You Are Not The Chosen One 

In other words, no lesbian. What a blatant display of homophobia.

When I was a baby my Mom's friends thought I was a "Testimony from God". Because " God allowed me to live" when I was born 5 months early. All my life they placed this role on me to be a Christian Girl. Now that I'm an atheist they told me "Atheism is a cult/wrong and any other religions that aren't centered around God are cults". They told me they won't respect my disbelief in God & that everyone in the LGBTQA+ community is gay and transgender men and women want to dress up as the opposite gender. Now that I learned how long they been doing that it pissed me off because I've met many other kids who are premature does that also mean God has some dumb magical plan for us? Because mist premature kids such as myself suffer a lot.😤 Even tho they are Christians they are Transphobic,Homophobic, and won't accept any other non-God religions or beliefs :(

@@serenityrivers2891Stories like yours completely baffle me. I will never understand the drive to affirm religious beliefs that actively tear apart families. What the Hell do they get out of it. . ?

@@christiananderson4909 feeling special

@@christiananderson4909 Even tho they saw the doctors stitch me up in the hospital. They NEVER gave credit to them so they can continue to play their sick fantasy of me being something special for God. They pushed that narrative so much that eventually I tried way too hard to be a Christian I thought God was going to do something special but he didn't and I felt so upset that I was tricked into believing I was better than all the other kids when I'm not.

Now you can start a RU-vid debunking creationist bs

It isn't useless it still allows connection and understanding to Christian's you can discuss why you converted very easily and 25 starting over ain't the worste time

Now you're starting with experience.

@Immanuel Ntim-Addae my dude probably just used his brain and a sprinkling of critical thinking. It’s really all it takes to be self aware.

@Immanuel Ntim-Addae leaving the church or family isn't leaving God. God is universal and can be found every where. You can have faith in yourself, friends and family of your choosing. You can even have faith in God/the Universe and remain skeptical of things. These things are not dependent on your fear, loyalty or guilt. You don't have to fight to win arguments, because there is no reason to argue. The church/family uses God to be the big scary dad, coming home. Its about control and keeping you in line. Simply because it was done to them. They are feeling the same guilt and fear you do... Yet don't have the strength you do to separate or question. They dig in deeper out of fear. Sometimes just living your life. Doing whats right, for you and those you choose, is the closest to God you can get.

I love that show! That episode is one of my favorites. Such a great deconstruction of the whole “chosen one” trope.

Ofc i see this the day this show comes to an end. Maybe it was… destiny? 😂

Nice

Imagine if someone literally started screaming in terror for having a destiny

I already chose. Now I'm learning why I made that choice.

Damn. Must have been kind of weird, having the people around you treat your fairly normally while you're rolling up wondering when you're going to start merking your own youth group, or whatever.

whoa...

I hope she was right because the dark side kinda rules-

@@MrSignman65 Dark is cool, light is good. I prefer the light side.

@@ARandomSpace but the dark side has cookies

Well put. I’ve given up being nice though. A lot of people are gullible morons. I think of them as garbage but religions USE them. In my early 20’s I wanted to found a cult so I could use idiots too. Now I just wish most of these religious idiots were better people 😘

@@roushpedish well, that was umm, sadistic... 🤣

@@amurrjuan my bad. :)

@@roushpedish I hate to break it to you but you may be a bit of a psychopath.

@@Tre3141 🤫

“Does that plan also include being suicidal, being told how your brain works is a mistake and suffering at the hands of people who are supposed to care about you?”

Yes

I also thought the same thing... If everyone is chosen isn't that means that no one would have the same destiny?? I mean... You might be chosen to be a great artist but that doesn't mean that you would be the best, you might be chosen to be the 3rd best. So, no matter what you do you'll always be the 3rd best Or maybe someone is chosen to suffer his entire life on earth... Or even more contradictory... What if someone is destined to be a serial killer? What then? He can't do anything about it if it is his destiny? And after he died he'll go to hell? What the actual fuck?!

That's actually societies plan for you but TPTB would like you to believe it's God plan so we don't expect anything else from our rulers - we believe it's some how our fault, we must be out of God's will, it's our failing, if we were just better Christian's our lives would prosper in every way. It's how you keep peasants from rising up against the ruling elite.

You're forgetting the Bible includes the mandate for slavery so yes, yes it does.

Agreed. I mean my only perpous in live was (supposed to be) to care for my parent anyway or some dreams that person made up. Idk but it sort of fucked with my self-esteem a bit.

same. I feel like this aspect of evangelical christianity is missed by the atheists who just make fun of memes all day. this makes me feel seen tbh

I couldn't agree more

I always loved bible camp but never for the sermons or anything else they'd preach. I'd always go for my friends. Remarkably, a good portion of us came out as LGBT lol. I guess gays stick together even when they aren't out

@@xenonsan3110 maybe you exposed ideas of being LGBTQA+ before being sent off so they sent you there in suspision

@@randomflexi8019 no I know they didn't. I didn't come out till college and they were extremely shocked and sad (not anymore though, thank goodness). I always went, even in elementary school

@@xenonsan3110 oh that is quite interesting... I'm happy that you're parents are ok now though

@@randomflexi8019 yeah me too. It took a year or two before they started coming around though. And in some ways they are still set in their ways but it's better then having parents who reject you. On the bright side though I got a lot of crazy religion stories from camp so that's fun lol

You are lucky

@@plaguedoctorjamespainshe6009 I seriously feel lucky every time I see the stories of people who have left religion.

Word. It's like getting a glimpse into another reality (and usually not a good one at that)

@@PaddySnuffles yuh. I went to bible study every week when I was a kid (my idea bc my best friend was from a religious family) but it was the most chill church ever. When I told my mom I wanted to go to bible study she was not thrilled that I wanted to be involved with religion. I didn't even know Christians did this shit until years later. I just associated Christianity with a community, fun games, and moral lessons. That changed when I was at a church retreat with my best friend. Her parents decided it wasn't enough church so we drove 30 mins to go to another one. The pastor got all the kids out and did a whole speech. Then he asked if we had all been baptized and i was the only one who said no. He publicly shamed me, said I wasn't worthy, and made me go sit in the fucking church LOBBY. Still mad. Maybe i do have religious trauma. It was one pastor tho, an old lady in the congregation gave me this cool hummingbird pin bc she felt bad

@@kittenloverj My atheist mom had me baptized as a baby because otherwise my dad's family would have ostracized me for not being baptized/Christian. When it came to religion she gave me a world Mythology book when I was 6 and explained to me that "this is what some people believe, and this is what science has found evidence for. You decide what you believe and I'll support you no matter what because I love you." I decided that the stories didn't comport with reality but I found religion interesting. So she made a point of exposing me to different religions in our community, both their beliefs and practices.

My dad literally told me this. He said "There are people who are chosen -- like me and you -- and there are people who are there to just.... assist the Chosen Ones along their path."

@@mykaelajones7780 Ughhh. This typical evangelical arrogance backfired on me when I started to think that my brother was the King David in the family and I was just a background reject character like Leah, Rachel's ugly sister.

@@presentfuture7563 exactly this. I was so tired of being a Leah or an Esau, I ended up leaving the faith entirely. I spent years begging god to notice me, but nothing ever happened.

@@Aziara86 The whole racket is a recipe for a sense of inherent worthlessness. Have you watched this guy's video "You are worthy of love?" it's a good one.

I think we're all main characters in our own story, which is where respect comes in because I'm not the only main character, we all are. And we all write our own stories.

How does it feel to read those things while _not_ believing them?

@@coopergates9680 I hope you enjoyed a lot of new experiences in the last month and learned how wonderful a free life can be.

Omg

“Here we are, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no Why.” -Kurt Vonnegut

We never need to have a purpose. We just live. Purpose is what you make it.

Strawberry jam

Same. The podcasts are too long for me.

@@beccaplainfield8545 excuse me, not my jelly.

@@beccaplainfield8545 nooo now I just want to eat jam :(

I feel like if the podcasts were more personal and less preachy that they would be more entertaining. But that’s just my opinion.

Being German and having always been an atheist, I feel like I found RU-vid atheists rather late. Did the American or generally anglophone atheist timeline go something like this? -Break from conservative households -Split between left wing and right wing -Possible reconciliation after Trump?

@@dansattah that's pretty close but rather than reconciling we just got "new" ones rising to popularity like this guy and Theramin Trees.

@@dansattah Possibly. It also helps to remember how deeply intwined Christianity is with our government (despite our insistence on separation of church and state); "God" is still on our currency, our daily pledge allegiance to our flag "of the United States of America. And to the republic, to which we stand, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" (daily recitals of that for 12/13 years does this to you lmao), we haven't had an atheist president yet, GOP politicians in particular would not last in any election if they follow a different faith than Christianity or lack it, and our oaths are still made with hands placed on Bibles. I dunno much about the religious makeup of Germany but I imagine it's not this fundamentally evangelical. A lot of Atheists here are first-gen Atheists (if that's a term) due to a lot of what's mentioned above, so it's kinda inevitable that we're late in this regard. A lot of the community are people trekking into this blindly and without knowing older people with answers to our questions, so that's why there's that vibe of YT atheists approaching this as though it hasn't really been done before-- because it hasn't for many Americans. I hope this comment answered some questions and gave context c:

@@lotsofuwuenergy3983 That does make sense. One key element in Germany's and overall European history was an earlier detachment b/w religion and politics. E.g. Otto von Bismarck, the most important politician in the first unification of Germany, introduced policies that ultimately replaced the welfare of the church with state-owned welfare institutions. Religion turned from a political issue into a private opinion for most of the German populace. Even nowadays, most German Christians don't insist on the expansion of Christianity and live out their beliefs in private. German Christians, who support Biblical literalism are usually on the extreme right-wing, which damages their reputation because of the right-wing extremist nazis that started WWII.

@@dansattah Wow, that sounds really nice...

Doesn't mean you can't create a greater purpose for yourself 😉

@@A_RU-vid_Commenter yes, exactly! :)

Agree😄

I wasn’t allowed to watch the smurfs growing up because of this mindset...🤦‍♀️

@@rcunningham2693 man I feel that, I wasn't allowed to play any of the pokemon games because my parents were convinced that it was "demonic". Same for harry potter, and a ton of cartoon network shows. They were weirdly selective about it, too. Like, some shows were bad because "magic", but then I was allowed to watch My Little Pony, Ever After High, and all the Barbie movies??? Weird times.

Grumpy Smurf is evil

Samee! My mom was more chill about back then (she’s not Christian anymore like me nowadays) and I was watching an animated smurf movie she put on for me as a kid, and my dad told her to turn it off because of a wizard character that wasn’t evil. I also wasn’t allowed to play/watch Pokémon and now me and my bro’s are in love with it lol

Read a book called Turmoil in the Toy Box from the early 1980s. Smurfs are so satanic! Can’t you tell they are so full of witchcraft?? Lol

Yup, precisely.

For me, I still toss around the word Christian to describe myself. But i love hearing honest takes on all this garbage. Integrate the transcendent, transcend the horse shit.

People like you who can get them selves out of that brain washed mine set give me hope for humanity. You have a strong will

Same. He gives excellent points.

same its really helping me through the religious trauma

I feel so conflicted reading such positive life advice from the account of a serial killer’s puppet 😄

Sorry for the second (extremely tangential!) comment. But imagine if a “good vibes only” version of Saw was made? A few people with various problems are kidnapped, then forced to perform trust exercises and work through their issues before being released into the world to become better people. I could imagine something like your comment being piped into a locked room over a loudspeaker to encourage one of the “victims” to figure their complicated personal stuff out. Apologies again for this unrelatedness, you just inspired the image of Jigsaw’s puppet giving sage wisdom for life and it was too funny not to share. Have a nice day 😋

@@Emiliapocalypse Even better would be if all the people forced to do nice stuff were all millionaires and psychpaths

@@Emiliapocalypse that is kind of what jigsaw does in a twisted way.

@@starandfox601 This is more... mm... paicifistic jigsaw.

As a previously non-religious theist, this reminds me of when I used to believe that the universe sends us signs and makes fun of us and teases us to point out what we need to learn

Can't try too hard to be looking for the answer, I suppose.

Don't forget how every decision from the lot is supposed to be from God, which sounds like diivination if anything

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"Perfection and power are overrated. I think you are wise to choose happiness and love." --Iroh

Ayyyyy Ex - SDA here too lol what a world. I had the exact same thought when I saw Doug in this video

I know I was thinking the same thing . Praise Jesus!

Lmao trueeeeeee

Only *ONE* child?

@@condorboss3339 RIGHT?! it should be at least ten otherwise how will we know god REALLY wanted the movie to be made.

Like yahweh hardening pharoah's heart so that he wouldn't let the slaves go, because yahweh wanted to make sure he could kill all the firstborn, first. Very consistent with the Christian god, lol.

Exactly. This gets into the idea of “pre destiny” that you can’t escape. Philosophy discussions about it ensue and last for days 🤪 Even as a kid, that made no sense to me. I’d wondered for years about how if my life is planned out but still have free will that God gave me...how does that work? If I choose something else, what happens? God comes up with another plan? Or here’s one that I also thought about as a kid which would likely worry most adults...the idea that God chooses when to “take us home”. Ok...if we have a preordained death date, but one chooses to commit suicide, it’s like saying that was God’s plan...but the very same people who tout that idea in the first place will absolutely do a 180 and say otherwise in that scenario.

Also, if everything happens perfectly according to god's plan, then he is responsible for all atheists and every other religion that got it wrong.

So here's how it works, no matter what, EVERYTHING is according to god's plan even when you do the "wrong" thing it's part of the plan . You will still be punished for doing that wrong thing even tho there's nothing you can do to change our go against that plan

I mean even better, why do evangelical families feel the need to pressure relatives into believing or ostracizing them for leaving? It's god's plan after all, right?

@@lotsofuwuenergy3983 can't believe those people criticising god's plan like that xD

@Magnum Dong ayyyy bi atheists gang !! religion just doesnt make sense for me anymore, im glad i had the opportunity to leave :]

May or may not be bi but Bi-Athiests... go!?

*Somewhat nervous finger guns*

@@gregorythehuman *awkwardly returns finger guns*

I'm late, but I've realized for many that God isn't the issue but rather the people who claim to know and speak for him. I consider myself an agnostic.

Wow, you are an ungrateful sad sack.

To L I V E.

Right - Jesus was cool, but we don’t have to be Jesus. Heck, we don’t have to even follow him (“Love your neighbor/enemy”). We just need to live our life.

@@nobleradical2158 yes.

We're here because our parents had sex. It isn't any deeper than that. Sorry.

​@@nobleradical2158Love one another is the best Part of the Book. I Had to Battle this Hell bullshit for long and now im on my way Out of Religion. Glad i live in Germany.

Congrats!

@@maddog2314 thank you!

@@slevinchannel7589 I like that channel a lot! Thanks for the recommendation:)

This same thing is happening to me with music right now. I'm learning to accept that I can love and cherish playing music for myself as a hobby instead of feeling obligated to "offer that talent up to god," which I honestly believe now could potentially ruin my love of it. I'm starting down a completely different career track now and I'm excited to finally have given myself the freedom to leave my supposed "calling" as something I do just for fun

@@lifeontheledgerlines8394 Oy, but I can relate to this. I'm a super Introvert, hate crowds, despise the spotlight, but actually was in bands and played publicly in numerous cities. However, I also became a target for many, many sexual predators, perverts, misogynists, and other evil people. Being in public like that was downright dangerous, and I couldn't do anymore. I also couldn't play music anymore, for many years, because those experiences disturbed me so badly. I've only just started playing music again, and it's been healing my mind and body.

It must be a sign that I'm supposed to be here. ;-)

I prayed to the spirit of Darwin and when I refreshed my youtube feed this video was at the top. It must be a sign from Darwin himself!

@@rofl22rofl22 Thank you for your testimony brother/sister, may Darwin bless your genome.

@@fernthehooman5679 remember return to monk brother

Makes sense that they'd modify their beliefs as soon as they become unpopular

Totally agree with this.

Unfortunatly as someone who did study theology he is wrong. Unfortunatly for me almost anything can be unbiblical or biblical if you spin it the right way. The Bible is a disjointed work written by a large amount of people with completely different views in the subject matter, some view god as wrathful and others as kind. Because if the Bible’s flaws both are correct at the same time even when it would otherwise be impossible. The Bible is rife with mixed messages, poor fact checking, a huge amount of repetition, a massive amount of useless tangents, and passages that are so poorly written it is impossible for any consensus to be reach and what the hell they actually mean. Of course, this is why the Bible is such a strong religious text as well. Mixed messaging is awful until you realize that everyone can find a piece and latch onto it. Fundamentally it is poorly written, but it is so poorly written it is good for Christians. I would actually say that half the Bible should be covered in red ink because of how shit it is. You would think God will provide the people writting his sacred text with the ability to actually write well but he didn’t, probably because all evidence suggests that if he does exist he is probably running on a fridge temperature IQ.

@@arlaux1099 It makes me laugh when they hold it up as a moral standard. How can it be when you can interpret it to excuse anything?

@@arlaux1099 just wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed reading your comment and I hope you have a great rest of your life :)

Even lots of famous people are simply famous because they were in the right place at the right time. We tend to believe in great man theory but change occurs as much down to systemic factors as towards exemplary men.

I didn't know what I wanted to do until the very last year of highschool. I ended up going for Computer Science and I'm enjoying it. Don't worry, just try out things that you're interested in, and if it doesn't work then try something different

I'm currently in my third year and have changed my mind five times. I got lucky enough to be in a university where changing your mind doesn't completely stall your progress. But my point is, not many people know before they try some stuff out so don't stress about it too much and when you begin applying just go into the thing you find most interesting

Try making a list of things you definitely don’t like. It could be the first step to restricting the field of choice. All the best! 👍

Don’t rush your decision. I did, and I hated what I chose and withdrew after one semester

im a senior and idk either tbh. But honestly I think it's gonna be ok. Nothing is set in stone so if i dont like what i chose ill just swap courses

Once compared yoda to Jesus and got scolded.

Childhood is when you think the force is God, Adulthood is when you realize it's the Dao. But not nearly as Daoist as Mandalorians.

@@austin5944 anyone who shuns the universalism of Jesus’ humanity worships a false divinity, devoid of the sacred And that’s why i say I’m agnostic; i’d rather be damned than be regarded a follower of the Demiurge

@@austin5944 yeah Yoda is a bit cooler tbh.

Wow, thank you!

Same

They usually account for it with God works in mysterious ways. Well if God thinks having hayfever, penicillin allergies and IBS related depression is a good way to get me on side it had better get better ideas sooner.

@@andrewharper1609 The Bible never say to believe in yourself, and the Bible never says your the chosen one. In all things we do we should trust the Lord, and God does have a plan for our lives But not in the way you think, it doesn't make you the main character, infact the Bible says live a quiet and humble life. To become a servant of others, your purpose is to love others and God with Active Service. You were not chosen because God needed you ore because you were Gonna Save The World or something. No you were chosen because God loves you.

i remember noticing the contradiction. it just led to a lot of grief and anxiety growing up. God has an almighty plan, but he won't tell you and he'll just watch you flounder and fail because you played your music too loud or you missed church one sunday or didn't pray hard enough. And if you want to catch up on the grand master plan, it wasn't enough to pray, you had to go to a revival and grovel and sweat and plead while praying in order to earn god's forgiveness. No wonder i don't go to church anymore

The way I would explain this if I was Christian would be that God has a plan for you but because you still have free will you can still mess it up.

Lunacy.

Or asking a 2000 year old religious nut who was killed in a humiliating way for guidance

I can imagine it but I was also a child

I know! Clearly, he is more focused on making sure my favorite sports team wins on any given weekend!

wait THAT'S why the shitty plot twist happened? not solely because of shitty writers? god dammit. fandom is why we can't have nice movies.

@@cheezbiscuit4140 fandom is also why nice movies can afford to exist in the first place, so que sera sera

yeah

Maybe it's time to start the Church of the Algorithm? For a seed of 9.99, you can get the algorithm's blessing.

@@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm I’ll take your entire stock.

@@GalaxyDogenut That’s not how this works: First you need to plant your seed by sending me 9.99 US dollars. To which I send you a blank piece of paper and an envelope. Write down your RU-vid sins on the paper. Put the paper in the envelope with a 5-dollar bill and send it back to me. After you have done that, you’ll be ready for step 2 and be closer to you algorithm blessing.

@@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm aight, it’s done. Gimme that paper, so I write my RU-vid sins on it. :>

@@GalaxyDogenut The paper has been sent.

At the Bible college I attended, there was a rule against students going up to other students and telling them they had received “a word from god” that they were going to marry. Apparently it happened so often they actually had to make a rule against it lol

@@cat8390 That's sounds about right. That's hilarious, though. I was planning to attend CFNI, near me, and the running joke was that it's where you go to find a spouse. Basically, if you left unmarried, you were suspected gay, which was a big no-no. A lot of pressure to marry.

@@joshua.merrill That sounds familiar, though it wasn’t as bad at the college I attended. There was a huge emphasis on marriage (I was actually required to take a preparation for marriage mini-class _as a freshman_ ), but the school was small enough that not everyone could actually manage to find a spouse before graduation. No one assumed that students who were single upon graduation weren’t straight though, that’s wild.

Or his rap cd

@@eddyhernandez9959 lol yes!

And a pick up artist by night.

You done said it. I still am a person of faith but I just don’t subscribe to the evangelical stuff anymore. I get tired of hearing “God has a plan” and that if something goes right for you that God orchestrated it...but that puts a wrench into free will so...yeah. It can’t be both.

@@jenniferhiemstra5228 How do you use the free will concept, though? "God gave us free will" means we didn't have free will to decide if we should have it initially. Or when crime is going on, people make the excuse "God's intervention would impact free will" Or "you have free will, but if you use it against God's will, you'll be forever tortured in the afterlife"

Are protestants not considered christian?

@@roojackaroo8517 Protestants are just one group of people who follow the Christian religion and have their own rules and dogmas, one of which is the Divine Plan. Everybody else under the Christianity umbrella (Catholic, Orthodox, etc) don't share the same belief.

@@roojackaroo8517 They definitely are Christians but maybe kemis's point is that the divine plan didn't exist in previous Christian denominations and is only used in Protestant ones

Is reincarnation really that better though? Why not just oblivion. Why does everyone needs to have more life even after they're dead. Why not just stop at one and you don't have to worry about anything anymore. Just nothingness

@@KhiemNguyen-ly1wz Buddhism has it right. Existence is suffering; do well enough to quit the game.

I used to feel bad that I had no shoes Then I met you, Jo

True.

Unfortunately that's very common in church camps. The last day of camp was always the most emotional testimonial time and it almost ALWAYS resulted in many people crying

Those camps were fun but a little much. The horses were the best part

🇳🇬

@@canesugar911 yes oh 🙌🏾

“If I could stop a person from raping a child, I would. That’s the difference between me and your God.” Tracie Harris❣️❣️

Yeah I had an aunt who died of leukemia at age 10. God’s plan for her life sucked