I discuss life and relationships after leaving the church (usually with my wonderful husband!). I started out on YT making anti-multi-level marketing content, so I have plenty of videos on that too if that's more your thing!
Just tuned in. In vouge? 38 years deconstrucked and Christianity has been officially exorcised from my body. What the... was I thinking? I was young and thought, there's nothing else. Might as well dive in. I was utterly wrong in choosing Christianity. I did find the truth I was looking for and the Jesus guy wasn't it. Not sorry one bit.
Like a lot of apologists, he doesn't want people to think rationally about religion. He may say he wants people to examine their faith, but it must be through a lens he supplies. Otherwise, I believe that he like many apologists would rather that people shut up and believe in God without thinking about it. Specifically, he wants you to believe in the God he preaches about so he can interpret God's will for them. Oops. Am I making claims about what goes on in other people's heads? Sorry. That's an apologist's schtick.
I think a slightly different take on the whole *it's a fad* myth is that it's a symptom of a wider more popular movement away from the church and Christianity. With abuse getting more common and visible and preachers getting more political. And you add in 2020 as a forced break from church allowing people to think, and then bam you have something that *looks* like a fad when really it's a trend. And calling it a fad is a way for christians to feel better about it, it's the toxic boyfriend going "oh you'll be back" kinda statement
I am 38 years old and became an atheist at 36. I was in a Christian home growing up with a grandfather for a pastor. My whole family is still really Christian. However, I don’t say they were the extremely conservative Christians that Craig describes. They are the mega church, non-denominational Christians like William Lane Craig is apart of. Though this is only my story, at least here’s one statistic showing that I didn’t need to have an authoritarian Christian home to deconvert. I literally just wasn’t convinced by the evidence after a thorough investigation of it. The whole “angry at god” thing happened after but not like Christians claim atheists being mad at god. I don’t believe in god so how could I be mad at a god? Once I was removed from Christianity then my eyes were able to see that IF this god were real, he would be an evil monster. I couldn’t see that as a Christian, ever.
Some people in my family are telling me that I am supposed to be like Ben Shapiro & believe women are not supposed to have orgasms. Especially the women in my family saying that is the correct way to be a man.
It's my experience that more liberal branches of Christianity actively accept deconstruction, safe in the knowledge that most people raised in a religion, absent abuse, will not want to leave. Deconstructing both beliefs and the reason for wanting to change beliefs is a common, and in my opinion quite positive, attitude among progressive religions.
Ah the Holy Spirit - Christians main source for getting newcomers who possess no knowledge of Christianity, the Bible, or teachings to come on board the good ship lollipop. The concept of The Holy Spirit is so convenient for people like William Craig. It means they can explain away how people come to know and love their God without any prior experience or knowledge. It makes many depressed people at a low ebb in their life feel loved and part of a team. On the other hand it can be used to discredit the unbeliever by suggesting they are devoid of the Holy Spirit or worse Satan is blocking and deceiving you away from the Spirit. These days when I think of my upbringing so many words with a c spring to mind: Catholic, Christian, corruption, carnal cruel, cardinal, comfort seeking, confusion, callous, critical, crisis, Christ, con, contrite, cashed up, church, cult, Craig, control, condemned, claptrap, crave, contrived, and the big one ‘crap’. Now these words could be grouped under headings but rather than spell that out I will leave it open to the reader as that way greater thought is required, greater understanding possible and I am not telling people what to think but what to consider (another 'c' word). Mr. C signing out. Cheers
Brandon is an incredible smart yet humble individual. I have learnt so much from his channel. It's a great to discover your channel. I agree about your concerns with the word ‘deconstruction’. I can understand why people use it but like any label it is highly prevalent to being misinterpreted, even manipulated. When I think of Brandon's dialogue for example, I basically look at him as someone who thinks and questions with freedom, clarity and awareness. Yep, questioning and thinking with freedom for me is a better way of thinking especially if you are fortunate to have an enormous amount of knowledge. The freedom part is of massive importance as it ensures thought is allowed hopefully encouraged outside the church bubble. Questioning and thought only within a bubble is not really of any worth and is dangerous. Echo chambers galore! It must encompass as wide and broad approach as possible. The wider the door is open the more information, experience and discovery should be able to get through. It so much easier to think and philosophise within a territory/religion such as Christianity as boundaries are set and you even get a rule book to abide to. Without imposed constraints one can truly open oneself to freedom, greater purpose, and truth. That's my take on it anyway. I wish I had the ability to be as articulate as Brandon so if I ever write something that seems out of character, please let me know.
I just realized my path to atheism from progressive Christianity over several years fits the description of deconstruction. I’d heard the term but didn’t really get it until now.
I am an ex-evangelical that knew nothing but Christianity as my dad was a preacher, I left my church of 20+ years about 4 years ago because I could no longer go along with hate & hypocrisy. I left because I wanted to love like Jesus & that was not what was going on all through my life.
I am old. Open, kind Christian communities have always allowed members to question and discuss theology. We often referred to it as working out your own salvation (Philippians 2:12). Yes, pastors and teachers always encouraged us to read scripture and pray, but I have been lucky to mostly be surrounded by good Christians who did not feel threatened by doubts and questions. My college level theology classes were open, informative and kind. We didn't call it deconstruction back then, but this is not some new thing. Teachers like this guy want power over congregation who follows blindly.
Without emotion intelligence you can’t know God. Believe is a good start but… All thinking men are atheist. Hemingway said this but you need to KNOW God to grasp this. Btw “A course in miracles” is the best Deconstruction manual I have encountered yet. What’s more it showed me how to genuinely see the face of Christ in all pple and remember God and His creation.
Satanist lol. You’re so intelligent but satanism is just for people who are trying to get back at God or their parents for something. It’s the adult equivalent of the goth phase teens have. .
It's my parents who saved me from religion. My mother stopped going to church and asked me to stop going and the only time my father went was for weddings and funerals .I'm church- free , god - free and lovin it . Thanks mom and dad .
WLC uses ‘deconstruction’ to permit conflation with Post Modern philosophies of the French Schools. This anti-French philosophy stance was part of early American Fundamentalist propaganda. Misunderstandings abound….
I love what you said about intuition...I've had some really frustrating conversations with my Dad about the feelings vs. facts thing and I love how you framed the fact that intuition might not be the full picture but also it is very important to listen to, and can be disastrous when we ignore it!
The more I listen to WLC, the more I'm convinced he's a self righteous apologist who had one interesting argument, but the moment he gets away from the Kalam he's more then happy to smugly assert he's right because reasons
"low-bar" bill surely only cares for the many. I dislike this tactic of looking down on emotions as if having emotions isn't part of being human. Deal LBB! Thanks AB.
i find it funny that this guy thinks the solution to deconstructing is to try to construct a Christian worldview. i think that's what many if not most people who deconstruct are in the middle of doing when they begin to deconstruct. i think it's when you have tried to construct a worldview that you've been told is right but which is not working for you, that many people start to take those mental frameworks they've been working within apart, to find out what's not working. for many, construction is part of the process of deconstruction and vice versa. they're not mutually exclusive concepts at all, they work hand in hand as people form their worldviews.
An analogy just popped in my head. I don't know if it's a memory from hearing it or if I made it up. But to hear this man and Christians like him say "it's one bad experience" or "don't go off feelings, they are deceptive," is like telling someone who touched a hot stove, felt it, had a legitimate reaction to it and decided not to do it again for fear of pain again, that they should continue touching hot stoves because it was one stove not all of them. And that they can't trust the feeling of touching the hot stove that hurt them because feelings are deceptive . If something or someone hurts you or others around you, you have more than enough right to walk away from that person/thing and find something else that doesn't hurt you or others around you.
To be fair, Christians believe in the Holy Spirit. You may believe the Holy Spirit is a lie and that it is just their feelings. Fine. But Christians do not believe their feelings are informing them of truth. The Holy Spirit is. And 99% of Christians well tell you that the inner witness of the Holy Spirit will never contradict scripture. Yes we has humans do have instincts. The question is you cannot substantiate your belief system on gut instincts alone. It has to be accompanied by evidence, science, logic, and reason. So what informs you of right or wrong as as metaphorical Lucipherean? Your feelings alone. And you want to build a ciivlization on that?
Bill has famously stated that he thinks one should lower their (critical thinking) standards when examining the truth of Christianity .....nothing he says should ever be taken seriously by anyone who pursues a rational world view.
Conversations are happening in the West in secular democracies. It is trendy as the public school system, Hollywood, the media, etc lean left. Religious people are influenced by secular ideas all the time. This notion that there is a collective awakening of the Western mind assumes that society is not dominated secular philosophy and athiesm. It most certainly is in 2024. If someone breaks free from Christianity it really isn't that much of a suprise. The culture is saturated with anti Christian thought. You don't think people who convert into a religion (Christianity or Islam) experience persecution by their friends and family or community at large? You don't think WOKENESS in the corporate world or in Hollywood can lead to people losing their jobs if they do not tow the line? This isn't a one sided issue like you are making it. The left is not tolerant of people are don't hold to their world view.
