David Fitzgerald knows his shit. You should read his books. They will fill you in on a great deal of Christian history. He does for critical analysis of the Bible what Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris did to popularize the Atheist movement in America.
@Thomas Lundy his logic does not have any evidence to be supported though. Now, if you believe what he says I suggest you start working on your critical thinking and stop being an ass. Cheers
@Thomas Lundy You haven't provided any evidence apart from some quotes. Shall I school you on how to support one's ideas? I could also teach you how to write proper English.
David Favel well sir its likely that Marry had a sugar daddy probably the persist and he put it in the wrong hole thus the bastard Christ was born and Joseph was just ignorant to this .
The shame about being a well educated Atheist is all the time you have to spend debugging the Bible. Matt and Andrew et al really bit the bullet for the rest of us. Thank you so much for the work you do.
The biggest shame is that atheists spend so much time analyzing and reflecting on the veracity and historicity of books like the bible, then have to deal with theists that really just do not want to listen to the truth about them. And I'd argue that's accurate for the vast majority of theists. They don't want truth, they want familiar comforting lies.
I'm tired of childish fairy tales told by frightened, superstitious people who want to take over the world so they can become wealthy and powerful. Imagine a country ruled by an invisible, unknowable character with three separate personalities that lives in his magic kingdom in the clouds. It's called a theocracy.
This guy is awesome! His knowledge of the Bible is so complete that the Christian is totally out of his depth even talking about his own holy book. Lol! Best show ever!
+Mr. Alexander. David Fitzgerald knows his shit. You should read his books. They will fill you in on a great deal of Christian history. He does for critical analysis of the Bible what Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris did to popularize the Atheist movement in America.
*Thomas Lundy. Mr. Alexander, Michael Grant--In his book Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels, Atheist historian Michael Grant completely rejected the idea that Jesus never existed:* First, there is no such thing as an "Atheist historian," nor should it matter what religion a historian (any historian) chooses to follow. Second, to couch it in this manner, you are leading the reader to a conclusion that does not exist. Historians do not research and study history BASED upon their religious beliefs, they research and study history based upon HISTORY. This is an Appeal to Authority fallacy. And finally, so what? Richard Carrier, also an "Atheist Historian" (to use your misleading terminology) does not believe that Jesus Christ can be considered to have been an historical figure. Now what? Two "Atheist Historians," two divergent opinions. I am sure that you can find any number of historians, both Biblical and secular who will tell you that Jesus Christ, in their opinion, existed as a historical figure. However, none can present you with concrete empirical evidence to support that claim, either. What everyone, historian and lay person alike wants demonstrated is the supernatural claims about Jesus Christ as found in the Bible are true. Can they be corroborated (of course they can't.) Few, if anyone, are concerned with the mere EXISTENCE of the historical Jesus, because whether or not he existed is irrelevant without the miracle accounts. Without these, he would have been nothing more that simply another rabbi who was executed by a Roman court (and there were several of those.) So, I ask again, based upon what you have posted here from Michael Grant....so what?
Andrew: "Well, let's start with...." David: Proves him wrong. Andrew: (switches to something else) "Well, let's start with...." David: Proves him wrong. Andrew: (switches to something else) "Well, let's start with...." David: Proves him wrong. Andrew: (switches to something else) "Well, let's start with...." David: Proves him wrong. Andrew: (switches to something else) "Well, let's start with...." David: Proves him wrong. Andrew: (switches to something else) "Well, let's start with...." David: Proves him wrong. This guy is trying really hard to convince himself he is right, with David easily shutting him down. This is the CLASSIC example of the average Christian who really knows nothing about early Christian history, the creation of the Bible, or who actually wrote the damn Gospels!
Recently discovered the channel so I'm a bit late here, jumping around through all these clips I believe he has been on before (or maybe in future). He talks like he found a pamphlet on an apologetic topic, reads it out loud, then just drops what ever line he just read when refuted. These arguments aren't his own or even something he seems to have done any research himself on.
@@JohnDoe-ku4jj That could essentially sum up how theists in general argue. Because the arguments don't matter. The game isn't to actually get to the truth. They already "know" the truth; god is their presupposition that they believe without evidence and for no rational reason, and all the "arguments" and "evidence" that they throw out is just a smokescreen that it's tossed out to protect that presupposition. That's why theists are very rarely phased to discover their arguments are flawed, and will often even REPEAT those arguments after they've been shown to be false, because they literally do not care about the truth of the arguments. The arguments are the scaffolding erected around the beliefs they will often continue to hold no matter what and that is the only purpose they serve.
@Quincy Breed You shouldnt make an impromptu call in my opinion. At least pick a topic and do abit of research on it. Many people have done in the past, all to no avail. You have to face the facts that the run-of-the-mill theist christian knows very little about apologetics and when they try to put forth an argument that they think is convincing but gets shut down by logic and basic critical thinking, it really shows who is more educated. Atheists are not going to remote villages to preach science and basically force people to be an atheist. That's what theists do. Go to villages, build houses for them, basically be indebted to the christians, and in return they have to worship a god, no questions. You tell me who's being sneaky.
@Quincy Breed And if the Muslims are right, and you have to face Allah? The same punishment awaits you.. Have you lost any sleep, pondering that you might be wrong, and the Muslims are right? They have a book that says they're right, too. Now you know why your threats of hell don't scare us. The scary thing is, no matter which god you believe in, the majority of mankind does NOT believe in that god. Considering that eternal hell is the punishment for non belief, you'd think that a god would have nade his existence less ambiguous, and that belief in "god" wouldn't follow geographic lines. That's only what you'd expect if EVERY religion was made up.
@@warren52nzHere are a few more religious puns, Jehovah's witless and for all the catholics out there The Immaculate Deception (Conception) and Our Lady of Perpetual Suckers (Succour).
@@jeziscricket4448 Is funny that the only thing you can do is to threaten those who don't agree with you, instead of giving a good reason to believe in your mafioso skydaddy. But i guess that is the only thing we can expect from deluded idiots.
@@Julian0101 This is my good reason to you The Lord said to Moses, command the israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has infected there skin or affected there bodily function of any kind and is ceremonially unclean due to there polluted minds.
What a slaughter. I just ordered the book. He took that guy's bible right out of his hands and beat him about the head with it. Blood all over the walls. Shoulda paid more attention in Sunday school, buddy.
That is part of the problem with paying attention in Sunday school. The Christians only teacher the children what is their preferred bible stories. Never going to learn anything factual about real history from Sunday school.
I don't think it would have helped him to pay attention at all. I mean he just basically would have REALLY known all his bullshit. Still bullshit nonetheless. I wish a priest would call in.
@@richardsanchez9190 1) If Jesus is only salvation, then God is unfair, because Americas, South Africa, Far East, North Europe, Oceania were kept in dark, never heard about Jesus for 1500 years. 2) If people can be saved without Jesus, then Bible is unnecessary. 3) If Bible is necessary to make people better beings and increase their chance of heaven, then God is again unfair for providing such book to some and not to others.
21:50 Notice at this point that this theist has had at least 10, 15 of his claims refuted.... and he simply keeps going like the Black Knight in Monty Python.
THAT'S how you host! If you have someone call in with an argument which is your guest hosts literal specialty, you drink your coffee and enjoy the show. 🤷🏼♂️😆👍
@@user-ki1un4jg2d No. He can only offer the argument that best supports the evidence, which is that Jesus never existed. If you took people who never heard of Christianity and taught them what Christianity is, had them read the Bible, and then had them speak to a guy like David and and Bible believer, I think 99.99% of people would take the position Jesus never existed
RD Hudon ...Jesus’ alleged lifetime ended when he was allegedly crucified. Hence, there are exactly *zero* known contemporary accounts of Jesus, his life, his ministry, his trial, and his death. Not a single scrap of contemporary writing about Jesus from a single scribe, priest, government official, military officer, or literate human being is known to exist. For a god man who performed unprecedented miracles in front of multitudes of people in the relatively literate society of Ancient Rome, I find this a bit odd. By the way, Josephus was not a contemporary of Jesus, as Josephus was born in 37 A.D. Also, Josephus’ writings which mention Jesus were written in 93-94 A.D....nowhere near contemporary.
That's a great point. On the one hand I hate being ignorant and unable to answer theists but on the other hand I have a very strong gut notion that this stuff is all bs and why should I waste my time studying just to try to refute bs. The other thing is that I suspect to really understand even the books written by David Fitzgerald you would have to do a lot of research to really understand the context. Otherwise you just because someone who believes what you read and you don't critically investigate it for yourself which also is not good
It's not only amazing that Fitzgerald has a complete knowledge of his subject, but that he's able to recall any detail without hesitation. I wish I had the brain cells to do that.
I almost feel sorry for this caller, every time he tried to make a point, David drowned him in facts. The poor caller didn’t even know that the gospels weren’t written by Matthew, Mark, or Luke, which is pretty much biblical history 101.
Man...I loved this episode! And Fitzgerald was brutally amazing! I'm very knowledgeable about history and religious history, but this man just made want to go to the library and just research all day long. Thank you TAE for your channel, you just got another subscriber.
David Fitzgerald knows his shit. You should read his books. They will fill you in on a great deal of Christian history. He does for critical analysis of the Bible what Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris did to popularize the Atheist movement in America.
For a guy who knows his shit, he didn't even mention the Q, which although unproven, is widely accepted as the source for parallels in Matthew/Luke not found in Mark. He also doesn't mention the letters of Paul, parts of which preserve tradition accepted to be within years of the actual events. It seems like a blaring omission not to mention the Quell. It would be like talking about the source material for the Pentateuch without mentioning the Documentary Hypothesis.
This is beyond sad. The guy, Andrew, clearly is honest about his beliefs and desperately wants to defend them. Completely ignoring facts and evidence and points to anecdotal scripts and claims to just prove his point. This is what indoctrination does kids.
Indoctrination is truly one of the most sadistic weapons mankind has ever devised. Most of my family are old earth creationists who solely depend on the bible and I was for a good chunk of my life. Now they respect my disbelief in any god, but they still think I'm going to hell and it hurts but coming from that indoctrination and understanding just what a grip it has on people it doesn't bother me that much. I won't deny it, there are times in my day when I still wonder what happens if I'm wrong, do I go to hell. I stopped believing in god about 4 years ago. It's like an addiction and you still have those fixes you want sometimes to feel good. It's insane, and I hear my family talking about how everyone around them is being indoctrinated to believe god doesn't exist and they like to point me out, not in front of me but it's impossible to think that they are willing to say it about everyone else, just not me. Side note, they are also huge conspiracy theorists, which I feel most of dictate a necessity of a belief in god to make sense of them. Pretty sure my mother believes the chemtrails are the reason behind my transition from christanity into atheist agnostic. At the end of the day, reading the bible is what caused me to accept who I am and one could say the bible truly did free me.
The problem is no one has sat down with him and actually presented the real facts to him. This is why the myths continue to this day. It has to be and has to come from an individuals acceptance, because thats how it was taught. You cant un-train a "personal training" with a megaphone aimed at a crowd. I guarantee you if every Christian fundy sat down across from someone like David Fitzgerald, and the actual documented truth they could read, they would all change their minds and become skeptical and eventually turn Atheist or Agnostic.
Andrew is one of those very, very annoying believers who never once acknowledge in a discussion that 'perhaps' he is misinformed, or just plain wrong. He rattles off erroneous assumptions one after the other like he's not even listening to a guy who clearly knows a shit load more than he does. Well done David!
I love how Christians “just know “ lol. They refer to the Bible when they forget or just don’t know that it has been retranslated,re-edited and rewritten more times than anyone can count so you can’t claim it to be the word of god.
Nathan El, we consider the origin of the bible. It didn't exist in the form it does today until the First Ecumenical Coucil of Nicea. It was here the western religious material was heavily edited. This editing and translation was done by Romans. All Roman history, contained in the bible, was written by romans who knew their history very well. Finding Pontius Pilot doesn't prove the existence of Jesus. Monty Python had more to prove Bigus Dickus than you have of proving Jesus.
Nathan El I have no problem with Jesus existing. But he was not God or any supernatural being. He was just a man. Get you head out of the 1st century and join the rest of us in the 21st century. You talk about values?! It is Christians that blow up abortion clinics killing people, it is Christian parents not allowing their children to receive medical care thinking their magic sky daddy will save their baby. And of course the infant dies. It was two Christian men that beat a gay man to death and they claimed they were doing God's work. You people make me sick!
1) If Jesus is only salvation, then God is unfair, because Americas, South Africa, Far East, North Europe, Oceania were kept in dark, never heard about Jesus for 1500 years. 2) If people can be saved without Jesus, then Bible is unnecessary. 3) If Bible is necessary to make people better beings and increase their chance of heaven, then God is again unfair for providing such book to some and not to others.
And as historical truth...insane! I've known at an early age, even though going to a Lutheran school, and you know the Germans are so loving and kind, that Noah was BS. SO if you lie to me once how can I believe you over and over.
"Not an expert in textual criticism" - well, then you don't stand a chance against people who have actually read and studied the Bible and the history of Christianity.
So I guess you don't know where universities came from , the modern scientific method , How about those Jesuits with their research labs and observatories all over the world . Ignorance comes from all sides . You are a fine example of the simplistic ignorance of the less educated atheist . Basic psychology shows us that some will put others down to edify their own position and is usually done out of frustration and insecurity .You are definitely out of your league.
This particular episode of the show is perhaps the best one I have viewed to date. David's answers were so complete and thorough. Thank you so much, David. Andrew was completely decimated, but he would not admit he was completely wrong about almost everything.
This caller has ZERO critical thinking skills and I mean ZERO. I hope he reads these comments. His logic is so flawed. He probably owns an igloo in Florida.
At minute 24:30 we discover that all the previous dialogue simply bounced off Andrew and floated away. That must be so frustrating if you just spoke (expertly) for 20+ minutes and the person you’re speaking with simply ignored everything you said.
Caller: "We don't have any evidence of Alexander the Great's life until 200 years after his death." David Fitzgerald: "That's adorable!" Savage, David! Nicely done!!
WAIT…the earliest source we have for Alexander the Great was recorded 300 years after his death?? And the best sources we have for him are Plutarch and Arian, who wrote 425 to 450 years after he died??? So why the hell do atheists think he existed but not Jesus????? Jesus’ earliest source is 5 years after he died, and Paul wrote about him 18 years after he died!!! Like, what the fuck, atheists?? Explain yourselves now.
I mean when someone lays things out this clearly and simply for someone, it baffles me how they can still contest. I just think their mind switches off the moment you start speaking.
Did Alexander the Great exist? Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty. He was born in Pella in 356 BCE and succeeded his father Philip II to the throne at the age of twenty. He spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa, and he created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by the age of thirty, stretching from Greece to north western India. He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of history's most successful military commanders. He also had a city named after him Alexandria. Alexandria is a port city on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt founded in 331 BCE by Alexander the Great. There are many more places that bear his name up to 50 at this time. There are also many physical artefacts from his time that bear his name and image, that include busts and statues, coinage and many other physical items of evidence connected to a real person. So did he exist... What do you think? By the way. Not one physical piece of evidence has actually been connected to Christ. Just saying... :-)
Except for over 10,000 manuscripts, over 500 eyewitnesses, artifacts that bear his name, statues of him, and so many more artifacts that can link Jesus back to a real person. No evidence? Jesus was real and the evidence proves it. There is more for Jesus than Ceaser.
@Sam Bacon "You don't prove a negative you moron" People who resort to name calling have already lost the argument. Present something better. You have appealed to the ad hominem fallacy already. What other logical fallacies do you wish to offer the unthinking world? "Post your evidence supporting your claims, and absolutely NOTHING from any book of the Bible counts." For your information, the Bible is not a purely religious text based set of articles. The Bible of today is nothing more a complete collection of the things that have already been written down in history from other places. To dismiss the entire Bible, you can, but you would also be dismissing every other piece of history found inside that is valid as well as outside. If nothing from the Bible counts, you are dismissing the Bible only. You are not dismissing that you can put the Bible back together from outside credible sources and end up with it again. Ok fine. I will provide evidence for my claims. The first one (over 10,000 manuscripts) For the sake of time, I will not add over 10,000 as this post would be too long. Here are at least 8 to get you started. Bodmer Papyrus II The Diatessaron John Rylands MS Chester Beatty Papyri Codex Alexandrinus Codex Sinaiticus Codex Vaticanus Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis Second, over 500 eyewitnesses: Paul wrote a letter. In there he describes that these witnesses to the resurrected Jesus include the Apostle Peter, James the brother of Jesus, and, most intriguingly, a group of more than 500 people at the same time. (Again, if you are saying nothing from the Bible counts, I don't need it to still use the New Testament writings. These writings exist outside of the Bible too. See above) Many New Testament scholars would not dispute that some of Jesus’ followers believed they had seen him alive only weeks or months after his death. Bart Ehrman, a prominent New Testament scholar who is outspoken about his agnosticism, states: “What is certain is that the earliest followers of Jesus believed that Jesus had come back to life, in the body, and that this was a body that had real bodily characteristics: It could be seen and touched, and it had a voice that could be heard.” One of two things can happen. One, everybody was hallucinating the exact same thing at the exact same time. That would be more of a miracle than Christ himself, or you will refute the historical sources found elsewhere as religious and unreliable. If you choose the second, you must not care about history at all. In that case, it is hopeless to convince you. Third, artifacts that bear his name: Annals (Tacticus) The Testimonium Flavianum (Josephus) Fourth, statues. You have never seen a statue or bust of Jesus? LOL. Google it.
Christian got schooled on his own book AND THEN SOME!! Thank you for enlightening the world just a little bit more!! LOVE YOUR SHOW!! ALOHA FROM HAWAII!! 😎👌
Incredible! This is one of the best shows you guys have ever produced. I love all of you guys but Divid Fitzgerald was out of this world on this show. Can you invite him more often? I was amazed by his level of knowledge, clarity, and consistence (if I were a christian, I would never call the show when Matt or this guy are on the air).
As much as I enjoy listening to and trying to learn from Matt, sometimes I am left with some confusion over the terms or arguments used. I think a lot of it is just Matt's speaking style goes right over my head as I am trying to piece things together. David's explanation of proper citing of historic authenticity helped clear up some misunderstandings and confusion I had been having.
it actually is common that most christians believe the gospels are first hand witnesses to jesus...and their little minds are blown away when they learn they were not written for decades later by unknown authors..still...long held erroneous beliefs dont die easily and many refuse to accept reality...great job sir!!
Maybe you only know less educated Christians . I know people that could shred these guys . I am not a christian but I can see fault on both sides . No one who is well educated denies Jesus actually walked this earth . I am amused by all the snarky atheists who think they have all the answers when they do not . There is overwhelming evidence of his existence . The resurrection can be explained in modern science in that he could have been comatose or had died and came back like many do today . Whether you are an atheist or a christian , if you take the bible literally you are equally stupid .
RD Hudon 50 years ago you were a fringe moron to say Moses didn’t exist. After all the parting of the Red Sea could be explained by tidal events and the plagues were explainable by odd weather. Now it’s the modern consensus that Moses didn’t exist and the plagues and Exodus are myths. Provide the evidence that Jesus existed. Show that there was a resurrection that needs explaining. I get the distinct impression that you’re overestimating the intelligence of either yourself or your Christian friends
@@andyrihn1 Read the writings of Tacitus and modern historians , I am on the correct end of the bell curve and my friendships are not defined by what religion a person is associated with . I do have christian friend with Phd's in scenic but they must be as stupid as me . Work harder with your insults they have no gravitas with me as I could care less what others think on this topic as it effects me in no way . I am secure within myself . Only a dummy like me could ever achieve a masters degree . Lol at you !
RD Hudon Wow so defensive. Nobody said you couldn’t have interfaith friends. Their science PhDs say nothing about their ability to comment on history (Ben Carson is a brilliant neurosurgeon but also thinks the pyramids were grain silos built by Joseph the Patriarch. My law degree doesn’t really give a shit about your masters unless it’s in a relevant field. Tacitus wrote about the Christians in AD 60 and only recounted what they told him as he tortured them for information. He’s not an independent source. Maybe you should read some Bart Ehrman he actually does believe in the historical Jesus and points out that Tacitus, Suetonius, Pliny, et al aren’t useful sources for that belief
Telsonater I’d say Andrew’s face was completely blank. Andrew simply wasn’t taking in anything David said- he just dismisses it all as “criticism” and doubles down on his original claim that the gospels were eyewitness accounts written by contemporaries of Jesus.
The Romans would NEVER let "Jesus" be taken down. The point of crucifixion was to humiliate both the offender and his family. The corpses were left to rot on the crosses. This was particularly galling to Jews who required that all blood etc be gathered and buried with the body.
Barnaby ap Robert Thank You!!!! I've tried to explain this several times to many different theist. Also, the entire crucifixion makes no sense as well the particular crucifix itself. The Christians have the "t" cross as their symbol but during that particular time period only the "X" style cross was being used and the "T" (upper case) style cross was just being invented. But even the trial never added up, anything dealing with religion would be handled solely by the Pharisee, Rome wouldn't interfere with a religious fallout from NON-ROMAN/NON-citizens. In addition, how did they immediately hold council with Pilat and immediately have his attention. The Pharisees with have full right to just stone the heretic (jesus). ALSO, if Barnabus was being executed for killing a Roman Centurian, Ceasar said himself "if ANY person would strike a Centurian OR take his life, thus it shall be taken as an assault or attempt to take the life of Caesar himself!!" Barnabus was convicted of several rapes and the Centurian murder, if Pilat set him free in exchange of crucifying a jew who in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM had broken the Laws of Rome or Spoke evil against Caesar; Pilat would be subject to severe discipline (possibly including his own death) under the Laws of Rome. Plus the death was during the holy days of Pasha, so NO one would be allowed to even touch the body and Roman forbade the burying of crucified prisoners/slaves. History in and of itself denies and greatly disagrees with the bible, not just people...
Barnaby ap Robert Very true. They left you up their to rot and for the animals. And you were nude! No cloth covering your naughty bits like the movies show.
Historical Biblical Research Yes, also very silly. You couldn't talk either. You could barely breath. And you were to busy moaning and screaming in pain. But in the Bible it's as if everyone is sitting in the living room having an intimate conversation. HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET?
Courtney D. Waller The Romans took curcification from a North African tribe who nailed or tied people to an x cross. The Romans changed it to the "T" because it was more painful on the joints. I don't know if the Roman ever used the "X" cross. Could be true. Doesn't matter....The story is bullshit anyway. Interesting however.
Christian logic is hilarious, it's so entertaining ,they twist every point to fit the narrative. This is indicative of how the bible was written in the first place.
If dogs believed in a dog god, what would the Ten Commandments be for dogs ? 1. Thou shalt not wag at any other dog god. 2. Thou shalt not chew a plastic bone. 3. Thou shalt not bark up the wrong tree. 4. Thou shalt sleep all day on Saturday. 5. Thou shalt not sniff the bottoms of thy parents. 6. Thou shalt not bite another dog, 7. Thou shalt not run away from your owner. 8. Thou shalt not chew a bone that belongs to another dog. 9. Thou shalt not bark when there is no reason to bark. 10. Thou shalt not sniff the bottom of the dog next door.
Perfect day for this guy to call in. It always peeves me when theists call in on days that experts in the field they're questioning are absent and then act like they're correct because they "stumped" the host on something. Perfect response, well done. I'm definitely going to search for more videos where you're hosting, David.
Who is this David guy? Wow!!!! Amazing how he doesn't even need to hear the whole argument from the caller and he knows what he's getting at, then nips it in the bud right away!!! Wow! Thank you for this introduction!
If' adam and Eve didn't exist then there was no so called original sin, therefore no need for the mythological Jesus sacrifice ( it's a crude concept at any rate). The cohost has greater depth of understanding greater then the Christian apologist. The caller doesn't listen just keeps on going with his cherry picked pre rehearsed palaver.
Matt Dillahunty could learn something from this episode. This guest host is so knowledgeable and yet so nice, polite, patient, and charming at the same time.
In fairness... Matt is a damn saint for how nice he can be on hearing the same four questions for the thousandth time. Sometimes the same SHOW as explaining it.
I actually feel bad for Andrew. He is in denial to facts about his scriptures and his God but it is not his entire fault because like most blindly devoted Christian's they have been groomed since they were in diapers to fear the supposed supernatural. I have seen blind devotion from family members no matter how irrational and illogical it may be. Religion divides families and is the root to the most immoral acts throughout history. I never believed as a child, but I did fear the idea of burning in hell. That was the reason I decided to challenge this fear and learn about most religions that people throughout the world are devoted to. After I read about most of the religions the fear of hell went away and I accepted that I am an atheist. I simply don't believe in the fairy tales because they all say the same thing. Claiming to be the only true religion and the rest are all false. Nothing can be proven and all is contradictory. There is no heaven or hell and the fear that I had is a result of why religion shouldn't be pressed on children. Scaring children to believe or burn is disgusting but is the premise of religion. They prey on people who are young, uneducated, desperate, drug addicts, homeless, come from strained families basically the people of society that are at their most vulnerable. Very sad indeed.
I love the scene in the Life of Brian, where the John Cleese character says, 'He's truely the massiah, I should know, I've followed a few'... Just like guru's in India, they're thick on the ground.. Jusus was probably a real person but not the person we've been led to believe. Myth has overtaken the reality.. In a polytheistic world it pays to give your god attributes others don't have. A monotheistic god trumps them all... I would guess Constantine saw christianity as a way of uniting the troops around a single god, giving them common purpose. Its known the version of christianity chosen was favoured by the military of the time.. Subjugation of women etc...
If Jesus existed he was just some random guy uttering platitudes about life and religion. Without the extraordinary claims being true or even possible, he might as well not have existed at all.
Correct you just a small meaningless guy who had his particular message which was nothing like the message of the Bible which was corrupted fiction Mythos almost 200 years later we already know that but people tend to forget about the other gospels they they think John is the lead when it's not Mark is the lead Matthew and Luke.
I find it very funny that when a theist is caught not telling the truth they go quiet and then change the subject. Such a bunch of ignorant and dishonest people.
Nathan El, Where did I say all theists are ignorant? I have listened to this 3 times now and the caller does NOT declare himself to come from Christian high school. Please explain how someone can believe in a god and yet claim to non-religious!!! The OED Definition of religion - the belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. whether you belong to any church does not matter. It seems you struggle with knowing what truth means too.
"Not all theist subscribe to a religion either, such as myself." ..... There you go! lol So, are you christian or believer in some other magical daddy? Tell us!
Andrew seems to have a hard time wrapping its head around two things: The first is that atheists generally have a better understanding of scripture than believers, The second is that he's talking to a literal biblical expert
@@user-ki1un4jg2d he has a degree in history, and if you had studied an actual academic discipline you would know that asking someone to prove (which is a mathematical concept anyways) a negative is a ridiculous thing to do. Can you prove that Martians don't exist?
@@shinobi-no-bueno Yes . Carl Sagan proved that Martians don't exist when he said that there is no oxygen on any other planet in our solar system . No oxygen = no life !
I just wanted to let you guys know that this is the best episode, in my opinion, to date. I love it when people actually get into the history of things and David seems to know exactly how to handle them.
