Apparently I'm Responding to Jack

[Blackjuicez]

Well your phone is ringing. maybe becuz it is God calling you to speak to you! I don' mean God calling but he could be speaking through someone to speak to you!

[ViridianBile]

"razor sharp piece of razor sharp stuff" How about, "Razor sharp piece of cough drop" ? XD I too appreciate the drug analogy, though, that's really good.

[gregrutz]

We don't care when your worst day was.

[marcuelcajon]

"Stop making sense it Hurts" LMAO. Great video.

[MMOareFTW]

lol...i was popping cough drops like....uh....something you pop readily and...quickly

[byteXI]

Great analogy about the drug addict

[TheLonelyImmortal]

There's also the arbitrary thinking with scapegoats, such as how the Nazies used the Jews.

[slotstik]

brilliant

[LordOfTheLard]

Cough drops fail, just pop a bottle (or ten) of cough syrup, will clear up the cough and give some interesting experiences :D

[theshredator]

I might have gone with popcorn, but grapes are aren't bad.

[citizen762]

Good to see you making vids again Brando....  I look forward to them.

Just say no to magic!

[metalorg]

I love the grapes comment

[CousinoMacul]

I love your "sober" analogy!

[Neilsama]

Jack still thinks that atheism is a belief system, which is why he keeps asking for what it offers. The fact that some of us were born and raised in a household where religion was simply never taught, where the absence of religion was never conspicuous, is completely lost on him.

And it will continue to be so until he can muster the courage to be honest with himself and stop convincing himself that atheism is anything other than what people have been trying to tell him for months.

[shickboy]

if we're discussing religion, we have to ask what religion is based on essentially. at the root of religion is love. not the concept or metaphysical evaluation of love, but real unconditional love. love without condition. whole and absolutely complete.that means everything that condition is-which is based on tradition and not actual experience-has no place, because it creates division, and love and truth have no division. nationalities,religions,colour­s,beliefs all create division and conflict.

[shickboy]

i see what you are saying. we have to understand what we actually are very deeply: conditioned human beings. the information the mind gathers through experience has it's place, we need to function, but there is a lot of information that is useless and is potentially dangerous. the information that tells us to believe in something religious or political is the kind that creates division, which results in conflict and war. if you have a belief there will always be someone who opposes that belief.

[KronosDeret]

I cant even begin to imagine why would people say, that dark skin means youre stupid... you are one of the wisest people i ever heard :)

[Ramiiam]

You're wise. I wouldn't wish to deconvert a single theist, provided he doesn't want to cut my head off. You've got a pretty fair baritone too.

[CoLegacy]

I really liked the "what does sober have to offer" great point.

[ghostofdayinperson]

Five stars for the title alone! I love how the expression on your face in the thumbnail was so title-appropriate. I'm still getting over a cold that lasted two weeks. Before that I had one that was even worse and lasted longer. Jack is always fishing for insults.

[MrDustandechoes]

Love your videos, Cris. That part about "stop making sense it hurts" was fucking hilarious.

[shadyvista]

Of course atheism has something to offer.

It is the absence of religious delusion. Isn't that enough? I say yes.

[Nextstopearth]

If you're looking for atheism or theism to "offer" anything, then you're not look for what is actually real.

[VonHelton]

LOL......That's hilarious. Atheism says I'm nothing but a bunch of random chemicals that got lucky & merged together, and that when I die, all I'll be is worm food.

Yet you hold this twisted ideology up as hopeful?

ROFLMAO!

Atheism offers NOTHING but despair, and anyone who thinks differently needs to stop doing drugs.

[FTLNewsFeed]

Hope & Despair? Now THAT's the joke ...

Atheism offers the truth, a truth which is better than the lie of theism, a truth that tells you that you have one life to live so you better make the most of it.

If you see despair in that then you despair of the truth, and basically you're fucked -- don't know what else to say!

[VonHelton]

According to a recent study published in The American Journal of Psychiatry religious affiliation is associated with significantly lower levels of suicide compared to religiously unaffiliated people, atheists and agnostics. Source: Kanita Dervic, Maria A. Oquendo, Michael F. Grunebaum, Steve Ellis, Ainsley K. Burke, and J. John Mann. "Religious Affiliation and Suicide Attempt" (161:2303-2308, December 2004).

[deBeuk]

1) The subjects of that study were depressed people, meaning it's not representative of the general population.

2) The study clearly states that the religiously unaffiliated have fewer moral objections to suicide, it doesn't quantify despair. Apparently religious people would rather not commit suicide out of fear of being punished for it after they die.

[TheNakedAtheist]

"Apparently religious people would rather not commit suicide out of fear of being punished for it after they die."

Exactly! So people living horribly desperate lives are forced to continue living them due to fear. Even IF people didn't commit suicide because of the comfort religion gave them, it still says nothing about whether God actually exists.

[deBeuk]

From that study, and I quote,

"No differences in the level of subjective and objective depression, hopelessness, or stressful life events were found."

Sorry, the study doesn't back up anything you've claimed up in any way whatsoever.

[evilfish456]

Atheism is a disbelief in a deity. nothing else. We do not have a holy book what defiens what happens to our body etc. Usually atheist belive the begining started by bigbang, later the life started by biogenesis and later evolved to this point. There were no random chemicals, but there were some minor luck along with the process. When you die, you will become wormfood. Your corpse will not magically vanish from the coffin, it will rot like ordinary bio material.

[VonHelton]

So I was right. Thanks for playing.

[evilfish456]

Well in some sense. Atheism doesn't say anything about your origin, like you claim in the first comment. It's just a disbelief for deity.

[FTLNewsFeed]

Yes you're right, so despair.

I'd offer a cookie as comfort, but we're fresh out after a run on them from all the Christians finally realizing that Jesus died for nothing.

[VonHelton]

So the American Journal of Psychiatry is full of shit?

.....Yea, good luck with that.

[dylantuzyk]

The universe didn't start with the Big Bang. The Big Bang only explains the expansion of the universe.

I'm nitpicking, but it's a pet peeve of mine that people misunderstand the theory, because then theists jump on it with 'YOU CAN'T EXPLODE SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING DERP DERR'

[Zammys0nly]

Then we can just retort with the whole 'by your reasoning god can't have just been there'

[Nextstopearth]

Are you not aware that you hit the reply button when you posted?

Usually when you reply to someones post, you post something in response to something in original post.

[deBeuk]

Atheism doesn't say anything about origins, and it's not an ideology.

All you're saying here is that you'd be in despair if it wasn't for you belief in your magical sky fairy.

[damasta00138]

Umm, why are theists all too elated to associate atheism with random chance? I happen to be somewhat of a determinist and an atheist. Secondly, atheism does not exclude the possibility of an afterlife. In fact, theism doesn't explicitly acknowledge an afterlife either. Atheism offers nothing, just as it should. I became an atheist because I evaluated the facts. If all you want is for your beliefs to coddle you, you might as well be doing drugs.

[VonHelton]

Um, because that's what atheism represents?

[damasta00138]

Sigh. No, atheism does not represent random chance. All it is is the lack of belief in a deity. If YOU associate that with random chance, then so be it. Don't speak for atheists or atheism until you bother to look at it in an unbiased, objective sense.

[VonHelton]

LOL........Ok, if it's not random chance, then how did we come to be here, atheist? You've already said it wasn't god, and science says we got here by random chance. So if you reject God's involvement, and you reject science, then what other option is there?

[damasta00138]

Last time I checked, science had no definitive opinion on the matter, but it would have been via naturalistic means as all other naturalistic processes occur. I never said I knew how we got here. It is your side positing such things, I'm not as arrogant to claim knowledge beyond what I actually know, hence my being an agnostic atheist. If we got here via god, how did he get here? Random chance? If you want to say he always existed, then where does existence come from?

[DawahFilms]

"Where does existence come from?"

Ummm...

Are you trying to imply that existence comes from non-existence?

[damasta00138]

No, I am arguing that it must have always existed. The very notion of creating existence is ludicrous as a causal agent had to have existed before it would have created existence.

[ahmarsidd]

"I am arguing that it must have always existed." are you referring to the Universe?

[DawahFilms]

@damasta00138

I don't think that's what we Theists are saying.

Existence has always been. God is pure existence. Everything comes from and is sustained by Him.

I don't see what you're objecting to.

[Arkalius80]

If God is just pure existence, why not use the words we already have and call it pure existence (though I'm confused at what could be considured "impure" existence). Why reassign a label with so much other baggage like "god" to something that has it's own perfectly good label?

[DawahFilms]

@Arkalius80

I wasn't using the term "pure" in the sense of cleanliness, but as absoluteness. Sorry for the confusion.

[damasta00138]

Surely he could not have created existence, as that is one of his inherent characteristics. You must concede existence would have to be outside of a deity's scope and in that case, a universe such as ours is plausible without a deity.

[VonHelton]

Who are we to say what can & cannot exist??!!

[Key2daUnderground]

"So if you reject God's involvement, and you reject science, then what other option is there?"

As damasta00138 said "science had no definitive opinion on the matter"... but even if it did, why do you assume that atheism is synonomous with science? I stopped believing in God long before I knew what the word "atheist" meant, or before I knew anything of the big bang/evolution... not to sound condescending, but vigorous education in science is not needed to see through Christianity's bullshit

[VonHelton]

Thank you for proving, beyond any doubt, that Atheism is a mental disorder.

There is only science or religion, there is no 3rd option, so yer either on drugs (plz stop) or you are deranged.

[Key2daUnderground]

I've seen your posts & there are only two options. You're either a lonely troll who spouts crap & gets kicks out of responses, or you believe what you say and you're just an idiot. My guess is... you're an idiot. And I say that not with malice but with the uptmost sincerity.

[VonHelton]

That's nice, but you still haven't answered my question. If God didn't do it, and science didn't do it, what is the 3rd option?

[lipoicacid]

Why not ten options that require a more advanced mind to conceptualize and describe them?

[damasta00138]

I suggest you read up on Chaos Theory and fractals. Infinitely complex, ordered structures can arise from seemingly random circumstances.

[Barklord]

atheists are sober minded people and theists are fantastic drunkards...hmmm i'm not so sure that's totally accurate. I don't believe that Cristopher. seems far too simplistic.

[DescartesPupil]

Excellent video!

You nailed the response so well the question should rightly never be asked again :)

[SomeDudeThatRants]

Nice to have you back with us =)

[Deathinmusic]

Great to see another wonderful Cris7 video.

As simple as it is, I think the drug analogue is perfect.

[bowlsallbroken]

Good analogy to drug addiction, although unfortunately some people will likely take it in a more insulting vein than you intended it.

I think it would be helpful if religious people would somehow accept that being a pentapiscounitarbaptist or whatever their family brought them up as is no kind of default state of human existence, nor is any religious belief, in the same way that drug addiction, even in a drug addicted family or community is not a default human condition.

[Arkalius80]

Any analogy of religion to something that is generally considered bad or trivial seems offensive to the religious.

I liked Cristofer's analogy, but I tend to avoid them in arguments myself. All analogies fail on some level, and when you use one of these analogies, the theist is likely to only focus on where it fails rather than addressing where it is apt. This tends to be non-conducive, and usually just pisses them off as they will be offended as you say.

[Falloutmoon]

Atheism doens't "offer" anything. Why should it "offer" anything. It's just a fact about some people...

It's like saying "what does the color blue has to offer? "...

[abominableangel]

a nice sky??? ... better than a grey one lol

[lothrazar]

atheism isnt really or a belief or a belief system. But it is fair to say that we have an "atheistic world view" ... not that all atheists have the same views at all.

[CrankyCrone]

For me, atheism offers freedom. Freedom from a god, and his book, as my masters. Freedom to be, think, love, live and die on my own terms, not someone else's. I find freedom from religion exhilarating! It makes the world more wondrous, makes me want to learn more about it, through science!

I witness only ignorant "bliss" as a follower of religion, and that's not living, IMO.

Love your vids, good to see you!

[philman302]

This is a good video. I like how you think and how you're very rational about it. This is how I am, I think religion is often detrimental but to me it's up to the person. If it helps them than fuck it, go for it.

[unicyclepeon]

Its about time you posted another video! Good job!

[Katalyzt]

I was going to say: "I am not sure why people are bothering with him. There is a saying that ignorance is bliss. So let jack wallow in his delusions." ;O)

But, I realized that beliefs ultimately informs ones actions, and a belief in an imaginary being has caused witch-hunts, the crusades, Jim Jones sized killings, inquisitions and has crashed planes into buildings. Too bad these delusional people are not listening and learning from the past. :O/ ★★★★★

Katalyzt

[eirefrance]

Hey, you've got a pretty nice voice. A little James Earl Jones-esque. Or maybe its the cold. Maybe you sing like Celine Dion when you're not sick?

[mephiskapheles6]

why does it have to offer anything?

[Laurence000001]

That's just it, but the religious will argue that we need something or everything is pointless. I suppose lack of objectivity scares some people, they love living by a hand book, need constant reinforcement, claim to have shared knowledge and truths, which are in fact just opinions. As Cristofer says, I think these people need religion, as it's a framework presented as fact which gets them through life

[Arkalius80]

To extend Cristofer's analogy... They need religion in the same way a heroine addict needs heroine. Take it away, and they'll have a hard time dealing with life for awhile, but they'll eventually be better for it.

Unfortunately, you can't take someone's religion away in the same way you can cut off access to a drug. The person has to make the choice to ditch it.

[ramette99]

I was nodding in agreement with you throughout your video :)

[Sconz32]

I see the same arguments for and against religion over and over and over on youtube but you always seem to have just a slightly different twist that shifts things into a whole different perspective.

[nelliediddle]

I really liked this :D

[beachcomber2008]

Good point

Probably wasted on people who have been junkies since age 3

The damage is done

We should direct ourselves to change this sad beginning for children

[anavarre]

Good to see you again.

[bakedbean37]

Good to see you back, banging those nails squarely on the head, as usual.

Hope you have a speedy recovery.

Keep 'em coming.

[TogetherForPeace]

who gets to determine which connections to beliefs are arbitrary? What about life tells people what they need to believe and how they need to live it?...peace :)

[sashajw1234]

@TogetherForPeace Its not about determining which beliefs are arbitrary friend. Its about being able to separate the ideas of belief and truth. IE, its one thing to believe a woman should be stoned to death for 'X' offence listed in some religious scripture. Its another thing to actually do it when there is no proof that said scripture is even true. We need to make sense of our thoughts by mapping them to reality or we risk loosing the connection to it.

[philhellenes]

Dunno why Jack doesn't just repost the same video over and over again. Still, I suppose that's what he IS doing.

[zbambam5]

Glad I got my internetz turned on again. I've missed your logic and your rational thought.

[rarrmonkey]

I have often wanted to become a priest.

I'd abuse my influence over the 18-25yearold girls in my congregation. But alas my sense of ethics prevents me from going though with it.

Maybe if I can overcome that... I'll work on it.

Great point about religion being like a drug abuse problem, a cost benefit analysis means you can do some providing the gain exceeds the cost. (within your own life)

[JOKERSFREAK]

@rarrmonkey

Do it! Go along with your "plan" but throw some Jesus and hail mary's in there just to stay on the secret side! Hell, throw in a little boy for good measure. I want to see what the reaction would be for you just wanting to get some ass instead of "spreading the word"! Since that's all they do anyway. That would be fun!

[rozeboosje]

You may be recovering from a cold but you're in top form all the same. :)

[KasparHauser4]

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality."

..........George Bernard Shaw "Androcles and the Lion," Preface (1916)

[Jamesuni]

Great vid man glad to have you back. It is those pings that make them feel that way. Keep pinging. Peace

[jussts]

What does atheism offer? 24 hour orgasms and a billion dollars.

I think that'll be my answer the next time I'm asked that question.

[MpowerdAPE]

your vids are special too me, i want you to know that.

[TheKingOfRuckus]

Good video. I unsubbed from TFP once he went and asked for money to take a trip.

[ozmoroid]

Excellent point.

[AndrewTheEternal]

Damn fine singing voice! Wish you had been a part of Godless Creation Science.

A grand old rant. The thing with Brock's question that bothers me, though, is the implication that atheism is for sale. That thought, integrity, and curiosity can be bought and sold for a pittance of emotional comfort.

He should at least have the decency to be ashamed of the petty bartering of his mind.

[thruthem]

2 months between videos? Really?

Sometimes I think you don't love me.

[lypse14]

wow, great video man, very good points

[bananagraveyard]

Good to see your face again. Nice analogy!

[samten54]

What has atheism have to offer? What does a Christian want? It all about me, me, me. Christians just want to be secure for themselves. It's totally selfish. Live forever and avoid the Christian default position that is burn in hell if you don't join the cult. Christians are shallow frightened little fuckwits who point accusingly at people who don't share their superstitious fear. It's just clean clear. There is nothing else to say.

[Faergen]

Nice video! I don't agree though, that people should just keep believing if it gives them peace. I'd say dealing with reality, knowing reality, is always preferable.

[abaddon5]

It's always good to see you making videos, man.

[kaminarigaston]

YES. You're back.

[EMTRUE]

Ranty goodness... great description.

[Voidic]

You do make some great f***ing point!

[Jesusfleabop]

After you get high for a while it's not even really getting you intoxicated anymore and it in time it feels like being normal and is very unsatisfying and even causes more anxiety; that's the way weed, opiates (and that was a long battle to realize) and most of all religion were for me.

[Intellisecular]

Don't embrace the arbitrary! Penn of Penn and Teller calls it a form of Hedonism. Believe it because it feels good. Excellent point. Very perceptive.

[jtdreisb]

Good to see you on the tubes again.

[epaminodas]

cold or no cold....we want more songs from you - seriously.

[smpunditz]

Pop cough drops like M&Ms

[anubis2814]

Knowledge is belief with sufficient and non-biased evidence, faith is belief without any evidence. Such a good vid

[AncientAtheist]

ZOMG! its cristopher! 777!

Or somethin' like that. Yeah. What's up? Good to see ya. Hope ya get over the cold. Fuck 'em. Let 'em do their holy rites.

As long as they stay the fuck off the road....

Just sayin'.

[proteanview]

He lives!

[9noitulover]

Atheism is like being sober.

[anubis2814]

Unless you have ingested booze and then atheism is even more fun!

[azrienoch]

You have a lovely singing voice. You're welcome to come work in my yard whenever you wish. ;)

[graygryph]

Fucking great response with the drug comparison!!! Perfect video!!

[AstoundedAtheist]

H1N1...

[onlywhenprovoked]

See that, God punished you with Swine Flu.

Good to see you post, it's been a while.

Of course it's a pointed question, as he claims Christianity offers all these wonderful things. In reality, the only thing Christianity offers is hope. Hope that there is something after this life. Hope it's not just Over when we die. Hope there's a meaning for all the ugly shit.

I see no evidence of it, but I can hope for that same thing without believing in invisible illogical magical bullshit.

Great video.