Deconstructing the Fundamentals: Jesus Died For Your Sins | Belief It Or Not 

"Well god doesn't force you to be in a relationship with him" Yeah, just like how a mugger technically doesn't force you to give them your wallet, or how an abusive husband technically doesn't force their wife to stay. The moment you start making threats, especially one as egregious as an eternity of torment and agony, that whole "freedom of choice" argument falls to pieces. You aren't allowing me to choose, you're threatening me into compliance.

It always struck me as a control mechanism. The idea that you are so evil and sinful just for existing and need someone to "die for you" is meant to make you feel guilty.

Imagine someone going down on one knee like they're about to propose marriage to you, but instead of revealing a ring they take their own life to somehow demonstrate their love for you, and then they resurrect themself and ask if you're impressed with their love...and if you're not, you get tortured.

"If we can't morally judge God bad, then how can we judge what he does as good?" has got to be the best apologetic breaker I've heard in a loooong time. Thank you, that is gold.

As someone raised atheist, I was much more familiar with the "if you don't sin, Jesus died for nothing" joke going around the atheism circuit back in the day.

I think what is so damaging about Christianity is if you truly buy into a literal understanding of the Bible you need to twist your mind into knots in order to feel like a "good christian." I was so confused by the Bible/church from the age of 6 and was met with ire by the adults in my life for not instantly buying into the whole shebang. I was told to be careful with my thinking and to not think I was smarter than God. Imagine having such a frail worldview that a child's first few questions about the fundamental aspects of your faith make you think that the child is being arrogant rather than just the fact that what you believe makes no fucking sense. I eventually learned to stop asking questions and performed the motions everyone else was doing in order to survive. I'm so glad to not be under that oppressive existence any longer, but like you said it's claws still effect my life in ways I'm still unraveling.

one question that stumped my religious family was “are adam and eve guilty? they didn’t have the knowledge that disobeying god was a bad thing until AFTER they ate of the fruit, so why are we all destined for hell because of that?”

"You only have this life to determine the future of your immortal soul." One of the main principles of sales is to generate urgency.

The worst idea, in my book, was that "we deserve the worst case scenario for being human/imperfect." It teaches low self esteem and even self hatred growing up. Even when we get really good things in life, we somehow "know" we don't deserve them. Toxic.

Ironically, the king in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant DID just say "Okay, I forgive you" without needing a human sacrifice (he did retract when the servant turned out to be a jerk, but it was a fitting lesson against hypocrisy in context). He didn't find someone willing to die for the servant who owed him money, he just... forgave the debt and that was it. An omnipotent creator couldn't do the same?

I’ve always felt really bad for Jesus even though I’m not Christian. There’s absolutely no reason for an all powerful God to torture someone to death when he could have just not made anyone evil from the start!

No one ever talks about how it's not really a sacrifice when you absolutely know you're going to respawn. It's like sacrificing a video game character. When you're also the developer.

“Can you really choose to follow someone if deep down you can’t make yourself believe that they even exist“ This is a great point. When I was a child I knew I didn’t actually believe in god but I convinced myself that I did because I was afraid of what would happen to me

Growing up mormon (I was born into it, I'm thankfully an exmo now) I was taught that there's no greater sacrifice than to die for those you love, and christ died for everyone. Now, I think they had that entirely wrong. Dying for someone is definitely a sacrifice, but living for them--spending the long years of your life continually working to show your love to them--is much more of a sacrifice. Besides, most people who die for others don't get to come back and live again just three days later :P

The whole "born evil" and "You are at fault for Jesus' death" was so pervasive that I have spent most of my life fighting with myself. It's no wonder that I developed anxiety and depression. Also, one thing kept going through my head when you were talking about how there is a belief that Jesus suffered the worst pain imaginable, is how long? The whole torture and death of Jesus took, lets be generous and say less than a week. There are people who suffer for years on end. They would long for something so "quick". I'm tired of feeling guilt for something I didn't ask for.

I remember being forced to watch The Passion of the Christ every single Easter, and my parents expected me to sob and be practically beside myself with grief and guilt. And when I was young, between ages 8-11, I was. I felt so dirty, so AWFUL, for making Jesus go through that. And then, as I got older, I saw the movie for what it was: torture porn. It was 90 minutes of a ‘Jewish’ (yes I know Jim Caveziel isn’t Jewish but biblical Jesus would technically be ethnically Jewish) man being brutally tortured, and it was produced by notorious anti-semite Mel Gibson. Looking back, it’s utterly insane to me that my parents forced their 8 year old to watch torture porn

You are one my favorite atheist creators and I really appreciate your work despite not being traumatized by religion myself

You gotta love how they talk about Jesus suffering more than anyone, but at least he got to leave hell. I'm pretty sure the people being infinitely tortured suffered more than him.

"nobody has ever suffered more than jesus" ok but last week i got rejected by the guy i like AND my tummy hurts.

“You come for my cat, we come for you.” You already had my like, wish I could give you a few more.

the line about sacrifices being blood magic hit me hard, because when i was little and my parents were still making me go to church with them, i remember the pastor and congregation talking so many times about blood. i remember thinking something like, "why is everyone here so weirdly obsessed with blood and blood sacrifices like they're magic?" the same church preached against witchcraft and pagan blood practices, but i noticed that the church was condoning the same activities as long as they were done for the "correct" god. the double standards and hypocrisy really made me question things pretty early on, at least whenever i bothered to pay attention in church.

To quote Alan Watts, “Christianity institutionalized guilt as a virtue.” How could you do anything that would upset Jesus when he suffered so much?? It’s a classic parental manipulation tactic.

It reminds me a lot of gaslighting that happens in an abusive relationship. The narcissist always tries to convince you that it's your fault and the inevitable "look at what I did for you, can't you just do this for me?"

Growing up Catholic was something else, man. I was in like my 2nd year of Sunday school and the teacher just straight up sat us down one day and said, and I quote, “Every time you sin you’re putting Christ back on the cross.” I was like 7 or 8. That shit stuck with me for years, and obviously I still remember it fresh. Fear and self loathing as a control mechanism sucks.

This is fascinating, as someone who’s relatively uninformed about Christianity (grew up in a non-religious household and a broadly non-religious culture), I hope you continue this particular series

i always struggled, growing up in the church, with the idea that *i* was responsible for a man dying 2000 years before i was born and why i should feel bad for that which of course they twisted into "you should feel bad because you don't feel bad and thats the Inherently Sinful Nature in you"

Does anyone else think it's problematic if Jesus only paid for the sins of people who would believe, and didn't pay for the ones who wouldn't? You can't refuse a gift that wasn't actually offered.

It only took 3 days of hell for Jesus to be deemed clean and be rose up from the dead for every sin ever and yet I'll be burning far all of eternity. I don't think it's possible for someone to be so evil they deserve 999 trillion years of torture and still not even be halfway done with being burned.

When I began my deconstruction, after being told my whole life how empty life would be without god, I was almost surprised to find there was comfort in knowing that I was as imperfect as everything else on this planet. I felt more connected with the earth and everything on it knowing it all evolved from something much different to the way we see things now and how much of a gift it is because things will be different in another time. That, to me, holds so much more meaning and purpose, even though I have no clue what (if any) purpose there is. It makes history that much more precious. I feel more apart of the world knowing that when I pass I will become the earth itself. That truth made me more curious about my surroundings and gave me reasons to keep learning just for the sake of having a mind to do so. Every day is so special. I never came close to that feeling when I believed this was all put in place just for us for our own disposal, because someone would just hit the reset button for us if we just follow the rules. There's so much more to life.

When I was a kid, I heard our pastor say that "babies are born in cages of sin" and I was *horrified.* I thought babies were born in literal cages and that they had to be busted out. Anyhow, thank you for these videos! I almost typed "youre doing the lord's work," but then I caught myself. 😂

"I restore my glory by your losing it" There are so many people whose lives would be better if their abusers were so upfront about their abuse

I love how Christians say "God works in mysterious ways" when they can't answer something, then presume to know things about him not in the Bible

I think this is a brilliant idea. Both my wife and I were heavy in the church. We left the church years ago together, but every now and then we talk about a fundamental Christian belief and how lowkey it's pretty fucked up. I feel like it's more fucked up than not once you break it down

The further I get out of Christianity, the more abusive this concept sounds . I remember learning about this at age 4. I lived in constant fear that I hadn’t prayed enough or been good enough to avoid eternal torment. At 27 I’m still feeling the effects of being told “we are filthy rags” who need the redemption of an all-powerful being because… we exist?? Anyway, as always, great video. You’re awesome 💜

My bible teacher in Catholic high school once told us that Jesus only needed to shed a single drop of blood, but he went all the way because he loves us so much. Didn't even make sense to me back then!

17:30 God doesn’t force you to be in a relationship with him, but if you aren't, he'll light you on fire, forever!!

I really appreciate a deconstruction of fundamentals series. I never knew how to ask properly.

If you told me that my death would end world hunger and that I would get to resurrect three days later, I'd do it. I think almost anyone would. Resurrection makes death meaningless.

Something that I've started to find interesting, is the fact that Christians don't seem to understand what sacrifice even means. When you're sacrificing something, you are destroying something in hopes that you'll receive something in return. Tipicly good weather, healthy crops, or to receive a blessing. For example, let's say you're sacrificing a lam. Your not just sacrificing just the lam, you're sacrificing it potential. Everything it could give you, it's wool, is offspring, and everything else. That is what gives a sacrifice it's meaning. What Jesus did was not a sacrifice. If he had stayed dead with no hope of a return then it would have been a sacrifice. But Christians wanted to have their cake and eat it too. So he comes back to live, restoring all the potential that should have died with him. Negating the entire point of the sacrifice completely. Their entire ideology is built on a failed sacrifice.

I love how you incorporate the elongated clips. There's no need to paraphrase or alter their words to prove a point; they spout their misanthropic nonsense clearly and openly for all to hear.

I appreciate your defense of cats...I don't understand why some people think it's so funny to say such mean things about cats.

"God poured all of the wrath".... isn't wrath a sin? So isn't that proof of God's sin leading to sacrifice in the first place? Love this video and the idea of this series - the contradiction of any god who claimed to be "good" needing a sacrifice in order to forgive was a big part of why I never bought into church despite being raised in it. It really just doesn't make any sense.

Oh, I know the answer to this one. He resurrected 3 days later, so he only gave up his WEEKEND for our sins.

*_Scapegoat Morality_** ;* If you have never demanded that _an innocent person be tortured & murdered,_ before you could forgive someone else, then you are morally superior to the God of the Bible.

I have left this comment on numerous other channels but I'll do it again here. I think the concept that it was necessary for Jesus to die for our sins is absurd. If somebody murdered a loved one of yours (child, parent or spouse) and the murderer was caught and sentenced to death, but then suddenly the judge says, "Wait my son is willing to take the death penalty in his place. We will accept that, and I give the death penalty to my son (or some other volunteer, or maybe even the judge himself) and the murderer shall go free." Would you accept that kind of verdict? Would you feel that somehow justice was done by some other innocent person dying in place of the murderer? I think you would feel if you are going to let the murderer go free then just give him a pardon. Why require the death of an innocent person? That would be an even greater injustice. In the past some royal houses of Europe had the custom of having a whipping boy, so that the little prince if was naughty or disobedient would not need to be punished. Was there any justice done by giving the whipping boy 20 lashes? Similarly Jesus dying for our sins makes no sense, at least to me it doesn't.

As a lifelong atheist, this particular bit always struck me as especially silly. How does some other person dying take away my guilt, exactly? I remember my roommate and I annoyed a door-to-door god-botherer by asking for details about that back in University.

Your humanist sermons always do me a whole lot of good, Trevor. I hope you're having a good day.

You know there actually was someone who suffered immensely to give you a new life. Your mom. You should call her.

I can't begin to describe how much guilt and shame I felt every time I sinned. How much I cried and hated myself. All because I was told that my impure thoughts were putting nails into the most innocent person to ever live. I'm still recovering from the effects.

Dude, Trevor. You've cleaned up so nicely these last couple years. Hooray to sobriety!

I could never "get" how someone being tortured to death two thousand years before I was even born can "forgive" behavior wasn't done when the sacrifice was made. How can you do something for someone who doesn't exist yet to save them from something that they haven't done yet.

I left Christianity when I was 13, I’m 21 now and this year is the very first year where I can say Christianity no longer has that strong hold on me anymore. It’s crazy to see how deep brain washing goes. Even though I knew of all of the lies and atrocities and plagiarized text, something in me just couldn’t fully relinquish this slight belief I still had in my mind. That coupled with ocd really f*cked me up for a long time

Growing up in the US, I've never read the bible. But my culture is SO strapped to it that this deconstruction has been excellent for my mental health too 🎉

To this day nobody has yet to contend with - “god sacrificed himself to himself for sins and people that have yet to exist”

I just cut off contact from my extreme fundamentalist parents. Thank you for doing this work and helping me on my journey to healing. It means so much to me to hear these positive deconstruction messages from someone who knows the Bible well and still chose to leave the church. Please keep it up! It means so much to me❤

I recently had to go to church after years of reconciliation of my childhood and how traumatic it all was because of religion. Before when I was first doubting my faith I’d go a few weeks before my grandma would make me feel guilty. She’d call me and my mom heathens. And I go back praying for forgiveness for ever doubting his words! However this time was different. The whole time I was just baffled by what was actually being said! The pastor did that “ turn to your neighbor and say” thing but the phrase he wanted us to say was “I’m coming Home!” Like ……to heaven? It was about death!!! And then the songs were also about death!!! “I will praise the lord unto I die!” The romanticization of death was so weird! The sermon was about husbands should be good to their wives which I feel should be obvious ? The pastor even talked about the problems he has with his wife that they still have issues with and fight over but they stay together for god!! This is my first time I’m happy I’m not in the church anymore! I’m happy, not paranoid all the time that I’d die any second and go to hell I’m happier than ever! And I feel like I got out of a toxic relationship lol!

I’ll never forget my mom telling me my flesh is sinful. I hated hearing that and I never lived by it even when I was still religious..I hated it and denounced it with every fiber of my being. I thought, “how could I, someone new to this world, be born SINFUL? I’m a good kid…” That shit hurts, and it made me feel like I couldn’t do anything right ever so when older I truly started to do whatever I liked because I knew it truly didn’t matter whether I believed or not. I’ve had a lot of positive impact on peoples lives and have helped those I could, given to homeless people when I could, and so on and so forth… But IM sinful? Nah.

Trevor, I'm a longtime "lurker" of your channel, but after watching this video, I feel compelled to leave a comment. I have to let you know how much your work means to me and the effects it's having on me even after leaving a cult as a teenager. Your videos are helping me so much! Backstory: I grew up in a Southern Baptist-style cult in South Carolina. I didn't believe a word of it from the day we became members of this 'church' at age 4, until the day my family left when I was 16. Current story: Now I'm 37, been an atheist ever since, and I have a family of my own. But my parents and sister have found a church that preaches doctrine very similar to what the cult did (without as many rules) and they have stayed fully enveloped in that lifestyle this whole time. I only live half an hour from them, and because I love my family, I want to stay in their lives. But this is SO HARD to do when they believe that I'm going to hell when I die. I have no idea how to talk to my family when things like this come up, or when their religion comes up at all, so I've long since learned to keep things shallow. That makes me sad, but at least we are still in each other's lives. All of that is to say: I click on your videos so fast when I get the notifications! I genuinely enjoy your content more than anything else I watch on RU-vid. Even though I never believed, I was trapped in a cult for 12 years and was told over and over that I was awful, going to hell, that my family would never choose me over God, etc. So it's really hard, even all these years later, to banish those thoughts - even though I don't believe them. Cults do be culting like that. I look forward to the rest of this series so much. I hope you might make a video specifically on deconstructing/disproving the fundamental belief of the existence of an afterlife. Of all the reasons I never believed, that's #1. I can't get past the fact that there is no science to prove it even exists. My dad is constantly trying to convince me that Christanity and science work together... So I always go back to the afterlife thing. That's when he goes back to the "you just have to have faith" thing. And round and round we go! Anyway, thank you, Trevor. I see all your hard work, and I wanted to do more than just watch the video this time. I wanted to say thank you for working so hard to help people in the world who, for one reason or another, have had troubled histories with religion and desperately want to disentangle themselves from it! I love you man :)

Your channel has been so helpful as I am trying to deprogram myself! Thank you for these in depth discussions :)

Ever since I started straying from the church, I realized how each of the stories felt like they were individual moral stories of the time that were supposed to be read and interpreted on their own merit, as if they were written by different people at different times with different agendas (shocker). The one that stands out the most is possibly one of the most famous stories, Noah's Ark. In most writtings, God is said to be perfect and basically incapable of sin. All he does is good, all he creates is good. But when God retracted the waters for Noah and his family and all the animals aboard the ark, he promised that he'd never do it again. That really helped me realize how inconsistent the Church was. Why would God promise to never do something *again* if it was good? He admits that flooding the world is bad so why did he do it? If he's capable of making mistakes, does that mean we should look at all of his word with skepticism? If he can't be trusted, why should we trust him? It's the perfect story for deconstruction since it holds every flaw the Bible has in one story if you're willing to think of it beyond surface level

Went to a catholic highschool in Germany. In religious studies, we actually compared the different parts of the New Testament to determine who is to be blamed for jesus death based on who was there when he was prosecuted by Pontius Pilatus. Everything we were taught made me more into an atheist than into a proper Christian. Mission failed I guess.

The "love is suffering" idea caused me to create trauma to forge a strong bond with ppl I loved. I didn't know how to connect with anyone outside of my First Baptist Church and it's K-12 school.

I’ve been a Christian for nearly thirty years. I’ve had questions for quite some time and it came to a peak just a few weeks ago. I haven’t been to church for three weeks at this point and I feel I may never return. There’s much of Christianity that doesn’t make sense to me, but at the crux of it is, I don’t understand how the outcome of my eternal life is based on me making the one decision to accept Jesus as my saviour in this life. I will always believe in God … I’m just not so sure I believe in the bible anymore

What bugs me about the whole 'free will to love God' is that it isnt really a free choice. If you tell me that I will burn for eternity if I don't love and obey God, then surely that choice to love and obey him is coerced? Is allegiance borne of terror and coercion really genuine? Further, if God already knows what is in our hearts, surely he would know if we were only following him because we were afraid of Hell, not out of genuine love or conviction but out of fear? Would that be sufficient for salvation? Mere terror? To love an abuser isn't a free and consensual love. It is one borne of a fawning, terrified survival instinct. And - like any victim of abuse - we all deserve better.

It's taken a lot to deconstruct the strange religious world I was raised in. Between attending both sermons at church on sunday, a religious school mon-fri, wednesday night bible clubs, youth groups, "vacation bible school", and multiple retreat camps each summer, I never had a moment to actually think about the beliefs I was being force fed. This channel has helped me immensely with that. I cannot express my appreciation enough. Thank you so much.

MAN, your videos ALWAYS end up hitting my old religious traumas and just working them like a knot in my back, as you help me better understand and contextualize them. Thank you for this invaluable service! :)

i was a christian for 40 years until i fully realized i didn’t know what sin is

OMG! Thank you for putting words to every single intuition I ever had. I grew up as a girl in the Catholic Church...gifted with an inherent sense of insecurity and shame and worthlessness...of never, ever being enough. If i cant ever get God's approval for being such a sinner, how could i ever be enough for anyone else? I couldnt ever be an equal as a girl. I couldn't ever get through a day without "sinning". Thank you for taking away the guilt I'd been feeling for walking away years ago. I was made perfectly. I do my best every day to make the world a better place. I make mistakes, but i don't intentionally hurt others. I am my best me away from the church's judgment.

After several deconstruction phases, the question I had that was the straw to break the camel's back was: "Wait a minute... If nothing anyone could do on their own would be enough to warrant eternal life, then there's *nothing* anyone could do that would make them deserve eternal punishment. People don't deserve to go to Hell as much as they don't deserve to go to Heaven."

As someone who grew up baptist, and went to Pastor Hagee's Cornerstone Church, I love this channel, and grateful for the series you produce. Looking forward to this one.

I want to thank you for this series helping those who are deconstructing. I had to do it mostly alone since the bast majority of people in my life are Christians. it is so helpful to have content like this. we love you, Trevor. 💙🥰

I didn't realize how much I needed this. I've been out of Christianity for 20 years now at this point but the psychological damage and emotional damage it did is something I feel like I'll be processing for a long time. Add on top of that my Indigeneity and the baggage and harm that comes with the role Christianity plays in colonization and genocide... Oof. That's a whole other bag of worm cans. Anyway, thank you for your videos. This one in particular felt really helpful. 💜

This video reminds me of an quote that goes something like this "If your religion is based around human sacrifice and ritual cannibalism, you do not have the right to call other religions 'archaic'."

Your videos are a constant reminder that deconstructing my own faith was the right choice. Thank you.

Thanks. We are very mentally fragile as humans and religion is making us even more vulnerable putting unrealistic expectations on us and punishments for failing to achieve them. Thanks for your input. I'm trying to do it in my country Poland. Talking against bad ideas. You are very helpful. Always good to hear you.

Bro hearing those affirmations from 48:33 on, has been a mind-boggling concept to me. I was raised in an abusive, neglectful house, that was also Fundamentalist...my healing journey has a long way to go. But I just wanted to say thank you for being a huge step in then journey ❤️❤️

If Jesus was God in human form, it would be a suicide, not a murder

"you can't have a longer infinity. Infinity doesn't work like that" Actually there are more real numbers than integers! A bigger infinity! Loved the video!

Watching this, I had so many thoughts. One of the biggest is that I’m finally far enough away from this that I can see the absurdity in calling this “love”, and the danger. This is a powerful video, and I always appreciate your perspective!

it always felt similar to when your parents would punish you and say “i don’t want to be doing this. this hurts me just as much as you.” then don’t do it! you made up the rules! you don’t have to do something neither of us want! and when you hear both as a little kid, of course you go along with being baptized. because you’re terrified.

Religion, the fine art of lying to yourself, then to others.

Yikes… it’s been like 15 years since I left the church and I never realized how much of an impact on me the guilt of Christ still has. Hearing those pastors speak on how it’s “for us” really sparks a lot of… idk resonance in how I’ve felt my entire life.

My reaction when I first heard about the idea that Jesus died so we could be redeemed was : "Wait... So it's okay to sin then ? It can't be right ?" That was one of the many contradictions that made me question my faith.

I want to thank you for this video. I wanted to tell you my whole life's story, but it would take way too long, so, suffice it to say, you have given me a whole new way of seeing things. I am 67 years old and I have been battling the guilt, the fear and the condemnation of Christianity all my life. I left the church decades ago, but it never left me. It was the church, the people in the church and, especially, the preacher of the church that had caused my issues; not so much my parents. Their only part in my life of guilt was the fact that they seemed to fit the role of the "Biblical Parents". My father fit into the idea that he could kill me if I disobeyed him. And it didn't help when he would say things like, "I brought you into this world, and I can take you out. " Even though my father was a wonderful person who took great care of us. He was, however, very physically strong and he lived by old fashioned rules. (My father was born in 1893.). And the fact that I was different made everything so much worse. I could see ghosts and spirits, therefore, according to my preacher, I was "the spawn of Satan. " And this all led to the fact (for fact it was told) that no matter what I did, I would never be worthy of God, or my parents, or of love in general. Everything bad happened to me and to others because I chose to be evil and I chose to sin. In my mind, I was even guilty of my father's death - even though he had already had 5 heart attacks. So when I sat down to watch you video, I went through the usual attitude of attacking Christianity while still feeling guilty beneath it all. That is, until it came to the part about the preacher's telling us all how undeserving we are of God's grace and how we are all born evil, and only by the tortured sacrifice of God's son, Jesus, can we ever be forgiven and live forever. (Even though we all still die.) Yet, it was not just the things the preacher's were saying - I have heard all that a million times before. It was the way you challenged their words; the answers you gave back to them that finally shut all their condemnation down. Then, suddenly, everything went silent in my head, and it struck me, like a spark of reason, that something that had been wrong for 60 years could suddenly be made right. I can't express exactly what took place in my head - I'd be here forever, lol, but it was as if, for the first time in my life, I had clarity. Thank you. Thank you so much for your honest wisdom. And thank you for giving me the ability to understand my own guilt and release. Now I am able to look at things and reason out things with a clear and changed mind. It's as if the sun has finally risen over my darkened world. Thank you.

I'd also like a series on the most suppressed questions in christian history

Absolutely love this. I wish my family would watch your stuff and seriously consider it. One problem with an argument that you make, there is such a thing as one infinity being greater than another infinity. I know it might sound very counter intuitive, but it takes an understanding that infinity is not a numerical value, but a concept. To give an example from Douglas Adams, the universe could be infinite in space, and there could be an infinite amount of matter in the universe. However, since there is space between matter in the universe it is clear that there is more space than matter, even though both are infinite.

17:49 I remember this being the exact thought that began to make me skeptical of Christianity back when I was in elementary school. In my church, I was taught that the only qualifier to go to heaven was that you believed in God and believed that Jesus died for your sins, which seemed so inherently unfair. Like- some guy could, as a random example, abuse a child and go to heaven, but the nicest person ever could go to hell just for the sin of never being taught about Jesus because they are of a different culture or faith. Hell, by that logic there are millions of people burning in hell because they lived before globalization and never even HEARD of Jesus. I don’t know where I stand on religion in general, but that aspect of Christianity has definitely driven me away.

You ask great questions Trevor. You expose these preachers beautifully. You talk back to these people beautifully and logically. I’m proud of you. PS. These people go on for days! My wonderful mom said, “you should only get your message out in no more than ten minutes.” You’re the best Mom. I love ❤️ you

Also "Be selfish when you need to" that's incredible I'm going to be thinking that over for a while

3:36 seriously what is it with pastors and the cat hating! My former pastor was just like this and the whole congregation thought it was hilarious meanwhile little me was traumatized because I love my kitty

Funny how these pastors are hypocritical: they condemn History Classes for making timmy feel guilty of an ancestor's unaliving someone else's ancestors, but are okay with themselves telling him *it is his fault that his ancestors unalived Jesus.*

I don't know why Jesus "Died for our sins" when Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur forgives all sins once a year. 😮

"That kid totally stole my egg, but yeah we've all sinned" is maybe the funniest and yet most bizarre religion thing I've ever heard

I'd highly recommend DarkMatter2525's series "power corrupts". It's a great examination of the core teachings of christianity reframed.

I love that all it takes to debunk Christianity whole thing is an inquisitive 4 years old kid.

I have been watching your videos for a couple of years now and I have been deconstructing for 4 years, this video helped understand something that still was a huge part of my problems. I would just like to thank you for your content.

So what he's basically saying, god doesn't force you to be in a relationship with him. He just tortures you forever if you don't. Seems like a healthy relationship.

“Jesus died for your sins” reminds me a lot of “all the brave service men & women who gave their lives for our freedoms”

Control by fear, shame, and guilt means you have control for a long time, and that's always the goal.

I think the start of my leaving the faith was when I heard a preacher say “Our God is proud, but he is also jealous.” And that stuck with me, confusing me. Why would God need to be jealous? And no one gave a straight answer so I started looking into it on my own.