Added: Jul 26, 2008
From: askegg
Duration: 8:4
This is is short overview of my life as a Christian and why I became an atheist. This is mainly for those religious people who may state that I do not know what I am talking about, or that I have not studied Christianity in any real depth.Yes - I know I was not "born a Christian" and highlight this fact later in the video. For brevity I made that statement instead of "I was born an atheist in a Christian family and raised with the values, rituals, and conventions inherit in such situations". The popular understanding of the phrase has the meaning I was looking for without having to go into a massive explanation as to why everyone is born an atheist. Besides, if I had gone down that route I would now be defending a "I was born an atheist" comment to all the idiot theists who visit. Furthermore, if anyone make a comment about this again I will give you the thumbs down - if you can't be bothered reading the descriptions of videos, it's your own fault.There is a slight problem with the Youtube version - it cuts off one of two closing slides and the credit for the music, which called "High Drama" from the album "Pictures" by Timo Maas.Download from here: http://gallery.mac.com/andrewskegg#100146This video is released under this license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/au/
Channel: People
Tags: atheism atheist christ christianity conversion faith god religion sceptic
Rating: 4.75 (1548 ratings) Views: 90316' favoriteCount='1070 Comments: 6733
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "...and say thanks because you have a pair of hands to type on that keyboard."Is that some kind of vague threat?
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "I live in an apartment. I never met the dude that made it, and I don't know where the hell he's from, but I know somebody made it."Your hypothesis is that there is a builder. You can visit city hall and see the blueprints, speak to engineers about structure, materials, and strength, you can see buildings in various states of construction. You can watch builders at work, staring with a hole in the ground and ending with a multi story building.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - When have you ever witnessed anything like this your god?We have never seen god's plans, materials, or design. We have never seen a universe being created. We do see apparent design in nature, which can be explained without a designer.In any case, your assertion that complexity leads leads inevitably to a designer begs the question - who designed the designer? How can you justify that the most complex thing imaginable does not require a designer, yet something less complex does?
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - I consider myself a Christian. However, I'd much rather be self-enlightened than have someone preach to me. It helps me have a better understanding of what's around me.Excellent video. I hold much respect for you and your beliefs. One thing that I think that everyone could benefit from is tolerance of others' views. (continued next comment)
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - There is no reason to hate other groups for what they believe in. Religious wars are completely pointless. I strongly believe that God would not want us to kill others for disagreeing. It is important to remember that many religious documents are some THE most CENSORED and EDITED documents in human history. Take everything with a grain of salt and find your own beliefs.
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - Oh and sorry for all of the grammatical errors and typos on my last post. I'm a little behind on sleep.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "There is no reason to hate other groups for what they believe in."True, but there are good reasons to hate people for what they do. Sometimes they do things because of their religious beliefs."Religious wars are completely pointless."Totally agree."I strongly believe that God would not want us to kill others for disagreeing"Well that's nice, but many holy book (including the bible) give clear instructions on what to do with those who disagree.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "Excellent video. I hold much respect for you and your beliefs."Thank you :)"One thing that I think that everyone could benefit from is tolerance of others' views."No, not really. Do we respect other peoples beliefs on physics, or chemistry? We can have vigourous debates about politics, economics, or any other topic. Why is religion the *only* topic that is out of bounds?It is only the religious moderates who insist of tolerance. Fanatics have no problem with criticising others.
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - ""I strongly believe that God would not want us to kill others for disagreeing"Well that's nice, but many holy book (including the bible) give clear instructions on what to do with those who disagree"Like I said before, many of those documents have been heavily edited and censored. The Catholic church is a great example of this. There is a good chance that someone might have edited something for their own gain. Noting that these documents had to be hand copied, this is very possible.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "Like I said before, many of those documents have been heavily edited and censored"Maybe. I am really keen to see the world's oldest bible when it goes online in a few weeks time (do a search on CNN for the story). Then we will be able to see any "modifications" done to the text since the 4th century.I am also interested to see the 14 disputed books that are usually omitted from the Protestant Bible and the two early Christian texts: the "Epistle of Barnabas" and the "Shepherd of Hermas."
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - As you know, the Roman Catholic Church's power was enormous during the Renaissance period. Editing the Bible would be a very good chance for political and personal gain, should someone change something they didn't like.
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "No, not really. Do we respect other peoples beliefs on physics, or chemistry? We can have vigourous debates about politics, economics, or any other topic. Why is religion the *only* topic that is out of bounds?"Sorry, you lost me there. Psychics and chemistry are cold hard facts. There are no "beliefs". The reason religion seems so out of bounds is because people blindly follow their religion with no investigation. To me, it isn't.
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - I honestly believe that God would want us to seek the truth, and not follow blindly, no matter the religion one chooses.
Lab0mba Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - Oh and I would LOVE to see that world's oldest bible you are talking about. :)Another problem is that one's religious beliefs are often the foundations for their ideals. These are always held close, and people tend to get defensive when their core ideals are challenged.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "Editing the Bible would be a very good chance for political and personal gain, should someone change something they didn't like"More than fair chance it happened too.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "Psychics and chemistry are cold hard facts. There are no "beliefs"."We may quibble about the difference between facts and beliefs, but that is besides the main point here. The only reason we consider these things facts nowadays is preciously because we have had vigourous debates about the observable evidence, tested our hypothesis, and discarded those that do not have any evidence supporting them, or are contrary to the evidence. This does not happen (in general) in the religious realm.
Rythmboy Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - You say: is that some kind of vague threat?LOL. No man, I'm not the Creator. I can't shoot lighting from distance.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "These are always held close, and people tend to get defensive when their core ideals are challenged."It's not pleasant when your world view is challenged, nor admitting you are wrong. I think people would rather not enter positions they know they cannot defend, instead holding onto their precious, comforting beliefs (no matter how false they may be).
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - Thor? Is that you?
JFM151991 Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - Jesus is our life, God is love.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "Jesus is our life, God is love."Little reminder - your god throws those he loves into hell for all eternity for crimes committed while mortal. Nice, real nice.
Gintaras Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - Greate video! I cant wait till everyone will learn the truth and leave the bible to the past cuz thats where it belongs.
matt1746 Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - Well, technically you were born atheist, and you were indoctrinated into Christianity by your parents.
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - Oh for Pete's sake!
askegg Says:
Jul 26, 2008 - "You atheists don't believe in god because you haven't seen him."No. I believe in atoms, but have never seen one. I believe in Jupiter, but have never seen it. I believe in Canada but have never seen it. I believe in germs, but have never seen them either.Believing is not seeing."Who the hell are you to demand proof from the Creator himself? "Makes you wonder why people pray."You are just a speck of dirt in the galaxy."Yep - not worth a creators time of effort.