts that stick with us even as atheists. In this video I examine my immersion in Christion education and talk about a few ways it affected my thinking.STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
Investigating J Warner Wallaces Back Story Prophet of Zod 2023-07-27 | J Warner Wallace claims that he was an atheist who used his cold case detective experience to determine that Jesus was God. This is obviously an absurd story for the simple fact that training in police work doesn't qualify a person to analyze ancient texts. But even if it did, we're faced with a bigger question: Was Wallace even a detective when he converted to Christianity? He says he was - but a look into his history brings up questions about how true this claim is and casts doubt on his entire narrative of investigating his way into Christianity. In this video, I will discuss the overall plausibility of his "I used to be an atheist" back story as well as sharing information I found about his police career and how it lines up with his conversion and apologetics career.SUBSCRIBE TO ZODANZA: youtube.com/@Zodanza******WALLACE'S ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=fwdhe-G0LFo&t=250sOTHER MATERIALS REFERENCED IN THIS VIDEO:Wallace's official back story - coldcasechristianity.com/j-warner-wallace-christian-apologist-and-authorThe resolution commending Wallace (gives the timeline of his career): torrance.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&clip_id=10466&meta_id=184210More official back story, including the list of police jobs Wallace did: coldcasechristianity.com/book-me-for-your-eventArticles claiming Wallace had been a detective/cold case investigator before becoming a Christian:- coldcasechristianity.com/alive-by-j-warner-wallace (References cold case work and then pivots to general investigative work before he was a Christian)- coldcasechristianity.com/writings/when-we-spend-more-time-arguing-about-how-to-make-the-case-than-we-spend-making-the-case (Claims he'd been investigating Cold Cases by 1990 - 17 years before he'd joined the unit and two years after becoming a police officer!)- alisachildersblog.com/blog/from-atheism-to-christianity-a-homicide-detectives-journey-with-j-warner-wallace-alisa-childers-podcast-10 (A blog post by Alisia Childers claiming Wallace had been a cold case detective when he searched for Christianity. This isn't official Cold Case Christianity material, but this blog is heavily endorsed by CCC).Information on Torrance's demographics/wealth (similar information is commonly available): datausa.io/profile/geo/torrance-caThe article on Torrance police having a lot of spare time for cold cases: dailybreeze.com/2015/05/31/torrance-has-resources-to-solve-homicides-tackle-cold-casesA document showing Wallace's name on an apologetics organization that was started in 2004 (apparently before he'd been a cold case detective): orgcouncil.com/ein/200314955News articles on cases Wallace was involved in (not cited in this video):- latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jun-25-me-torrance25-story.html - presstelegram.com/2011/06/21/jury-convicts-long-beach-man-of-1985-murder- latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-oct-27-me-kfc27-story.html- ocregister.com/2017/03/14/orange-county-mans-conviction-in-1979-murder-upheld/amp- nbclosangeles.com/news/local/more-than-30-years-later-search-begins-for-body-of-torrance-woman-lubahn-clark/2058877/?amp=1STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
Blaming Atheists for Gods Hiddenness Prophet of Zod 2023-07-13 | The problem of Divine Hiddenness pretty clearly falsifies most Christians' concept of God. There's really no good way to account for why an all-knowing, all-powerful god wants us to know him wouldn't clearly reveal that he exists. So how does Mike Winger address this problem? He goes all in on slandering the intentions of non-believers, then turns around and gaslights them about the fact that he'd just done it. It's bizarre, but it reflects a tactic you may have encountered when being confronted by Christians about your non-belief. If you've ever faced insinuations that you don't sincerely believe and then felt like your accuser was blaming you or otherwise trying to muddy the waters, hopefully seeing it play out in this video will be helpful for you.MINDSHIFT'S TAKE ON WINGER'S VIDEO - GO CHECK IT OUT! - youtube.com/watch?v=KO9IxzjnCIo&t=598sMIKE'S ORIGINAL VIDEO: Go ahead and watch it if you feel like it, I guess - youtube.com/watch?v=IDgZ5JPI6kM&t=0sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
The Christian Says in his Heart, There is no Atheist Prophet of Zod 2023-06-22 | There's a trend among some Christians to deny the very existence of atheists. It's not enough to say that atheists are wrong about God. They say that people who claim to be atheists actually deep down know God exists but pretend he doesn't or somehow subconsciously suppress the knowledge in their hearts. There are various reasons for this. For one, it makes an easy rhetorical strategy for dealing with ideas they don't want to confront. Also, there are aspects of Christian doctrine that can encourage this thinking in some people. Parts of the Bible (such as Romans 1:20) speak ill of non-believers and claim they are suppressing truth in unrighteousness - and overall, it's hard to come to terms with sincere nonbelief when you believe in a God who is all powerful, wants everybody to believe, and condemns those who don't to eternal torment.Today we'll be focusing on the consequences this kind of thinking, namely how it encourages some Christians to engage in unconstructive conversations with atheists and others in "The World."Original Video -youtube.com/watch?v=9jwOhlPI1nc&t=567sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
How Christians Roleplay Being Free Thinkers Prophet of Zod 2023-06-08 | Christians love to think of themselves as free thinkers. It feels more validating (and sounds better) than accepting what you were taught on blind faith. Thus I've notice a trend, which is that believers like to mimic apologetics by rote as if they were arguments they discovered on some open-ended personal search for truth. This clearly isn't the case. These arguments are not only bad, but are fed directly into church culture by professional apologists and get repeated word-for-word by average Christians. Today I'll examine an example of this reviewing a video by two young people apparently taking their first jab at apologetics. The video is less about arguments for God than it is about telling a story of finding these arguments independently without the help of apologists - and I just find that totally fascinating.PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO ZODANZA! - youtube.com/channel/UC-hvgnoY8Hv_NXTH9L4nFTAOriginal Video - youtube.com/watch?v=4xqQ6GdUkCc&t=2sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
The Inherent Evasiveness of Apologetics Prophet of Zod 2023-05-18 | At its core, apologetics is an exercise in excuse making. Its whole purpose is to rationalize a set of beliefs that Christians are already invested in. Methodology doesn't matter. The goal is not open exploration. All that matters is fending off doubts, and this must be done at all costs. Thus apologists develop an instinct to be automatically evasive on any topic that sounds like it will challenge their established faith. In this video, I examine an interesting case study in this phenomenon, which is Mike Winger's response to a series of objections to belief in God. The objections bring up real issues with the Chrisitan faith, but they tend to be imprecise with their language, often overreach by claiming that they PROVE God does not exist. This presents Mike with a choice. He could thoughtfully engage with the real issues at hand, or he could dismiss them based on technicalities since the goal is evasion at all costs. How he response when given an easy out tells us a LOT about apologetics.The original video: youtube.com/watch?v=8LSI_NplhY4STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)MUSIC CREDITSThe metal version of my theme music is by Katy Montgomerie: youtube.com/watch?v=sDiyTAg9b5wOriginal version of the song is "The Game is On" by Ross Bugden: youtube.com/watch?v=5dasaVm7L-Y
Why the Historicity of Jesus is Nonsensical Prophet of Zod 2023-05-04 | The question of whether a historical Jesus existed triggers a lot of angry debate even among atheists. This seems like a strange and counterproductive fixation. Once we've agreed that Jesus wasn't the supernatural son of God, who cares whether there was some guy at the core of the story?But I'd suggest that the problem with historicity debates runs even deeper than that, to the extent that a yes/no question about whether Jesus existed doesn't even make that much sense. The depiction of Jesus in the Gospels is riddled with so many stories ranging from questionable to absurd that they probably didn't come from the life of a real life person - and this includes natural as well as supernatural stories. So when you start ruling out or at least questioning these stories, it starts to look like the actual question is not "Did a historical Jesus exist?" but rather "Would it be semantically defensible to call any historical person 'Jesus?'"This video is an attempt to delve into the challenges I see with getting our hands on the very concept of a historical Jesus. It's from a layperson's perspective with the goal of helping other laypeople recognize how muddy this topic is even on a common sense level, so I recognize the limitations of what I'm doing and would encourage anybody interested in this to explore more scholarly work on this. If the ideas I brought up help to frame your journey, that's great. If not, then please make sure to leave a dislike and make negative comments.My thoughts on this topic are heavily inspired by Aron Ra's video "Jesus Wasn't Jesus." I'd encourage you to check it out. youtube.com/watch?v=6lqC8fvIspYSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Escalating Threats of Hell Prophet of Zod 2023-04-13 | We all know that threatening non-believers with hell is a favorite tactic of Christianity. But for some Christian leaders, that's not enough. Some need to extend these threats to Christians who believe differently than they do. Enter Allen Parr: A Christian YouTuber who claims that unless you hear HIS interpretation of scripture - and watch his video to the end (of course) - you may die thinking you're saved yet wake up to a horrible wake-up call.A lot of Christian leaders like to do this. It gives them something to hold over the heads of Christians as well as non-believers and makes people dependent on them to find salvation. But this has some horrible implications and suggests the Bible is inadequate for providing instructions for salvation. Watch as I explore this idea by breaking down Allen's video.ORIGINAL VIDEO: youtube.com/watch?v=7q456jePv6ISTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Christians Deduce Atheists Must Be Depressed Prophet of Zod 2023-03-30 | Have you ever wondered how atheists could have any hope at all when the universe doesn't care about them and they won't live forever? It seems like a lot of Christians do. In fact some Christians don't just wonder how we have hope; they decide we couldn't POSSIBLY have hope. After all, isn't hope impossible if we're just going to die someday? And since the universe isn't going to give us a hug and tell us it loves us, then who will? Other people? Puh-shaw. If you interact with Christians, there's a good chance you've heard it before and will hear it again. In this video, I address these claims by responding to that famous old video by Mark Driscoll about the despair of atheism. Hopefully you get something from it or at least enjoy watching Driscoll just be the absolute worst.The original video is no longer online. Boo-freaking-hoo.STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
The Horror of Life in Christian School | My Deconversion Story, Part 3 Prophet of Zod 2023-03-16 | In this video I give a peek into the bizarre world of Christian school. It's hard to fully convey what it's like growing up in one and how deeply different it is from being educated in the secular world. The experience is almost like growing up in an alternate reality where rules based on magical concerns, children are urged to love a being they can't see, and the outside world is cast as a weird, evil, dangerous place. Because this is such a huge topic that could be approached from practically infinite angles, I'm going to focus on the two priorities the school focused on: Getting us to show strong emotion for God and to please God with our actions. I'll show how these goals lead to teachers expecting developmentally inappropriate and arguably impossible behavior out of kids, creating a horribly stressful environment to grow up in. I'll also touch on how the very concept of religious education is dangerously unpredictable, leaving children at the mercy of whatever crosses the minds of superstitious adults.In my next deconversion video, I'll go into how the academic and disciplinary nature of Christian education affected my thinking.STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Christian Strategies for Avoiding Most of the Bible Prophet of Zod 2023-02-23 | We all know most Christians don’t read the Bible much. It’s kind of a chore, and getting around to that kind of reading is as hard for them as it is for anybody else. But there’s more to it than that. Even when they DO read, they tend toward the same miniscule samples of the text, and it seems like modern Christianity as an institution goes out of its way to systematically encourage them to do so. In this video, I’m going to analyze how Dustin of Hope Through Prophecy does just that. His style is corny in all the usual fun ways, but most of his strategies for approaching the Bible - from starting at Proverbs or the Gospels to using yearly reading plans to vague platitudes about how to apply it to your life - are pretty typical of Christianity as I’ve encountered it. So I hope you enjoy.I was going to do the next video in my deconversion story, but that’s been a very involved process and I’ve been feeling just rough enough that my pace has slowed a little. I hope to get back to it soon.ORIGINAL VIDEO: (It's disappeared, as far as I can tell. I'm not sure why.)STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
When Christians Say Atheists Just Deny God Prophet of Zod 2023-02-02 | The question of what to do with atheists is a tricky one for Christians. On one hand, it seems like the obvious thing to do would be to just recognize it as a difference of opinion and proceed with polite conversation. But on the other hand, this idea doesn't line up well with Christianity. Not only does the Bible say we're insincere, but for us to be mistaken would mean that God either can't or doesn't want to make himself known to us - and neither idea works for Christians. In light of this, we're going to see an apologist and what I assume is his sidekick address this problem in the pretty standard way: Which is essentially by calling us self-deluded liars.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=uZvF2eYXXqw&t=518sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Apologetics Sabotages Relationships Prophet of Zod 2023-01-19 | What do you do if your friends or family disagree with you about religion? I can think of all kinds of advice for how to set religious questions aside and recognize the right times to bring them up carefully and tactfully. Additionally, I would suggest not approaching others with an agenda such as conversion or deconversion. Greg Koukl, on the other hand, has way worse advice that will only create frustration for Christians and make them obnoxious to those around them. Part of this might just be that Greg himself has a poor understanding of communication and relationships - but I see underlying problems with the field of Christian apologetics that contributes to the problem, as it presents a narrative and an expectation of atheists that makes conversation nearly impossible.Original Video: youtube.com/watch?v=SFySUrle1Fw&t=134sSTUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
My Relationship with God | My Deconversion Story, Part 2 Prophet of Zod 2022-12-29 | What is a “relationship with God?” How does a person develop one? What would it mean for an atheist to have ever had one? In this video, the second in the series on my deconversion story, I describe how I struggled with and eventually came to have what I understood to be a “relationship with God.” I do my best to honestly describe what was happening in my head when I felt God’s presence, as well as how the ideas I was brought up with and the relationships I had with adults in my life helped drive my concept of God. I’m sure there will be some Christians who claim this is a lie or that my encounters with God were a false version of a true thing for any number of reasons. I get that, and I can understand how this video can be touchy for believers. The experience of encountering God is how he presents himself to you, so for me to describe my experience in clinical terms and suggest it was something other than that can feel like an attack on something important to you. But I’m not trying to falsify your ideas. And if you want me to hear your story without automatically telling you your experiences are fake or you’re a liar, you need to offer atheists the same courtesy. I hope you can hear this with an open mind.NOTE:In discussing this topic, I want to make one thing clear about my parents. They raised me in a Christian environment because it’s what they knew, just like I - for a time - raised my kids in a similar environment, because it’s what I’d known. But they always provided me a loving, secure home and have since accepted me as a non-believer, and I have a great relationship with them to this day. I had better parents than most people (religious or not) will ever be lucky to have, and in recent years, other people I grew up with have told me they envied me and loved the chance to come to our house when we were kids. It seems like a lot of parents in our church circle were pretty horrifying, but the home environment fostered by my parents was so loving that it really stuck out to other kids from church. Even though this video portrays me as pretty sheltered, a lot of that was a natural consequence of the community we were a part of. I wanted to make that clear, because these things can automatically come off as an indictment of a person’s parents.------------------------------------STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Christianity Got into My Head | My Deconversion Story, Part 1 Prophet of Zod 2022-12-15 | This is the first video in which I explore my time in the Christian faith and my process of deconverting. In this one, I look back at how the religion was integrated into my thinking in the earliest years of my life. Along with recounting my first impressions of Christianity and how I remember it being incorporated into my education, I talk about how I was never really introduced to the religion - and how that very phrase is inadequate to describe the experience of being brought up in a faith since infancy. Christianity feels as natural as every other part of life when you’ve known it since birth, and as a result a child can be radicalized by the mindset they’re trained in even before they’ve been taught anything overtly severe.This concludes with how I was introduced to the person of Jesus (as a concept), which leads into my next video, which will be about my tortured “relationship with Christ.”NOTE:In discussing this topic, I want to make one thing clear about my parents. They raised me in a Christian environment because it’s what they knew, just like I - for a time - raised my kids in a similar environment, because it’s what I’d known. But they always provided me a loving, secure home and have since accepted me as a non-believer, and I have a great relationship with them to this day. I had better parents than most people (religious or not) will ever be lucky to have, and in recent years, other people I grew up with have told me they envied me and loved the chance to come to our house when we were kids. It seems like a lot of parents in our church circle were pretty horrifying, but the home environment fostered by my parents was so loving that it really stuck out to other kids from church. Even though this video portrays me as pretty sheltered, a lot of that was a natural consequence of the community we were a part of. I wanted to make that clear, because these things can automatically come off as an indictment of a person’s parents.
Why Christians Will Never be Able to Explain Prayer Prophet of Zod 2022-12-01 | What is the purpose of prayer supposed to be? If God is all powerful and all-knowing and has a plan for the entire universe, how does it make any logical sense to ask him for anything? Are you going to change his mind and get him to do something he wouldn't have otherwise? Bring a problem to his attention that he wasn't aware of? It's pretty clear that, given the current Christian concept of God, prayer is just flatly logically incoherent. I've heard Christians tentatively babble their way around this, but I rarely hear sustained attempts at explaining what prayer is supposed to do. Today, I will treat you to a video where a guy named Nate with a channel called "Wise Disciple" gives it his best shot. It's very telling - not only in terms of his personal inability to make the case, but in illustrating why Christians don't (and probably can't) themselves.Original video: youtube.com/watch?v=Db9DK-dApN0&t=280s------------------------------------STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Psychic Frauds vs Biblical Prophecy | Voddie Proves the Bible Again, Part 4 Prophet of Zod 2022-11-10 | Christians love the claim that the Bible is proven through fulfilled prophecy. Whether they've looked closely at these actual "prophecies" or have just picked up a general sense that this claim is true by hanging around churches, they tend to believe that it predicted the future in pretty unmistakable ways that MUST have been the work of writers inspired by God. Most often, this comes in the form of the Old Testament predicting the coming of Jesus (nothing inherently problematic there, right?). So if this is true, why don't skeptics believe? Do they just ignore all this prophetic evidence because they don't WANT God to be true? Or are these "prophecies" not all they're cracked up to be?In today's video, we'll wrap up my "Voddie Proves the Bible Again" series by examining what he presents as an exemplar of Biblical prophecy as well as briefly deconstructing his bad stand-up comedy routine.This is part three of a short series in which I break down a more in-depth presentation by Voddie Bacham trying to prove the Bible is true. It's as much an examination of the phenomenon of Biblical apologetics as a refutation of the arguments.Voddie's Presentation: youtube.com/watch?v=G1XJ7DeR5fc&t=2144sMy original "Voddie Proves the Bible" series:Part 1: Paul's 500 Eyewitnesses - youtube.com/watch?v=6ibcKbvlx3I&t=98sPart 2: A Fistful of Manuscripts - youtube.com/watch?v=Acbssyx-3PU&t=143sPart 3: Older Isn't Better - youtube.com/watch?v=8zzgnX7w2MEPart 4: There's More Evidence for Jesus than for Ceasar - youtube.com/watch?v=8zzgnX7w2MEPart 5: Bad Voddie -youtube.com/watch?v=tW9XUos5_fk_____________________________________STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
Why Biblical Manuscripts Dont Matter | Voddie Proves the Bible Again, Pt 3 Prophet of Zod 2022-11-03 | If you've ever heard a pastor explain why people should believe in Christianity, it's almost inevitable that New Testament manuscripts came up. After all, there are more ancient copies of the New Testament than of any other book in history, right? And no other document dates closer to the time of the event it's describing, right? So since these are the measures by which historians decide whether something happened, the life, miracles, and resurrection of Jesus are the best attested events in history... right? Thus Jesus is real and God and any rational person would be a Christian.Or is it really that simple? In this video, I discuss some of the more common ways believers have come to misunderstand the basics of history after having been subjected to the fast-talking, result-targeted routines of apologists.This is part three of a short series in which I break down a more in-depth presentation by Voddie Bacham trying to prove the Bible is true. It's as much an examination of the phenomenon of Biblical apologetics as a refutation of the arguments.Voddie's Presentation: youtube.com/watch?v=G1XJ7DeR5fc&t=2144sMy original "Voddie Proves the Bible" series:Part 1: Paul's 500 Eyewitnesses - youtube.com/watch?v=6ibcKbvlx3I&t=98sPart 2: A Fistful of Manuscripts - youtube.com/watch?v=Acbssyx-3PU&t=143sPart 3: Older Isn't Better - youtube.com/watch?v=8zzgnX7w2MEPart 4: There's More Evidence for Jesus than for Ceasar - youtube.com/watch?v=8zzgnX7w2MEPart 5: Bad Voddie -youtube.com/watch?v=tW9XUos5_fk_____________________________________STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
How Christians Exaggerate the Bibles Historical Reliability | Voddie Proves the Bible Again Pt 2 Prophet of Zod 2022-10-27 | In this video, I address Voddie's arguments for why the Bible is "A reliable collection of historical documents." What they amount to is bits of wordplay in which he takes aspects of the Bible that SOUND related to the idea of historical reliability and passes them off as reasons to accept the Bible as absolutely inerrant. At a glance, it can sound compelling to non-historians who are either invested in the Bible or caught off guard, but once you break it down, it's blatantly absurd.This is part two of a short series in which I break down a more in-depth presentation by Voddie Bacham trying to prove the Bible is true. It's as much an examination of the phenomenon of Biblical apologetics as a refutation of the arguments.Voddie's Presentation: youtube.com/watch?v=G1XJ7DeR5fc&t=2144sMy original "Voddie Proves the Bible" series:Part 1: Paul's 500 Eyewitnesses - youtube.com/watch?v=6ibcKbvlx3I&t=98sPart 2: A Fistful of Manuscripts - youtube.com/watch?v=Acbssyx-3PU&t=143sPart 3: Older Isn't Better - youtube.com/watch?v=8zzgnX7w2MEPart 4: There's More Evidence for Jesus than for Ceasar - youtube.com/watch?v=8zzgnX7w2MEPart 5: Bad Voddie -youtube.com/watch?v=tW9XUos5_fk_____________________________________STUFF ABOUT ME AND WHERE TO FIND MEMy Patreon: patreon.com/prophetofzodMy Facebook: facebook.com/Prophet-of-ZodMy Twitter: twitter.com/Prophet_of_ZodMy Email: poz@prophetofzod.comMy mailing address:PO Box 773024Eagle River, AK 99577Website: www.prophetofzod.com (Still under construction, but you can find a little merch and an incomplete set of links to my back library)
