I apologize for all the nasty things people are saying to you and other decent priests. May God forgive them for their lack of righteous discernment. May God give you/them forgiveness to those who are attacking unfairly. May God bring about righteous justice to those priests and also evangelical ministers and sports coaches who have misused their authority.
Father Nathan, of course what he said is not okay. I dont subscribe to the "rights" (& obligations) way of thinking myself, so, to me it's a moot point to complain that he has the right etc etc. It's up to you (to each of us) to say what's ok, what's acceptable - and what's not. That's what matters.
It's true what chopin65 says - you're being baited by someone. Me - I'm *slowly* learning to not argue with people, life will knock off their edges ...eventually.
Father Nathan, I am an agnostic and Buddhist, and I think you should turn away from such baiting. This person you described has a very unbalanced mind. No good can come from such a broken dialog. It is better to provide examples of good dialog, as a way of creating healthy exchanges. I share none of your core values, but I see that you are a decent human being. Best wishes to you.
The phenomenon you are speaking about is certainly isn't new among humans. We experience it more now because of our expanded capability to communicate. I'm an amateur radio operator we we heard the best & worst of people long before widespread internet access, in that was in a forum where anymty was not allowed. Sounds like you & this individual are going in circles, that where I let someone have the last word & forget about it Life is too short moove on
A ;lot of people don't even realize how many hospitals are church run. The Florida Hospital system is Seventh Day Adventist, and many people in Central Florida think its secular or public
you are trying to be rational with the irrational.DO NOT contend with a fool, you will have no rest.See who gave us big bang theory.If matter was once a compact mass, what gave it order?ie electrons circling protons&neutrons.Order DOES NOT come from disorder.How did it get to organic?Did need cause form, ie an eye.Where in the universe does order get "more" orderly?Your parents did a great job, you seek truth with logic.This will help with what's coming.Most follow the lie.
What i do not understand about atheists is why they try for anything.Why do you try for something that it is of no importance to you or your life? According to what you believe you are coming from nothing and you go to nowhere so why do you bother to convince someone else that there is no God? you waste your precious time cause in your case you are nothing more than dust and bones. Just go clubbing is better than wasting you time over this subject.
I am an atheist and completely see how religion blinds and brainwashes people, but if I were to make general attacks like the guy who messaged you, I would be just as bad as a priest who claims all homosexuals are sinners and need to be saved. Sweeping generalizations is a way to simplify the world and make everything black and white. Don't let this guy represent atheism. Atheism is rejecting the claim of a god due to lack of evidence, it has nothing to do with attacking others beliefs.
You're still protected by the first amendment- but you may face repercussions in the church for voicing an unpopular opinion. Much like when a company drops a spokesperson who makes controversial statements because they do not want those statements to represent their company. You wouldn't be arrested, but you would face consequences outside the law. Still, this does not stop many religious figures from making ignorant, bigoted statements about homosexuals, atheists and other groups/issues.
I like your videos as you seem very progressive on a lot of issues, and the atheist that contacted you should not have immediately made general assumptions about who you are. But the reason it's alright for him to do so (as opposed to a priest making similar comments to other groups of people) is that you hold a position of authority by being a priest. Even though you're not the pope, your comments would seem to represent your religion-- and that would be attacked.
Farther Nathan . I run into these people alot .when this man judged you he has one excuse for his Ignorance, fact is lack of his edgucated knowlage.. and there is one billion things to worry about.. he chose you.. Beleive.. God Blessing all who Love the Lord//
That guy that was crititical to the church is probably just seeking. I was the same way at one time. I was an atheist and a heavy drinker. I was very critical to the church and drink was killing me. I wanted amunition for my atheism so I thought I would read the gospel acourding to Luke to show what a load of nonsense it was. I read it and had a very powerful experience. It was nothing like I thought it was going to be about. It moved me to the core. I am now a church goer.God is very real.
Imagine no religion. It's easy if you try. Come on, we have been to the moon for pity's sake. Armstrong et al did not see him. If it was ever here it died before the dinosaurs... probably.
If the God of Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed is the one, I thank Him for a priest like you, to speak out against some of these obnoxious individuals who follow Harris, Hitchens, and Dawkins. They're only causing more problems.
@jumbaljoe As a human being I have the right to speak on any subject. If the Vatican or any institution has poorly handled a situation I can speak out against that.
Considering that nearly half of my videos address the fact that I am not a Roman Catholic priest I don't see how anyone could assume otherwise. I am not promoting a lie.
@FatherNathan You can give your opinion but you come off as a "Roman Catholic" priest and speaking as though you are a part of the Vatican and you are expressing your position as a "Priest" and no where do you say you are NOT Roman Catholic when discussing the Vatican.
I have watched many for your videos and do not recall you specifying you are NOT a RC Priest.
What a twisted religion this is (find me one that isn't). It's sad that people are indoctrinated into believing this at such an early age when critical thinking isn't developed.
Your an ass Fr. Nathan. Shut up and get used to people disagreeing with your views. That's part of being a Christian, not whining on youtube about injustices and then trying to distance yourself from coverups. There is no religious purpose to this video, it does nothing for people's spiritual well being and just promotes hatred and uneducated arguments. You should remove this post and start doing your job as a pastor instead of being indignant.
I would like to personally thank you for being a Christian apologist. Thank you for defending the faith in God, and the views of the Catholic Church. Just thought I would mention about the pedophilia in the church is that when looking at statistics of sexual misconduct in churches, the Catholic Church is less than 2%. This includes molestation, sexual harassment, rape, etc by church leaders. But when you look at the protestant church it is around 15%.
Perhaps you do not conduct yourself in such a way as to say he will burn in hell or he is wicked. (wicked to me is a theistic term solely, so that gives me more reason to doubt he is an atheist) But many theists DO conduct themselves that way.
Perhaps he just finished talking to a theist who had treated him that way. Perhaps it was more than 1? I've had that experience. It is common and even expected of theists to talk that way, often it seems they are simply robotically repeating themselves.
Freethinking is thinking for yourself, free from the dogmas of the chuch. It does not mean that people are nice or kind. They might be, they might not be.
This one wasn't. He was being a troll. What makes trolling ok? Well some people have issues with it and some don't. Everyone who makes videos gets trolls. I get them all the time. That is what BLOCK is for. First sign of that degree of hate and I book them a ticked to the block list. Easy. If they don't want to talk to you, don't talk.
To hear someone say you are a pedophile because you are a priest is another logical error on his side. It's a guilty by association fallacy. Take him to task again on his poor logic.
If you spent more time on logic than on your faith you could handle this guy so easily that it would make your head spin.
Is this the logic of atheism? No. So don't portray this idiot as an atheist. Thanks.
Laugh at his logic, it deserves it. Ask if this is the "brights" logic and show where it fails.
You quickly demonstrate your twisted reasoning when you say "behind every creation there is a creator".
What creation?
If the universe always existed then there was no creation and no creator. And yet time cannot begin. To do so requires an event take place WHEN (a time) no time exists. There are no events outside of time. We cannot have a cause to start time, as that requires time exists when no time exists. God or no god, time can't begin.
It isn't a matter of being sick. Ask him for the illness. Ask to see the proof of the illness you are allegedly afflicted with.
The matter of being twisted is not in believing that a god exists, it is the logic required to get to believing a god exists. That is twisted to be sure and violations of logic would be strewn throughout your reasoning. Hence the adjective "twisted".
If you violate logic itself in your reasoning, and you must to believe a god exists, then that reasoning is twisted
If you did say "I think you are a jerk" that isn't hypocritical to your faith. If you said "you will burn in hell", I'd argue that you don't just merely believe in a god but you want to play god yourself and judge when your faith says that is not up to you.
To say "your god is dead" requires that this god once existed. It contradicts that "god sucks" for if god WERE dead then god does not suck.
Point out his logic error and ask him how much he relies on it.
I find it accurate to say "theists are twisted" or "all of religion is twisted" and easily shown why they are twisted.
On matters of logic, they are twisted very much so.
It's ok to say that, as it's verifiable and true.
Take your pick, absolute truth? Twisted logic. Talking snakes? Can it get more twisted? That isn't being as insulting as you interpet, it is being helpful, honest, sincere and accurate.
Proof is at hand if you look for it. The whys exist and are valid.
If he says "god sucks", then god must exist. If god does not exist, then god does not suck. If god does not exist then god is not anything, so god could not suck.
Only a theist could really believe "god sucks". No atheist can.
Not to say he believes in a god, but does he really believe there is no god?
I am an atheist and I'll be happy to explain more.
Why is it ok you ask? It's ok because that is what happens when you allow people the freedom to express themselves. You meet the very stupid online and you did.
Fr Nathan - two pieces of scripture which often give me some comfort (taken from the RSV translation):
2 Peter 3:3 - "First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions."
2 Peter 3:16 "There are some things in them [the writings of Paul] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures."
So if, as you believe, everything was intentionally created by a being, then who created your creator? There has never been a shred of evidence for any of man's 8,000+ gods, and believing there is one (yours), only creates many more questions than it could ever answer, while also slamming the mind's door shut to wanting to know that which is actually true and not just believed. Science consists of questions that may never be answered. Religion consists of answers that may never be questioned.
@superduperjew where are you getting your statistics from? 9/10 priests are pedophiles? The true statistics say that .1% of priests have been involved in sexual pedophilia. That's POINT ONE. Not NINETY.
The world is untrust worthy. But to condemn a person- assume the worst- is just wrong. That man is sad. He has no inner peace, and THAT is truely sad...
Those that have a problem like this guy who judges pedophiles by profession should then go after every school teacher if this guy's policy of lumping all into one group is followed since in the public school system has had 100 times the sexual abuse seen in the Catholic Church. FatherNathan I feel you try to be honest in your opinion so thank you for not being like the guy who wrote to you. May God guide you on your journey in Faith.
Also Nathan you don't have to wear anything this guys puts on you because that is NOT who you are. GOD is your Judge, not this guy so listen to He Who gave you life, not this guy who's no more authoritative than anyone else. God's words poured over you are the ONLY ones that really matter, every other judgement of you is false and invalid, and can be dismissed with a wave of the hand, so don't worry my friend :)
@Sophiethefembot Why is god his judge? Why must he be judged? God sounds like an a-hole. God can't be authoritative either Sophie, he is imaginary. Not real. Deluding yourself into believing there is an invisible guy watching over you 24/7 and giving you orders is just sad. Oh, and the way you talk about being judged, god's words being poured, some holy spirit etc etc is just plain ol creepy. Religion doesn't allow one to think for themselves. Be open, be a good person and treat others nicely :)
@superduperjew you don't know me so how do you know how I treat people? All you've seen of me is what I've written online and I'm sure you must know that you can't get an accurate picture of how someone is based purely on their words on a screen. Everyone knows that tone of voice is important for communication of which is absent here in the comments section, so if you want to say I'm treating others bad, well that's your thing and you can assume what you want about me, but credit does it have?
@Sophiethefembot I didn't say you treated anybody like anything... where did you get that? I said at the end, "Be open, be a good person and treat others nicely :)" as in god is not needed to be a good person. Just treat others as you'd like to be treated. I'm going to burn in hell for all eternity according to your bible book. Do YOU think I deserve that for simply denying your faith based on a lack of evidence? That religion is so immoral it's disturbing. Tone of voice is irrelevant btw.
It's absolutely NOT ok for him to speak those words over you Nathan, but you know what? As christians we are called to be better than that and rise above that behaviour and that's why we're not to respond in the same spirit because if we are good to those who are awful to us, the Holy Spirit will convict them and hopefully this will help them realise they need to change. Besides, when we rise above such behaviour we are honoured and give that honour to God too, blessings :)
you don't owe him anything Nathan, just ignore him, he's not worthy of your time. He does not deserve one iota of your attention, but pray for him if you can :) bless you
"wow this is where this world has gotten to, this guy has the right to write me this message...(you go on here about how he criticizes your religion)...why is that ok?". Nathan..oh Nathan, there is a thing called freedom of speech, people are allowed to have opinions and voice them. I know througout history religion has been against FoS due to it harming their image, but we are almost in 2011.. we have learned so much and now we know that equal rights,EDUCATION, discovery, and even SEX is vital.
@superduperjew freedom of speech is not about the freedom to abuse someone, but hey if people want to do that, let them because those who know better than that will be honoured for their sacrifice of love to their Creator.
@Sophiethefembot Education is not abuse. Wake up Sophie, these fairy tale "holy books" were written by primitive people... they understood nothing but barbarism. How you can ignore the incredible amount of discrepencies and contradictions, not to mention the horrible teachings of these "gods" (slavery, incest, genocide, murder, etc etc etc) is beyond me. Believing in this foolishness and forcing it on your children isn'ta good thing, especially since it teaches hate towards grooups.
@superduperjew stop being so imflamatory, ignorant and hypocritical. I am not saying this to hurt you, I'm telling you because there is something you do not see and although I know you refuse to see it I have to tell you anyway. You obviously have no clue what you are talking about and you should be open to learning about what we actually believe before you attack what you know nothing about. Especially as you think "it teaches hate towards groups". Jesus said "LOVE your neighbour".
@superduperjew the bible does say love is never rude, but love isn't about being "nice" all the time, it's about sincerly wanting the best for someone, which is honestly what I want for you though I know you would wish the worst on me because of my beliefs.
Oh, and believing in an invisible man that created the whole universe and made us the center and is the son of himself and goes on murderous rampages and does very very sick things in the 2000 year old book he supposedly wrote that describes his love for slavery, hate for women and disgust of sex IS IRRATIONAL! Nathan, that's why he called you stupid. Your beliefs show you do not have clear thinking and OBVIOUSLY(yes I said it too) ignore all scientific discovery to ignorantly live in fairy land
This attitude towards religion today is pretty much how Christianity has been viewed historically by belligerent non-Christians, pagan or what not. In St. Augustine's confessions his priest and his mother talk about his sins as a youth and he tells Augstine's mother that since he is obstinate, trying to discuss religion in even the most conciliatory of ways will do no good. In these situations, it is best to simply pray for the man and not dignify his venom with further response.
Please don't think that all non-believers are this rude or shallow. I don't believe in any man made god of any revealed religion, but I wouldn't not condemn you simply because of your profession. And your right, many great charities and other humane acts are supplied by people of faith.
In my experience when you encounter someone like the guy who kept accusing you - just give him the Word. Basically you can't change him - only God can. And its the Word that will do it. When I get confronted with people who want to accuse and argue with me - I just throw the Word back in their face (in a nice way) and pray for them.
You are absolutely right. It is hypocritical. However, in all respect, why are you surprised? Christianity--and to a larger degree Catholicism--will always be under attack. We just need to change hearts and minds. I'm glad you're on YouTube and doing what you do. You will help head this cause. Thank you!
I do not agree with him calling you a pederast. However, you are part of a group (Christians) who are telling people that Condoms are evil, telling women that they must carry to term when they have been the victims of rape and incest, telling people that Stem Cell research is "evil"...telling people who they can and cannot love.
These new dogmas of the Christian faith are offensive to humanity.
It sounds like the person who wrote you has had some sort of bad/traumatic experience with religious people or priests and is generalizing you because of it. I'm an atheist, but I believe that everyone in the U.S. (at least) should have freedom of religion/philosophy/belief.
FOR THE LAST TIME PEOPLE, HE'S NOT CATHOLIC!!!! Even if he was it is so immature to call him names. Anyone who has half a brain ( Atheist or Theist) should put an end to this nonsense.
How can we not assume the worst? 9/10 priests are pedophiles. Of course, they are the closest to "god" which makes me think much of that guy XD
I would be ashamed to be a religious person. Spreading crazy stories and worshipping people that cover up pedophiles. This alone should show you the pope has zero connection to a god... or if he does that god is a sicko.
@superduperjew I am not Roman Catholic, I am not under the pope and have nothing to do with any of the cover up stuff. I am an Eastern Orthodox priest.
@FatherNathan I see, you seem like a good person! Although religion has nothing to do with that. Even in Nova Scotia, Canada where I live... there have been numerous children come out against their church for pedophilia. My mother was also molested by her pastor when she was young. I just found this information out about a year ago (I'm 23) and it explains a lot of her behavior.
@FatherNathan I am sorry to hear about all that. I have been very vocal against the issues arising in the Roman Catholic Church and will continue to be. Another video is forthcoming on the papal cover up.
@FatherNathan I don't think that the pope coverd anything up, esp. B-16 OR JPII. He came down hard on Bishops in Ireland just reciently and told them to lay the smack down on the pedophiles. These two brought this to the light and are dealing with it,
@6MemoryOfForever9 lol, it was just a faint guess. Almost every day a new case comes up of priests molesting children either recently or in the past. I guess 9/10 priests that you hear about turn out being pedophiles. Especially if they're RC. You can defend it, go ahead, but I think we should be defending the children and not these sick twisted men. If you are a priest and have nothing to do with pedophilia, you're probably the minority in your area. Religion deludes children and adults alike.
@superduperjew says the "enlightened being"..... I there are thousands of pedophile fathers, so let us say that marriage, fatherhood, and having children makes people deluded and pedophiles! let me tell you, there are feeeeeew priests said to be pedophiles, and much fewer ever really mentioned in the past..... yes, I bet all these "victims" (there are real cases, but very few), all these poor things are not in it for the millions they are trying to get!
@6MemoryOfForever9@6MemoryOfForever9 You had no argument to begin with. You are clearly unable to carry on a decent conversation. Fact remains that pedophile priests are popping up everywhere, everyday and children are suffering. You seem to have the rethug attitude where you think that someone that was molested doesn't deserve compensation. " yes, I bet all these "victims"...all these poor things are not in it for the millions they are trying to get!".
@davidbauman16 About which part? "Spreading crazy stories and worshipping people that cover up pedophiles" ? So religion doesn't tell people grand ridiculous stories are true? The pope didn't cover up pedophiles in the catholic church? Which part do you think I'm joking about? If you fear an invisible man in the sky, you'll listen to anything they feed you to save yourself from the invisible man's hell created so you can burn for all eternity for a "sin" comitted in a finite life. Hilarious!
@superduperjew statistically less than 1 in 100 priests are pedophiles, and really it's more a homosexual problem than a pedophilia problem. So your assertion that we must assume the worst is groundless.
Can't help you on your idea of being ashamed to be religious.
@cllewis1 Ok, first of all 1 in 100 is an enormous amount. Second, how is it a homosexual problem? My mother was molested at a young age by one. I don't need help on being ashamed, it's a widespread idea based on facts about religious institutions. divides people and of course if you're part of one you don't see this. You don't see how telling people an invisible man in the sky watching you could make you paranoid? If you don't do what he says you go to hell? Absurd. Peter Pan isn't real either.
@superduperjew the 9/10 priest thing you nitwit. I've met plenty of honorable priests, you have no facts, figures, statistics to prove that, nor do you know any priests, and I'm not sure you love anyone in your life, because if you did, you'd have some respect for those people whom their parish serves as their family in times of pain or grief. Your argument is incredibly cliche, uneducated, and far more fear mongering than those you whine about.
@davidbauman16 Ad hominem in the first sentence! Nice! My post is extremely old, and it originally was "9/10 priests you hear about". Either way, how do we know that's not accurate? Show me ANY statistic on this, please! I have no idea how many are molesters but it seems to be a huge amount. I don't love anyone in my life? I love everyone. Just because I don't believe in fairies and angels doesn't mean I don't love. Strange of you to bring that up. Please, watch/read some Hitchens.
"...you'd have some respect for those people whom their parish serves as their family in times of pain or grief."
Respect is earned. No priest/ parish has earned mine.
You seem to think that churches "help" people in time of need. Lying to someone is not helping them. You have so many fallacies in your comment it's ridiculous; yet my argument is uneducated.
@superduperjew show me any statistic that it IS accurate please. There are over four hundred thousand priests throughout the world. And I wasn't accusing you of not loving someone because you aren't religious. But I have been deeply impacted in my life by the work of priests who are very much like family, and if you had any idea who these people were you'd shut your mouth. There are plenty of pedophile teachers in this world and you don't hear me posting hateful comments about their work.
father, you need to be corrected in a number of ways. however, i prefer to point out right now that the fires of hell is a manifestation of dante. don't believe me, look it up!
it makes one believe you're not up on your religion, which you could be, but then the bigger picture is your religion could be full of shit just like your reference of the fires of hell.
Just a comment of support, from a non-believer. While my views differ greatly to yours on a lot of issues presented in your videos, I have the utmost respect for you as a man. Having watched your videos on feeding the poor, or the girl contemplating an abortion, I know that you live up to the morals that you decree.
Everyone encounters jerks on the internet. Do you think that atheists, Muslims, gays, blacks, etc. don't get exactly the same kind of nonsensical and unprovoked attacks simply by group membership? There isn't an "it's not OK, unless they're Christian or Catholic" rule in play - EVERYONE gets this junk on the internet. This vid is 1 1/2 years old now - so I assume Father Nathan has a better understanding of what goes on by now.
No offense, but you're actually complaining about religious persecution AND YOU'RE A CHRISTIAN??? Have you not read the Bible enough to know you're supposed to EXPECT it? Didn't Jesus WARN YOU that would happen, and yet you complain when you "have no protection"?
I'm an atheist, but I know the Bible well enough to know you should NOT be complaining if you really claim to be a follower of Christ.
Why do you think so many Christians MAKE UP "persecution" if they can't get the real thing?
"OMG!! That Toys 'Я Us clerk just wished me `Happy Holidays' instead of `Merry CHRISTmas'!!1! WAR ON CHRISTmas!! PERSECUTION!!!!!1!1!!eleventyone!!"
No. REAL persecution is what Nero did to the early Christians, for instance. Or what the Christians (Catholics and Lutherans) under Hitler did to the Jews. Or what the Christians in 19th Century Missouri did to the Mormons.
@worldsworstjukebox being a Christian doesn't mean seeking persecution and enjoying it like a bottle of beer!! even Saint Peter, THE Apostle, was trying to escape Rome from persecution!! even Jesus said:" Father, if you will take this bitter cup (the suffering He is about to get) away from me, but it is not my will but Thine!" suffering is not fun, yes, we should offer it up to Christ, but we don't stand silent to it!!
I agree with the person who e-mailed you. I am a religious person but you are a part of a church that has become over the past few decades disgustingly corrupt and immoral. A church that has gone to great lengths to cover up the molestation of children... there is no sin worse than that. I'm not accusing you but being affiliated with such makes you one of them. Shame on you and the Catholic church. God be with the poor children that are being harmed as we speak and let their cries be heard!!
people use the term hypocrite without knowing what it even means, sadly there are a lot of people out there like this, makes me think of the Loretta Lynn song " If God Is Dad, Whose This Living In My Soul " a great gospel song, and a great question to ask them also haha, it's so hard to deal with these kind of people, I have dealt with a few too, it's really scary, once you find out what they believe, it's disturbing to see inside of this darkened, empty soul :-(
Father, the internet is no place for an ordained minister.
Anti-religious sentiment is everywhere.
Besides, there be trolls 'round these parts.
If you wish to try and rectify misunderstandings that secular individuals have with Christianity, my personal suggestions would be to deal with close-minded religious fundamentalists who tarnish the religion with bigotry and hatred while the Christian beliefs of men like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin go largely unnoticed.
well you should expect that , sir, please check the profile of these nasty comment leaving people, they have no life there leave rude comments every where they go there cowards that hide on the internet they promote hate and violence just check there profile and read what people think of them
You evil christian maniacs set back the development of the internet and other technology hundreds of years during the Spanish Inquisition. People who tried to develop advanced things were killed and imprisoned by previous generations of your parasitic bloodthirsty christian cult. We would have had internet and automobiles hundreds of years ago and science would be so advanced by now that we would have colonies on the Moon and Mars.
You murderous christian savages have held us back, and will continue to do so as long as your greed and hunger for control continue to be accepted as something good. People have been burned at the stake, imprisoned, enslaved, and disenfranchised for centuries because of your tyranical abuse. How dare you attribute the internet to your imaginary god.
People suffered and died under your evil persecution to lay the scientific ground work for computers and technology, and now you want to use the fruits of
their labor and suffering to promote your sadistic agenda of dragging the writings of stone aged neandrethals into the modern world and claiming that the cavemen who wrote them were inscribing all the secrets of the universe on stone tablets thousands of years ago. Go crawl into a cave you monkey brained idiot.
Try not to let him get to you. Know that there are those of us out there who WERE Protestant (born into that) that HAVE found The Church and signed up for RCIA. In part, due to good informative folk like yourself on youtube! Keep up your efforts! "seanwithjesus" is also a wonderful Catholic on youtube. Check out his great stuff! (Scott Hahns books rock too.) My whole family has come "Home."Thought you might like to hear a story with a happy ending instead of more crud.
Padre, I'm sorry your feelings were hurt, but in our country there is no law against that. You have made the decision to place yourself in a public forum. You are allowed to respond to his criticism. As far as I can tell, the dude didn't threaten you or incite violence.
The First Amendment is a beautiful thing. Religion is protected from the gov't, the gov't is protected from religion, and there's that whole "freedom of speech" thing. You are just upset you were disagreed with--on YouTube!
God is not simply some old man with a beard, spinning a wheel somewhere high above us dealing out pain and judgement. It is this narrow minded view that some radical sects of Christianity, Islam, and other monotheistic sects promote. And atheists, agnostics, god haters, atheist haters etc, will never come together to any sort of resolution or understanding until the concept of God is better laid out.
I like to think God can be anything you want. I mean he made everything, and is everything. It is limited towards an old man, and I have seen some pictures of God as an older Jesus, with Jesus sitting next to him.
Alcolm X.... that is not theological logic, that is scientific. There are unifying forces behind all things, and whether you want to put that into a scientific context or a spiritual faith context, it is just two ways of the saying the same truth. In theological context, God is simply the highest unifying factor and force. Humans think of things in a linear format, something must proceed something else, the idea of God is not subject to those same linear processes.
he's a liar just like his "father" and you know what i mean by that. don't waste your time trying to make sense of senselessness. water off a duck's back man. let him be an arrogant fool. he'll reap what he sows. you know that.
The crux of the message of Jesus, whatever one believes him (or not) to be, is to treat one another with kindness and respect. Unfortunately some people can't appreciate the message for what it is, regardless of who uttered it.
if you actually think that the crux of jesus' message is to treat one another with kindness and respect you really need to study the whole of the bible. because you are WAY off. it is part of his message yes, but the crux of it, absolutely not.
You can build hospitals without mumbeling headthoughts to invisible skydads. He says your beleifs are stupid. Based on that you beleive that a Iron age desert dwelling carpenter who was simultaniously god killed himself to prevent him from torturing us, came back as a zombie and now lives ina magic land where he can jump into booze and biscuits if people like you mumble the right words,then Yeah , Your beleifs are indeed stupid. Stop infecting Childrens minds with utter crap. Go get a real job.
You know...after reading this I realized you are right. Believing that two atoms (now don't worry where those atoms came from) crashed into each other some billion years and those atoms began to produce other atoms which slowly began to form life so complex that this life (that created itself) doesn't even understand itself.
Yes, this makes much more sense then a creator.
BTW... this is a real job. More real then most next to doctors and cops. I dare you to keep up with me for one week.
Well in a very short order its clear you have no idea about partical physics and have read absoloutley nothing on the subject. I strongly suggest you read what science has discovered about the creation of the universe. Life evolved from simple forms, that is arguable against only from a position of ignorance. It is merely the failure of society to take the neccessery educational steps that keeps the idea of god alive.
@FatherNathan At least atoms have the benefit of being real, with observable properties and behaviors, and the process - that you parody - of chaos self-organizing into order, life, and brains with the ability to understand itself is understood. You have the right to wallow in ignorance, but you should be considered reprehensible because you have chosen a career (a "real job") dedicated to the propagation of ignorance.
I'm sure you do a great job helping people. You dont need to beleive in a zombie handyman who decided at the age of 27 that he was god and one based on pagan gods at that, to benifit mankind.
I am Roman Catholic and I agree that those priest should have been defrocked.But it doesn't shake my faith in the church and in God. That is people messing up, not the church or God.
I am a Roman Catholic. And I strive to show respect to other people who have a different religion. But, like in your case, if they show disrespect to my religion, it means different. Father, I see that your reaction is just and appropriate. It's normal to have that kind of reaction because if I'm in your situation, I would have the same reaction. Freedom doesn't mean doing whatever people want (a.k.a. absolute freedom). It must have RESPECT TO ONE'S NEIGHBOR (and also to his or her religion).
As for everything being created: With human inventions you can often trace physical evidence that shows we created it. (Most things have a schematic of some-sort.) This is not true with the universe as a whole.
Either way you have "something always existing" or "something from nothing"; belief in God or not.
What that "something" is is different for different people.
(But then Occam's Razor comes in, and takes a God term out because it offers no additional explanation.)
An atheist believes in God the same way you believe in Zeus.
So imagine that a huge percentage of the world believed in Zeus, with some trying to push that belief into politics, and most are teaching children from a young age that Zeus exists, etc.
How would you feel about the prevalent spread of this falsehood?
That is how many atheists feel about your Christians too, irregardless of some good things.
Some of what s/he said sounds like frustrated lashing out.
I believe it is wrong to attack someone on their homepage and call names or make baseless accusations, and I am sorry that it happened to You- Even though I am an unbeliever as well.
I would love to see the debate of theism vs. non-theism conducted in the light of day between willing participants who are able to be civil, but unfortunately it is true for believers and unbelievers alike that we all have different levels of what we consider moral behavior, and often we are represented from either side by the loudest or the most forceful or outspoken- not always the brightest examples of our beliefs, or lack thereof
Well, even though you bring your point over calmly enough, teligion is mind-abuse in my opinion. There will never be real freedom from religion as long as religion still exists.
If you are, you have got that interpretation WRONG. What gives you the right to suppress what I believe, just because you don't want to hear about it? I don't want cussing in the public square, but do I get my way? No. Why? It's the right of all Americans to voice their opinion and express their feelings (which by the way is ALSO not the original interpretation). Atheists say that their Freedom From Religion trumps my freedom of speech. Bologna.
France - good laicity & all, which was state-enforced at the time (though now it seems they want to get something like a "positive" laicity which is really stupid. But it doesn't really matter where i'm from, i did meanfreedom *from* religion and not *of*... It's just that a couple thousans years of crusades, forced conversion, holy inquisiton and whatnot they came up with should be quite enough. And I'm not talking particularly about christianism, *any* religion should be abolished.
sounds like you were dealing with a demon possessed individual. I would just pray for his lost soul. That is really sad that in today's day and age, this type of abuse heaped on anything remotely Christian is acceptable.
i am glad tha there are priests today like you Father, and yes, we will be having more and more people who will hate Christ and our mother church, it is all written in the bible, but the difference is that they will still be children of God, and only up to them to say yes, God you are my father, this is what Christians suffer, and still to come, more and more, this is why our lady did not promise everything good here,but she promised something elsewhere, this guy will know sooner or later.Thanks
This is not worthy of your time, brother! This person to whom you speak, has gotten your goat, and I cannot see what you are trying to do in coming to the man. He will jerk your chain again, now that he sees, you are able to be taken in by a megalomaniac.
Brother, there are other things you could speak of, that might cause a blessing to another, rather than this rhetoric that is well understood by most all to whom you now apeak. This wasn't needful.
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The fact of the matter is ur kind are not special because they run hospitals ect, that happens all over the world by all walks of life, you have no right to isolate that. I can see exactly where the persons views are coming from when he said you are an abuser of minds, because you are. You feed hope in to peoples lives that is not true, ok there is a chance that your religion is true. 1 against an infinite amount of other possibilities, you don't even supply evidence for your perverted claims.
I apologize for all the nasty things people are saying to you and other decent priests. May God forgive them for their lack of righteous discernment. May God give you/them forgiveness to those who are attacking unfairly. May God bring about righteous justice to those priests and also evangelical ministers and sports coaches who have misused their authority.
6648rome 1 month ago
Father Nathan, of course what he said is not okay. I dont subscribe to the "rights" (& obligations) way of thinking myself, so, to me it's a moot point to complain that he has the right etc etc. It's up to you (to each of us) to say what's ok, what's acceptable - and what's not. That's what matters.
It's true what chopin65 says - you're being baited by someone. Me - I'm *slowly* learning to not argue with people, life will knock off their edges ...eventually.
Enjoying your videos a lot, thanks!
sdrtcacgnrjrc 1 month ago
Father Nathan, I am an agnostic and Buddhist, and I think you should turn away from such baiting. This person you described has a very unbalanced mind. No good can come from such a broken dialog. It is better to provide examples of good dialog, as a way of creating healthy exchanges. I share none of your core values, but I see that you are a decent human being. Best wishes to you.
chopin65 1 month ago in playlist More videos from FatherNathan 2
The phenomenon you are speaking about is certainly isn't new among humans. We experience it more now because of our expanded capability to communicate. I'm an amateur radio operator we we heard the best & worst of people long before widespread internet access, in that was in a forum where anymty was not allowed. Sounds like you & this individual are going in circles, that where I let someone have the last word & forget about it Life is too short moove on
waswestkan 2 months ago
A ;lot of people don't even realize how many hospitals are church run. The Florida Hospital system is Seventh Day Adventist, and many people in Central Florida think its secular or public
Yankhadenough 2 months ago
well he is just an ignorant person, there are some like that.
creativeprojects720 2 months ago
well that goes to show you how far science has come, and how much it has tried to destroy religion in some ways.
creativeprojects720 2 months ago
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he was probably just an ignorant kid.
creativeprojects720 2 months ago
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creativeprojects720 2 months ago
you are trying to be rational with the irrational.DO NOT contend with a fool, you will have no rest.See who gave us big bang theory.If matter was once a compact mass, what gave it order?ie electrons circling protons&neutrons.Order DOES NOT come from disorder.How did it get to organic?Did need cause form, ie an eye.Where in the universe does order get "more" orderly?Your parents did a great job, you seek truth with logic.This will help with what's coming.Most follow the lie.
idesofmarchUNIAEA 2 months ago
What i do not understand about atheists is why they try for anything.Why do you try for something that it is of no importance to you or your life? According to what you believe you are coming from nothing and you go to nowhere so why do you bother to convince someone else that there is no God? you waste your precious time cause in your case you are nothing more than dust and bones. Just go clubbing is better than wasting you time over this subject.
ZOLTRAN1 2 months ago
I am an atheist and completely see how religion blinds and brainwashes people, but if I were to make general attacks like the guy who messaged you, I would be just as bad as a priest who claims all homosexuals are sinners and need to be saved. Sweeping generalizations is a way to simplify the world and make everything black and white. Don't let this guy represent atheism. Atheism is rejecting the claim of a god due to lack of evidence, it has nothing to do with attacking others beliefs.
SongADayChallenge 2 months ago
You're still protected by the first amendment- but you may face repercussions in the church for voicing an unpopular opinion. Much like when a company drops a spokesperson who makes controversial statements because they do not want those statements to represent their company. You wouldn't be arrested, but you would face consequences outside the law. Still, this does not stop many religious figures from making ignorant, bigoted statements about homosexuals, atheists and other groups/issues.
SongADayChallenge 2 months ago
I like your videos as you seem very progressive on a lot of issues, and the atheist that contacted you should not have immediately made general assumptions about who you are. But the reason it's alright for him to do so (as opposed to a priest making similar comments to other groups of people) is that you hold a position of authority by being a priest. Even though you're not the pope, your comments would seem to represent your religion-- and that would be attacked.
SongADayChallenge 2 months ago
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Farther Nathan . I run into these people alot .when this man judged you he has one excuse for his Ignorance, fact is lack of his edgucated knowlage.. and there is one billion things to worry about.. he chose you.. Beleive.. God Blessing all who Love the Lord//
MaineXParanormal 2 months ago
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MaineXParanormal 2 months ago
That guy that was crititical to the church is probably just seeking. I was the same way at one time. I was an atheist and a heavy drinker. I was very critical to the church and drink was killing me. I wanted amunition for my atheism so I thought I would read the gospel acourding to Luke to show what a load of nonsense it was. I read it and had a very powerful experience. It was nothing like I thought it was going to be about. It moved me to the core. I am now a church goer.God is very real.
aarusty51 2 months ago
He was just a troll. Just trying to get a response from you.
diggingforgold 2 months ago
Imagine no religion. It's easy if you try. Come on, we have been to the moon for pity's sake. Armstrong et al did not see him. If it was ever here it died before the dinosaurs... probably.
jgsouter 2 months ago
If the God of Abraham, Jesus, and Mohammed is the one, I thank Him for a priest like you, to speak out against some of these obnoxious individuals who follow Harris, Hitchens, and Dawkins. They're only causing more problems.
kubrox91 3 months ago
Your not a Roman Catholic Priest so you can not speak about how the Vatican handled anything.
You need to tell your followers that you are NOT Roman Catholic otherwise you are deceiving them and misleading them.
You are promoting a lie and liars do not enter the Kingdom.
jumbaljoe 4 months ago
@jumbaljoe As a human being I have the right to speak on any subject. If the Vatican or any institution has poorly handled a situation I can speak out against that.
Considering that nearly half of my videos address the fact that I am not a Roman Catholic priest I don't see how anyone could assume otherwise. I am not promoting a lie.
FatherNathan 4 months ago 9
@FatherNathan You can give your opinion but you come off as a "Roman Catholic" priest and speaking as though you are a part of the Vatican and you are expressing your position as a "Priest" and no where do you say you are NOT Roman Catholic when discussing the Vatican.
I have watched many for your videos and do not recall you specifying you are NOT a RC Priest.
Which ones do you state this in?
jumbaljoe 4 months ago
@jumbaljoe amen!
TravisRochaRox21 1 month ago
@jumbaljoe Cut him with the word of God! It is sharper then any double edged sword!
TravisRochaRox21 1 month ago
nice accent their brandan lee pittman
dallasgoldbug 5 months ago
Your wallowing in the mud with this rebuttal.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
skoobalon 5 months ago
Don't feed the trolls Father.
TheeJoey1978 6 months ago
I agree with the atheist all religion is poison the world would be a much better place without it
terry4144 7 months ago
What a twisted religion this is (find me one that isn't). It's sad that people are indoctrinated into believing this at such an early age when critical thinking isn't developed.
superduperjew 10 months ago
Your an ass Fr. Nathan. Shut up and get used to people disagreeing with your views. That's part of being a Christian, not whining on youtube about injustices and then trying to distance yourself from coverups. There is no religious purpose to this video, it does nothing for people's spiritual well being and just promotes hatred and uneducated arguments. You should remove this post and start doing your job as a pastor instead of being indignant.
davidbauman16 10 months ago
I would like to personally thank you for being a Christian apologist. Thank you for defending the faith in God, and the views of the Catholic Church. Just thought I would mention about the pedophilia in the church is that when looking at statistics of sexual misconduct in churches, the Catholic Church is less than 2%. This includes molestation, sexual harassment, rape, etc by church leaders. But when you look at the protestant church it is around 15%.
coreymc1144 1 year ago
@coreymc1144 lmao right.
superduperjew 10 months ago
@coreymc1144 "har har their church rapes more children than ours!!!! JOIN US!"
superduperjew 10 months ago
Perhaps you do not conduct yourself in such a way as to say he will burn in hell or he is wicked. (wicked to me is a theistic term solely, so that gives me more reason to doubt he is an atheist) But many theists DO conduct themselves that way.
Perhaps he just finished talking to a theist who had treated him that way. Perhaps it was more than 1? I've had that experience. It is common and even expected of theists to talk that way, often it seems they are simply robotically repeating themselves.
gklr 1 year ago
Freethinking is thinking for yourself, free from the dogmas of the chuch. It does not mean that people are nice or kind. They might be, they might not be.
This one wasn't. He was being a troll. What makes trolling ok? Well some people have issues with it and some don't. Everyone who makes videos gets trolls. I get them all the time. That is what BLOCK is for. First sign of that degree of hate and I book them a ticked to the block list. Easy. If they don't want to talk to you, don't talk.
gklr 1 year ago
To hear someone say you are a pedophile because you are a priest is another logical error on his side. It's a guilty by association fallacy. Take him to task again on his poor logic.
If you spent more time on logic than on your faith you could handle this guy so easily that it would make your head spin.
Is this the logic of atheism? No. So don't portray this idiot as an atheist. Thanks.
Laugh at his logic, it deserves it. Ask if this is the "brights" logic and show where it fails.
gklr 1 year ago
Since time cannot begin, with or without a god. We can move on....
e=mc2 is true. c2 is only measurable in segments of time. Therefore if time always existed, then so too did energy and mass.
No creator because there was nothing to create. Time, mass, energy always existed. That you cannot create or destroy energy is a tenet of science.
Magic is not reasonable argument.
gklr 1 year ago
@gklr Wow, finally someone bringing logic into the conversation!
superduperjew 10 months ago
You quickly demonstrate your twisted reasoning when you say "behind every creation there is a creator".
What creation?
If the universe always existed then there was no creation and no creator. And yet time cannot begin. To do so requires an event take place WHEN (a time) no time exists. There are no events outside of time. We cannot have a cause to start time, as that requires time exists when no time exists. God or no god, time can't begin.
gklr 1 year ago
It isn't a matter of being sick. Ask him for the illness. Ask to see the proof of the illness you are allegedly afflicted with.
The matter of being twisted is not in believing that a god exists, it is the logic required to get to believing a god exists. That is twisted to be sure and violations of logic would be strewn throughout your reasoning. Hence the adjective "twisted".
If you violate logic itself in your reasoning, and you must to believe a god exists, then that reasoning is twisted
gklr 1 year ago
If you did say "I think you are a jerk" that isn't hypocritical to your faith. If you said "you will burn in hell", I'd argue that you don't just merely believe in a god but you want to play god yourself and judge when your faith says that is not up to you.
To say "your god is dead" requires that this god once existed. It contradicts that "god sucks" for if god WERE dead then god does not suck.
Point out his logic error and ask him how much he relies on it.
gklr 1 year ago
I find it accurate to say "theists are twisted" or "all of religion is twisted" and easily shown why they are twisted.
On matters of logic, they are twisted very much so.
It's ok to say that, as it's verifiable and true.
Take your pick, absolute truth? Twisted logic. Talking snakes? Can it get more twisted? That isn't being as insulting as you interpet, it is being helpful, honest, sincere and accurate.
Proof is at hand if you look for it. The whys exist and are valid.
gklr 1 year ago
If he says "god sucks", then god must exist. If god does not exist, then god does not suck. If god does not exist then god is not anything, so god could not suck.
Only a theist could really believe "god sucks". No atheist can.
gklr 1 year ago
What makes you so sure he was an atheist?
I bet he wasn't.
Not to say he believes in a god, but does he really believe there is no god?
I am an atheist and I'll be happy to explain more.
Why is it ok you ask? It's ok because that is what happens when you allow people the freedom to express themselves. You meet the very stupid online and you did.
gklr 1 year ago
Fr Nathan - two pieces of scripture which often give me some comfort (taken from the RSV translation):
2 Peter 3:3 - "First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions."
2 Peter 3:16 "There are some things in them [the writings of Paul] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures."
hartleymartin 1 year ago
So if, as you believe, everything was intentionally created by a being, then who created your creator? There has never been a shred of evidence for any of man's 8,000+ gods, and believing there is one (yours), only creates many more questions than it could ever answer, while also slamming the mind's door shut to wanting to know that which is actually true and not just believed. Science consists of questions that may never be answered. Religion consists of answers that may never be questioned.
CRUClEFICTION 1 year ago
i don't agree with the catholic religion , however you have the right to believe any way you like and no one should bash you for it ....
demorris766126 1 year ago
@superduperjew where are you getting your statistics from? 9/10 priests are pedophiles? The true statistics say that .1% of priests have been involved in sexual pedophilia. That's POINT ONE. Not NINETY.
07amandah 1 year ago
The world is untrust worthy. But to condemn a person- assume the worst- is just wrong. That man is sad. He has no inner peace, and THAT is truely sad...
ephenderson 1 year ago
Those that have a problem like this guy who judges pedophiles by profession should then go after every school teacher if this guy's policy of lumping all into one group is followed since in the public school system has had 100 times the sexual abuse seen in the Catholic Church. FatherNathan I feel you try to be honest in your opinion so thank you for not being like the guy who wrote to you. May God guide you on your journey in Faith.
tomb1954 1 year ago
Also Nathan you don't have to wear anything this guys puts on you because that is NOT who you are. GOD is your Judge, not this guy so listen to He Who gave you life, not this guy who's no more authoritative than anyone else. God's words poured over you are the ONLY ones that really matter, every other judgement of you is false and invalid, and can be dismissed with a wave of the hand, so don't worry my friend :)
Sophiethefembot 1 year ago
@Sophiethefembot Why is god his judge? Why must he be judged? God sounds like an a-hole. God can't be authoritative either Sophie, he is imaginary. Not real. Deluding yourself into believing there is an invisible guy watching over you 24/7 and giving you orders is just sad. Oh, and the way you talk about being judged, god's words being poured, some holy spirit etc etc is just plain ol creepy. Religion doesn't allow one to think for themselves. Be open, be a good person and treat others nicely :)
superduperjew 1 year ago
@superduperjew you don't know me so how do you know how I treat people? All you've seen of me is what I've written online and I'm sure you must know that you can't get an accurate picture of how someone is based purely on their words on a screen. Everyone knows that tone of voice is important for communication of which is absent here in the comments section, so if you want to say I'm treating others bad, well that's your thing and you can assume what you want about me, but credit does it have?
Sophiethefembot 1 year ago
@Sophiethefembot I didn't say you treated anybody like anything... where did you get that? I said at the end, "Be open, be a good person and treat others nicely :)" as in god is not needed to be a good person. Just treat others as you'd like to be treated. I'm going to burn in hell for all eternity according to your bible book. Do YOU think I deserve that for simply denying your faith based on a lack of evidence? That religion is so immoral it's disturbing. Tone of voice is irrelevant btw.
superduperjew 1 year ago
It's absolutely NOT ok for him to speak those words over you Nathan, but you know what? As christians we are called to be better than that and rise above that behaviour and that's why we're not to respond in the same spirit because if we are good to those who are awful to us, the Holy Spirit will convict them and hopefully this will help them realise they need to change. Besides, when we rise above such behaviour we are honoured and give that honour to God too, blessings :)
Sophiethefembot 1 year ago
you don't owe him anything Nathan, just ignore him, he's not worthy of your time. He does not deserve one iota of your attention, but pray for him if you can :) bless you
Sophiethefembot 1 year ago
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07drinkaful 1 year ago
"wow this is where this world has gotten to, this guy has the right to write me this message...(you go on here about how he criticizes your religion)...why is that ok?". Nathan..oh Nathan, there is a thing called freedom of speech, people are allowed to have opinions and voice them. I know througout history religion has been against FoS due to it harming their image, but we are almost in 2011.. we have learned so much and now we know that equal rights,EDUCATION, discovery, and even SEX is vital.
superduperjew 1 year ago
@superduperjew freedom of speech is not about the freedom to abuse someone, but hey if people want to do that, let them because those who know better than that will be honoured for their sacrifice of love to their Creator.
Sophiethefembot 1 year ago
@Sophiethefembot Education is not abuse. Wake up Sophie, these fairy tale "holy books" were written by primitive people... they understood nothing but barbarism. How you can ignore the incredible amount of discrepencies and contradictions, not to mention the horrible teachings of these "gods" (slavery, incest, genocide, murder, etc etc etc) is beyond me. Believing in this foolishness and forcing it on your children isn'ta good thing, especially since it teaches hate towards grooups.
superduperjew 1 year ago
@superduperjew stop being so imflamatory, ignorant and hypocritical. I am not saying this to hurt you, I'm telling you because there is something you do not see and although I know you refuse to see it I have to tell you anyway. You obviously have no clue what you are talking about and you should be open to learning about what we actually believe before you attack what you know nothing about. Especially as you think "it teaches hate towards groups". Jesus said "LOVE your neighbour".
Sophiethefembot 1 year ago
@superduperjew the bible does say love is never rude, but love isn't about being "nice" all the time, it's about sincerly wanting the best for someone, which is honestly what I want for you though I know you would wish the worst on me because of my beliefs.
Sophiethefembot 1 year ago
Run on sentence? yes. Needed? I think so.
superduperjew 1 year ago
Oh, and believing in an invisible man that created the whole universe and made us the center and is the son of himself and goes on murderous rampages and does very very sick things in the 2000 year old book he supposedly wrote that describes his love for slavery, hate for women and disgust of sex IS IRRATIONAL! Nathan, that's why he called you stupid. Your beliefs show you do not have clear thinking and OBVIOUSLY(yes I said it too) ignore all scientific discovery to ignorantly live in fairy land
superduperjew 1 year ago
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Dear Father, do you believe Catholics are going to Hell?
6MemoryOfForever9 1 year ago
Why did YT recomend this drivel to me???????????
dingle1 1 year ago
stupidity knows no race, color or creed.
DieFatorLiveThin 1 year ago
This attitude towards religion today is pretty much how Christianity has been viewed historically by belligerent non-Christians, pagan or what not. In St. Augustine's confessions his priest and his mother talk about his sins as a youth and he tells Augstine's mother that since he is obstinate, trying to discuss religion in even the most conciliatory of ways will do no good. In these situations, it is best to simply pray for the man and not dignify his venom with further response.
JonTheJansenist 1 year ago
Please don't think that all non-believers are this rude or shallow. I don't believe in any man made god of any revealed religion, but I wouldn't not condemn you simply because of your profession. And your right, many great charities and other humane acts are supplied by people of faith.
whoopiman 1 year ago
Just a note here from a Christian believer.
In my experience when you encounter someone like the guy who kept accusing you - just give him the Word. Basically you can't change him - only God can. And its the Word that will do it. When I get confronted with people who want to accuse and argue with me - I just throw the Word back in their face (in a nice way) and pray for them.
jchunt125 1 year ago
Yeah too bad you can't burn those heretics anymore ;) Sucks for you
annata12 1 year ago
Welcome to the internet.
kausidya 1 year ago
You are absolutely right. It is hypocritical. However, in all respect, why are you surprised? Christianity--and to a larger degree Catholicism--will always be under attack. We just need to change hearts and minds. I'm glad you're on YouTube and doing what you do. You will help head this cause. Thank you!
wuteva4eva456 1 year ago
I do not agree with him calling you a pederast. However, you are part of a group (Christians) who are telling people that Condoms are evil, telling women that they must carry to term when they have been the victims of rape and incest, telling people that Stem Cell research is "evil"...telling people who they can and cannot love.
These new dogmas of the Christian faith are offensive to humanity.
MrJmm999 1 year ago
It sounds like the person who wrote you has had some sort of bad/traumatic experience with religious people or priests and is generalizing you because of it. I'm an atheist, but I believe that everyone in the U.S. (at least) should have freedom of religion/philosophy/belief.
adean2 1 year ago
FOR THE LAST TIME PEOPLE, HE'S NOT CATHOLIC!!!! Even if he was it is so immature to call him names. Anyone who has half a brain ( Atheist or Theist) should put an end to this nonsense.
hippo11222 1 year ago
How can we not assume the worst? 9/10 priests are pedophiles. Of course, they are the closest to "god" which makes me think much of that guy XD
I would be ashamed to be a religious person. Spreading crazy stories and worshipping people that cover up pedophiles. This alone should show you the pope has zero connection to a god... or if he does that god is a sicko.
superduperjew 1 year ago
@superduperjew I am not Roman Catholic, I am not under the pope and have nothing to do with any of the cover up stuff. I am an Eastern Orthodox priest.
FatherNathan 1 year ago
@FatherNathan I see, you seem like a good person! Although religion has nothing to do with that. Even in Nova Scotia, Canada where I live... there have been numerous children come out against their church for pedophilia. My mother was also molested by her pastor when she was young. I just found this information out about a year ago (I'm 23) and it explains a lot of her behavior.
superduperjew 1 year ago
@FatherNathan I am sorry to hear about all that. I have been very vocal against the issues arising in the Roman Catholic Church and will continue to be. Another video is forthcoming on the papal cover up.
FatherNathan 1 year ago
@FatherNathan I don't think that the pope coverd anything up, esp. B-16 OR JPII. He came down hard on Bishops in Ireland just reciently and told them to lay the smack down on the pedophiles. These two brought this to the light and are dealing with it,
cheesemonkey1990 1 year ago
@FatherNathan --Google "scandal in eastern orthodox church" for reality sandwich: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone".
TheUltraHorror559 1 year ago
@superduperjew 9/10??? where the hell do you get your statistics?
6MemoryOfForever9 1 year ago
@6MemoryOfForever9 lol, it was just a faint guess. Almost every day a new case comes up of priests molesting children either recently or in the past. I guess 9/10 priests that you hear about turn out being pedophiles. Especially if they're RC. You can defend it, go ahead, but I think we should be defending the children and not these sick twisted men. If you are a priest and have nothing to do with pedophilia, you're probably the minority in your area. Religion deludes children and adults alike.
superduperjew 1 year ago
@superduperjew says the "enlightened being"..... I there are thousands of pedophile fathers, so let us say that marriage, fatherhood, and having children makes people deluded and pedophiles! let me tell you, there are feeeeeew priests said to be pedophiles, and much fewer ever really mentioned in the past..... yes, I bet all these "victims" (there are real cases, but very few), all these poor things are not in it for the millions they are trying to get!
6MemoryOfForever9 1 year ago
@6MemoryOfForever9 So you are completely ignorant of the world around you. Good to know.
superduperjew 1 year ago
@superduperjew oh woooooooow, saying I am ignorant totally destroyed my arguments, beliefs, and made me really ignorant!
wait, let me try it on you and see if it works. OH NO, I DON'T THROW RANDOM STUPID ACCUSATIONS ON PEOPLE!
6MemoryOfForever9 1 year ago
@6MemoryOfForever9 @6MemoryOfForever9 You had no argument to begin with. You are clearly unable to carry on a decent conversation. Fact remains that pedophile priests are popping up everywhere, everyday and children are suffering. You seem to have the rethug attitude where you think that someone that was molested doesn't deserve compensation. " yes, I bet all these "victims"...all these poor things are not in it for the millions they are trying to get!".
Money money money?
You need help.
superduperjew 1 year ago
@superduperjew IGNORANTS like you should just shut up
Enigmatik691 1 year ago
@superduperjew you've got to be joking.
davidbauman16 10 months ago
@davidbauman16 About which part? "Spreading crazy stories and worshipping people that cover up pedophiles" ? So religion doesn't tell people grand ridiculous stories are true? The pope didn't cover up pedophiles in the catholic church? Which part do you think I'm joking about? If you fear an invisible man in the sky, you'll listen to anything they feed you to save yourself from the invisible man's hell created so you can burn for all eternity for a "sin" comitted in a finite life. Hilarious!
superduperjew 10 months ago
@superduperjew statistically less than 1 in 100 priests are pedophiles, and really it's more a homosexual problem than a pedophilia problem. So your assertion that we must assume the worst is groundless.
Can't help you on your idea of being ashamed to be religious.
cllewis1 10 months ago
@cllewis1 Ok, first of all 1 in 100 is an enormous amount. Second, how is it a homosexual problem? My mother was molested at a young age by one. I don't need help on being ashamed, it's a widespread idea based on facts about religious institutions. divides people and of course if you're part of one you don't see this. You don't see how telling people an invisible man in the sky watching you could make you paranoid? If you don't do what he says you go to hell? Absurd. Peter Pan isn't real either.
superduperjew 10 months ago
@superduperjew the 9/10 priest thing you nitwit. I've met plenty of honorable priests, you have no facts, figures, statistics to prove that, nor do you know any priests, and I'm not sure you love anyone in your life, because if you did, you'd have some respect for those people whom their parish serves as their family in times of pain or grief. Your argument is incredibly cliche, uneducated, and far more fear mongering than those you whine about.
davidbauman16 10 months ago
@davidbauman16 Ad hominem in the first sentence! Nice! My post is extremely old, and it originally was "9/10 priests you hear about". Either way, how do we know that's not accurate? Show me ANY statistic on this, please! I have no idea how many are molesters but it seems to be a huge amount. I don't love anyone in my life? I love everyone. Just because I don't believe in fairies and angels doesn't mean I don't love. Strange of you to bring that up. Please, watch/read some Hitchens.
superduperjew 10 months ago
@davidbauman16
" I've met plenty of honorable priests"
Nowhere did I say ANYTHING about ALL priests.
"...you'd have some respect for those people whom their parish serves as their family in times of pain or grief."
Respect is earned. No priest/ parish has earned mine.
You seem to think that churches "help" people in time of need. Lying to someone is not helping them. You have so many fallacies in your comment it's ridiculous; yet my argument is uneducated.
superduperjew 10 months ago
@superduperjew show me any statistic that it IS accurate please. There are over four hundred thousand priests throughout the world. And I wasn't accusing you of not loving someone because you aren't religious. But I have been deeply impacted in my life by the work of priests who are very much like family, and if you had any idea who these people were you'd shut your mouth. There are plenty of pedophile teachers in this world and you don't hear me posting hateful comments about their work.
davidbauman16 10 months ago
father, you need to be corrected in a number of ways. however, i prefer to point out right now that the fires of hell is a manifestation of dante. don't believe me, look it up!
it makes one believe you're not up on your religion, which you could be, but then the bigger picture is your religion could be full of shit just like your reference of the fires of hell.
wntoply6 1 year ago
Nathan, it is written: Proverbs 27:3
Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.
hifiguy1000 1 year ago
Just a comment of support, from a non-believer. While my views differ greatly to yours on a lot of issues presented in your videos, I have the utmost respect for you as a man. Having watched your videos on feeding the poor, or the girl contemplating an abortion, I know that you live up to the morals that you decree.
Oct195 2 years ago 3
@Oct195 I definitely appreciate your kind words my friend :)
FatherNathan 2 years ago 2
This has been flagged as spam show
Don't worry, Father. There is no limit to the careless stupidity of antheists. They are the proverbial turds that won't flush.
Keep up the Lord's work!
jimmybryght 2 years ago
Comment removed
jimmybryght 2 years ago
Everyone encounters jerks on the internet. Do you think that atheists, Muslims, gays, blacks, etc. don't get exactly the same kind of nonsensical and unprovoked attacks simply by group membership? There isn't an "it's not OK, unless they're Christian or Catholic" rule in play - EVERYONE gets this junk on the internet. This vid is 1 1/2 years old now - so I assume Father Nathan has a better understanding of what goes on by now.
VeryEvilPettingZoo 2 years ago
No offense, but you're actually complaining about religious persecution AND YOU'RE A CHRISTIAN??? Have you not read the Bible enough to know you're supposed to EXPECT it? Didn't Jesus WARN YOU that would happen, and yet you complain when you "have no protection"?
I'm an atheist, but I know the Bible well enough to know you should NOT be complaining if you really claim to be a follower of Christ.
Cheers.
worldsworstjukebox 2 years ago
You have a point - I agree. BTW I'm a catholic:)
divine9860 2 years ago
Why do you think so many Christians MAKE UP "persecution" if they can't get the real thing?
"OMG!! That Toys 'Я Us clerk just wished me `Happy Holidays' instead of `Merry CHRISTmas'!!1! WAR ON CHRISTmas!! PERSECUTION!!!!!1!1!!eleventyone!!"
No. REAL persecution is what Nero did to the early Christians, for instance. Or what the Christians (Catholics and Lutherans) under Hitler did to the Jews. Or what the Christians in 19th Century Missouri did to the Mormons.
COMALiteJ 2 years ago
@worldsworstjukebox being a Christian doesn't mean seeking persecution and enjoying it like a bottle of beer!! even Saint Peter, THE Apostle, was trying to escape Rome from persecution!! even Jesus said:" Father, if you will take this bitter cup (the suffering He is about to get) away from me, but it is not my will but Thine!" suffering is not fun, yes, we should offer it up to Christ, but we don't stand silent to it!!
6MemoryOfForever9 1 year ago
Your "logic" just proved Allah, Vishnu, Ganesh, Zeus, Thor and Venus.
worldsworstjukebox 2 years ago
I agree with the person who e-mailed you. I am a religious person but you are a part of a church that has become over the past few decades disgustingly corrupt and immoral. A church that has gone to great lengths to cover up the molestation of children... there is no sin worse than that. I'm not accusing you but being affiliated with such makes you one of them. Shame on you and the Catholic church. God be with the poor children that are being harmed as we speak and let their cries be heard!!
angrymcguire 2 years ago
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xkj5696281 2 years ago
people use the term hypocrite without knowing what it even means, sadly there are a lot of people out there like this, makes me think of the Loretta Lynn song " If God Is Dad, Whose This Living In My Soul " a great gospel song, and a great question to ask them also haha, it's so hard to deal with these kind of people, I have dealt with a few too, it's really scary, once you find out what they believe, it's disturbing to see inside of this darkened, empty soul :-(
VinylCountryMusic 2 years ago
Father, the internet is no place for an ordained minister.
Anti-religious sentiment is everywhere.
Besides, there be trolls 'round these parts.
If you wish to try and rectify misunderstandings that secular individuals have with Christianity, my personal suggestions would be to deal with close-minded religious fundamentalists who tarnish the religion with bigotry and hatred while the Christian beliefs of men like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin go largely unnoticed.
It's just my suggestion, though.
krkrkrkrkrkrkrkrkrkx 2 years ago
well you should expect that , sir, please check the profile of these nasty comment leaving people, they have no life there leave rude comments every where they go there cowards that hide on the internet they promote hate and violence just check there profile and read what people think of them
demonshirenu 2 years ago
Christian control freaks don't have any business being on the internet anyway.
TheRealACvideos 2 years ago
You evil christian maniacs set back the development of the internet and other technology hundreds of years during the Spanish Inquisition. People who tried to develop advanced things were killed and imprisoned by previous generations of your parasitic bloodthirsty christian cult. We would have had internet and automobiles hundreds of years ago and science would be so advanced by now that we would have colonies on the Moon and Mars.
TheRealACvideos 2 years ago
You and your hateful comments are giving people the idea that you are setting back your mentality several years.
FreedomofSpeech12 2 years ago
ACvideos only has hatred in his heart. It is very sad that his life has been so bad that he has resorted to hating everyone who believes in God.
ebolingUtube 2 years ago
You murderous christian savages have held us back, and will continue to do so as long as your greed and hunger for control continue to be accepted as something good. People have been burned at the stake, imprisoned, enslaved, and disenfranchised for centuries because of your tyranical abuse. How dare you attribute the internet to your imaginary god.
TheRealACvideos 2 years ago
People suffered and died under your evil persecution to lay the scientific ground work for computers and technology, and now you want to use the fruits of
their labor and suffering to promote your sadistic agenda of dragging the writings of stone aged neandrethals into the modern world and claiming that the cavemen who wrote them were inscribing all the secrets of the universe on stone tablets thousands of years ago. Go crawl into a cave you monkey brained idiot.
TheRealACvideos 2 years ago
Try not to let him get to you. Know that there are those of us out there who WERE Protestant (born into that) that HAVE found The Church and signed up for RCIA. In part, due to good informative folk like yourself on youtube! Keep up your efforts! "seanwithjesus" is also a wonderful Catholic on youtube. Check out his great stuff! (Scott Hahns books rock too.) My whole family has come "Home."Thought you might like to hear a story with a happy ending instead of more crud.
kkatieddoan 2 years ago
Padre, I'm sorry your feelings were hurt, but in our country there is no law against that. You have made the decision to place yourself in a public forum. You are allowed to respond to his criticism. As far as I can tell, the dude didn't threaten you or incite violence.
The First Amendment is a beautiful thing. Religion is protected from the gov't, the gov't is protected from religion, and there's that whole "freedom of speech" thing. You are just upset you were disagreed with--on YouTube!
donquickoats 2 years ago 2
God is not simply some old man with a beard, spinning a wheel somewhere high above us dealing out pain and judgement. It is this narrow minded view that some radical sects of Christianity, Islam, and other monotheistic sects promote. And atheists, agnostics, god haters, atheist haters etc, will never come together to any sort of resolution or understanding until the concept of God is better laid out.
davidbauman16 2 years ago
I like to think God can be anything you want. I mean he made everything, and is everything. It is limited towards an old man, and I have seen some pictures of God as an older Jesus, with Jesus sitting next to him.
RockyBalboa211 2 years ago
Alcolm X.... that is not theological logic, that is scientific. There are unifying forces behind all things, and whether you want to put that into a scientific context or a spiritual faith context, it is just two ways of the saying the same truth. In theological context, God is simply the highest unifying factor and force. Humans think of things in a linear format, something must proceed something else, the idea of God is not subject to those same linear processes.
davidbauman16 2 years ago
he's a liar just like his "father" and you know what i mean by that. don't waste your time trying to make sense of senselessness. water off a duck's back man. let him be an arrogant fool. he'll reap what he sows. you know that.
JOHN 15:18-22 says it all.
anewdayproductions 2 years ago
"Everything is made by something higher."
Then so is your God according to your logic.
AlcolmEx 2 years ago
Everything in the sence of the physical universe is what we mean by "everything".
Childinfaith 2 years ago
Seems like you're trying to have your cake and eat it too as the adage goes.
AlcolmEx 2 years ago
some people are just filled with hatred.
blueukulele 2 years ago
The crux of the message of Jesus, whatever one believes him (or not) to be, is to treat one another with kindness and respect. Unfortunately some people can't appreciate the message for what it is, regardless of who uttered it.
mistressnat 2 years ago
if you actually think that the crux of jesus' message is to treat one another with kindness and respect you really need to study the whole of the bible. because you are WAY off. it is part of his message yes, but the crux of it, absolutely not.
anewdayproductions 2 years ago
Thanks. Kudos accepted and appreciated :)
FatherNathan 2 years ago
You can build hospitals without mumbeling headthoughts to invisible skydads. He says your beleifs are stupid. Based on that you beleive that a Iron age desert dwelling carpenter who was simultaniously god killed himself to prevent him from torturing us, came back as a zombie and now lives ina magic land where he can jump into booze and biscuits if people like you mumble the right words,then Yeah , Your beleifs are indeed stupid. Stop infecting Childrens minds with utter crap. Go get a real job.
tommiatkins 2 years ago
You know...after reading this I realized you are right. Believing that two atoms (now don't worry where those atoms came from) crashed into each other some billion years and those atoms began to produce other atoms which slowly began to form life so complex that this life (that created itself) doesn't even understand itself.
Yes, this makes much more sense then a creator.
BTW... this is a real job. More real then most next to doctors and cops. I dare you to keep up with me for one week.
FatherNathan 2 years ago
Well in a very short order its clear you have no idea about partical physics and have read absoloutley nothing on the subject. I strongly suggest you read what science has discovered about the creation of the universe. Life evolved from simple forms, that is arguable against only from a position of ignorance. It is merely the failure of society to take the neccessery educational steps that keeps the idea of god alive.
tommiatkins 2 years ago
I read your channel page and about the work you do. it is amazing. I hope to be able to do some mission work up in Chicago as a priest.
cheesemonkey1990 2 years ago
@FatherNathan At least atoms have the benefit of being real, with observable properties and behaviors, and the process - that you parody - of chaos self-organizing into order, life, and brains with the ability to understand itself is understood. You have the right to wallow in ignorance, but you should be considered reprehensible because you have chosen a career (a "real job") dedicated to the propagation of ignorance.
postorm 1 year ago
I'm sure you do a great job helping people. You dont need to beleive in a zombie handyman who decided at the age of 27 that he was god and one based on pagan gods at that, to benifit mankind.
tommiatkins 2 years ago
stop bitching sucker haha XD
Crosell 2 years ago
I am Roman Catholic and I agree that those priest should have been defrocked.But it doesn't shake my faith in the church and in God. That is people messing up, not the church or God.
theGermexican 2 years ago
I am a Roman Catholic. And I strive to show respect to other people who have a different religion. But, like in your case, if they show disrespect to my religion, it means different. Father, I see that your reaction is just and appropriate. It's normal to have that kind of reaction because if I'm in your situation, I would have the same reaction. Freedom doesn't mean doing whatever people want (a.k.a. absolute freedom). It must have RESPECT TO ONE'S NEIGHBOR (and also to his or her religion).
dominicsaviodevotee 2 years ago
As for everything being created: With human inventions you can often trace physical evidence that shows we created it. (Most things have a schematic of some-sort.) This is not true with the universe as a whole.
Either way you have "something always existing" or "something from nothing"; belief in God or not.
What that "something" is is different for different people.
(But then Occam's Razor comes in, and takes a God term out because it offers no additional explanation.)
Drowsong 3 years ago
An atheist believes in God the same way you believe in Zeus.
So imagine that a huge percentage of the world believed in Zeus, with some trying to push that belief into politics, and most are teaching children from a young age that Zeus exists, etc.
How would you feel about the prevalent spread of this falsehood?
That is how many atheists feel about your Christians too, irregardless of some good things.
Some of what s/he said sounds like frustrated lashing out.
Drowsong 3 years ago
I believe it is wrong to attack someone on their homepage and call names or make baseless accusations, and I am sorry that it happened to You- Even though I am an unbeliever as well.
Aufhetzer 3 years ago 2
I would love to see the debate of theism vs. non-theism conducted in the light of day between willing participants who are able to be civil, but unfortunately it is true for believers and unbelievers alike that we all have different levels of what we consider moral behavior, and often we are represented from either side by the loudest or the most forceful or outspoken- not always the brightest examples of our beliefs, or lack thereof
Aufhetzer 3 years ago
Prejudice are very bad. Unfortunately we all got them in some degree, but we can choose to ignore them and have an open mind.
Way to go FatherNathan!
Marduk379 3 years ago
it seems to me that all of Christianity is suffering, but catholicism, being the oldest and largest, gets hit the hardest by society.
DeathBringer9000 3 years ago
Well, even though you bring your point over calmly enough, teligion is mind-abuse in my opinion. There will never be real freedom from religion as long as religion still exists.
tomwyr 3 years ago
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davefarber 3 years ago
tomwyr: Freedom FROM religion? You from the US?
If you are, you have got that interpretation WRONG. What gives you the right to suppress what I believe, just because you don't want to hear about it? I don't want cussing in the public square, but do I get my way? No. Why? It's the right of all Americans to voice their opinion and express their feelings (which by the way is ALSO not the original interpretation). Atheists say that their Freedom From Religion trumps my freedom of speech. Bologna.
davefarber 3 years ago 2
France - good laicity & all, which was state-enforced at the time (though now it seems they want to get something like a "positive" laicity which is really stupid. But it doesn't really matter where i'm from, i did meanfreedom *from* religion and not *of*... It's just that a couple thousans years of crusades, forced conversion, holy inquisiton and whatnot they came up with should be quite enough. And I'm not talking particularly about christianism, *any* religion should be abolished.
tomwyr 3 years ago
There are pedophiles in every Religion in the world. There are very, very few in the Catholic Church.
MyLegendarySelf 3 years ago
not just religions.
DeathBringer9000 3 years ago 2
Trolls will be trolls.We all know you're none of those things Father Nathan.=/
Draca666 3 years ago 5
sounds like you were dealing with a demon possessed individual. I would just pray for his lost soul. That is really sad that in today's day and age, this type of abuse heaped on anything remotely Christian is acceptable.
SisterSunnshine 3 years ago 2
i am glad tha there are priests today like you Father, and yes, we will be having more and more people who will hate Christ and our mother church, it is all written in the bible, but the difference is that they will still be children of God, and only up to them to say yes, God you are my father, this is what Christians suffer, and still to come, more and more, this is why our lady did not promise everything good here,but she promised something elsewhere, this guy will know sooner or later.Thanks
georgeodeh 3 years ago 3
This is not worthy of your time, brother! This person to whom you speak, has gotten your goat, and I cannot see what you are trying to do in coming to the man. He will jerk your chain again, now that he sees, you are able to be taken in by a megalomaniac.
Brother, there are other things you could speak of, that might cause a blessing to another, rather than this rhetoric that is well understood by most all to whom you now apeak. This wasn't needful.
JimT74 3 years ago
JimT74:
Mark 2:17
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
helgihg 3 years ago 3
He may have been angry with the fact that many brainwashed children have been sexually violated within your institutions, which is only human nature.
drumminjim22 3 years ago 3
Why So Serious?
AnthonyNpplboy 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
The fact of the matter is ur kind are not special because they run hospitals ect, that happens all over the world by all walks of life, you have no right to isolate that. I can see exactly where the persons views are coming from when he said you are an abuser of minds, because you are. You feed hope in to peoples lives that is not true, ok there is a chance that your religion is true. 1 against an infinite amount of other possibilities, you don't even supply evidence for your perverted claims.
NathBonn 3 years ago