Aggressive Atheism - YouTube

[anEvilAtheist]

I am a regular on YouTube and I see that it has become quite a hub for atheists. It’s like their meeting place. I am shocked at some of the ignorance. Do you have any idea how many atheists I’ve talked with that have said they think Jesus Christ is a myth, even though their is a historical consensus among Scholars that Jesus Christ was a historical man. Simple things like that. Biblical interpretation etc.

I’m sure many atheists would say they are shocked by the ignorance of Christians. I don’t think many Christians can actually explain why they believe what they believe. But I don’t think religion is unique; I think that in a lot of areas people generally have pretty bad reasons for why they believe what they do (I know there are plenty of areas where my opinions are not terribly well informed).

There are indeed a lot of atheists who believe that Jesus didn’t even exist as a man, but I doubt many of them have actually looked into it. Stuff like Acharya S and Zeitgeist is ridiculous. Without good reason to think that Jesus did not exist, the gospels provide evidence that he probably did. Given the gospels, the burden of proof is on those who say that Jesus did not exist.

But that doesn’t prove that the scholars who say that Jesus did not exist are wrong. It’s possible that those who choose to devote their lives to studying the historical Jesus or the bible would be less inclined to think that it’s all made up even if the evidence leaned slightly in that direction (and even if this isn’t the case, the majority is not always right). I used to be a little more arrogant in denouncing the Jesus myth theory, but now I’ve realized that I should probably read the arguments that more respected scholars like Robert M. Price give in favor of the Jesus myth theory before being so confident that it’s wrong. But based on my present knowledge, I’d say there’s good reason to think that Jesus existed and I think most atheists who believe in the Jesus myth theory probably have no good reasons for doing so.

It’s sad. I’m sure not all atheists are like that, but nearly all the atheists I’ve talked with lack knowledge of simple things like history of religions etc. The say all religion, and in particular CHRISTIANITY, Christianity is always the targeted religion, as mumbo jumbo, superstition etc. Very rarely have I seen an atheist try to actually argue FOR atheism. It’s mainly just put-downs for religion, and as I said before, mainly Christianity. Throwing random Bible verses around is another thing that is popular.

I think it makes sense why atheists focus on Christianity. For many of them, it is the religion they know best, and it’s also the religion whose beliefs have the biggest effect on their lives.

Another thing I’ve noticed, athiests typically don’t have to do much to get many subscribers. Christians on there have to work a lot harder. There are some very intelligent Christians on YouTube though, working their way through the rest of the garbage:

Father Barron (Catholic Priest): youtube.com/user/wordonfirevideo

KabaneTheChristian - youtube.com/user/KabaneTheChristian

lovejesusplz - youtube.com/user/lovejesusplz

UNFFwildcard - youtube.com/user/UNFFwildcard

drcraigvideos (Videos of Dr. Craig, his debates etc. He is probably the best Christian debater out there right now) - youtube.com/user/drcraigvideos

Christianjr4 ( WILLIAM LANE CRAIG DEBATES, LECTURES, AND MORE) -

youtube.com/user/Christianjr4

Thanks for the links; I’ll check them out. The only ones of those I had previously subscribed to were drcraigvideos and Christianjr4. By the way, since you seem to like replying to atheists on Youtube, you might want to check out SisyphusRedeemed. I’ve found a lot of his videos pretty interesting.

 

[seeker44]

I think it makes sense why atheists focus on Christianity. For many of them, it is the religion they know best, and it’s also the religion whose beliefs have the biggest effect on their lives.

Also, Christianity and Judaism are probably the most under attack because of the Problem of Evil. Even Bart Ehrman (God’s Problem), despite his problems with the transmission of Scripture, seems to have become an agnostic mainly to not finding an answer to how an all-loving, all-powerful and all-loving God could allow so much evil and suffering in the world to continue–so many bad things happen to good people! Randy Alcorn in his book about faith in the midst of suffering and evil, If God Is Good, says:

“German playwright Georg Buchner (1813-37) called the problem of evil ‘the rock of atheism.’ Atheists point to the problem of evil as proof that the God of the Bible doesn’t exist. Every day the ancient argument gets raised in college philosophy classes, coffee shops, dinner discussions, e-mail exchanges, blogs, talk shows, and best-selling books.” (p. 11)

I wonder if the problem of evil is a “problem” for Islam, Budhists, Hindus, and other belief systems. Christianity presents a God who sent His Son in the form of a man to suffer and die a horrible death for the sins of humankind. If God exists, and the Christian message is true, why did God decide on the sacrifice of His Son to redeem the world, and why does He allow pain and suffering to continue. To Christian believers it is a mystery; to non-believers it’s all foolishness.

 

[stenlis]

I think it makes sense why atheists focus on Christianity. For many of them, it is the religion they know best, and it’s also the religion whose beliefs have the biggest effect on their lives.

Also, Christianity and Judaism are probably the most under attack because of the Problem of Evil. Even Bart Ehrman (God’s Problem), despite his problems with the transmission of Scripture, seems to have become an agnostic mainly to not finding an answer to how an all-loving, all-powerful and all-loving God could allow so much evil and suffering in the world to continue–so many bad things happen to good people! Randy Alcorn in his book about faith in the midst of suffering and evil, If God Is Good, says:

“German playwright Georg Buchner (1813-37) called the problem of evil ‘the rock of atheism.’ Atheists point to the problem of evil as proof that the God of the Bible doesn’t exist. Every day the ancient argument gets raised in college philosophy classes, coffee shops, dinner discussions, e-mail exchanges, blogs, talk shows, and best-selling books.” (p. 11)

I wonder if the problem of evil is a “problem” for Islam, Budhists, Hindus, and other belief systems. Christianity presents a God who sent His Son in the form of a man to suffer and die a horrible death for the sins of humankind. If God exists, and the Christian message is true, why did God decide on the sacrifice of His Son to redeem the world, and why does He allow pain and suffering to continue. To Christian believers it is a mystery; to non-believers it’s all foolishness.

I’m quite sure the problem of evil does not apply to Hinduism and Buddhism. In their view the suffering ones are being punished for their misdeeds in their previous lives.

For me, the strongest argument against Christian god is the argument from non-belief. See youtube.com/watch?v=JF_lK7BxmNU

When I duscuss the problem of evil with christians, it always seem to end with a variation of ‘we cannot understand God and his cosmic plans and therefore we just don’t understand why suffering is good’.

 

[Leela]

I don’t know that Dawkins would say that all religious sentiment is delusional. He has no beaf, for example, with the God of Einstein. But some religious beliefs are delusional.

For example, recently someone I know disclosed to his mother that he does not believe in God. The mother was in tearful hysterics like you would not believe. She could not eat, sleep, or properly digest food. She was near suicidal. Why? She was scared to death that her beloved son would not be with her in heaven.I would certainly say that this woman was suffering greatly and her suffering was caused by her delusion. Incorrect beliefs do not generally cause such suffering, but ones like this that do are indeed correctly called delusions. Nonbelievers like myself have a lot of compassion for such people as this mother. We want to somehow free her of her suffering. I doubt that a book like The God Delusion is the answer or that it was even intended as an answer. It is instead a diagnosis of the problem of religious bamboozlement.

If you can’t see it in the above example, I’m sure you would recognize the delusion that would be the only explanation of why many mothers we have heard about would do anything for the welfare of her child but still refuse medical treatment and insist on prayer as the only way to cure her child’s grave illness. In such circumstances, the government rightly steps in to protect the child from the mother’s religious delusion.

On the other hand, a mother gives birth and in her joy praises God for this great gift would not be called delusional by anyone. A sense of gratitude and wonder and rejoicing in life is a beautiful thing. Whether or not God exists, praising God in this way is no delusion. Beliefs only become delsuions when they are false and also cause psychological anguish.

Best,
Leela

 

[Leela]

He is a recent article that might convince you that there is such a thing as religious delusion:

nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1259894705182640.xml&coll=1

"Over three months in 2006, as her five children grew more emaciated and listless by the day, Estelle Walker made no move to find a job, no effort to scrounge up a meal, her kids told a jury yesterday.

“We were supposed to wait for God to provide,” said Walker’s oldest daughter, now 21. “And that’s what we did.”"