Best of Dan Barker Amazing Arguments And Clever Comebacks Part 1

there's no you know there's no agreement there's no biblical principles of morality that you can get out of there you find strong church-going people pro-abortion knowing that personhood starts at a certain time later than the fetus you find other good Christians who think it starts at conception and you find them fighting with each other and yelling at each other and screaming at each other reading from the same book you ever seen these Christians who wear these pins that say WWJD you know what that is what would Jesus do or the bracelet well if you want to do what Jesus did then keep your mouth shut about abortion Jesus did not say one word about it he did not say one word about gay marriage or gay rights so why are Christians inserting their own personal private feelings into these issues when the Bible itself is silent there is no moral guidance the lack of agreement among you believers get your act together first and then come to us atheists with what it is you're arguing for you don't have anything you have your own personal personal psychological subjective views that you are putting under the Bible and you're reading it through your own eyes today's write it right you know what Friday means what is the word Friday clothes there was a Norse goddess named Frigg if RIT G she was married to Odin she was married to Wednesday Friday was married to Wednesday and I guess Thursday night we know or was actually a Thursday and Thor was the god of thunder was I guess like a stepson afraid afraid was this goddess that millions of people believed in are there any people in this audience and I hope still believe in in the existence of three we have a day named after anybody why don't you why don't you believe it's rigged we have a date there's always one in every crowd Zeus okay so this was the it was the Greek counterpart to Thor the God of Thunder but nobody believes in that gutting or does anyone believe in zoos in this audience the God of the Greek myths no and no Thor knows is what about Diana let's come over to the Americas how about each taxi what would anybody believe in that God Oh No how about yamaraja any Hindus here know anybody here believed in the God there was a God in a Bronze Age gods in the Middle East uh name Yahweh Yahweh it was a war God who said he told him what his name is he said my name is jealous Yahweh liked to exterminate entire tribes of people who did not bow down to his authority anybody in this audience believed in the existence of Yahweh the god of the Hebrew Scriptures there shouldn't be some well you see there's something every one is to say yes I believe in the God of the Bible and what I say to that is I will then the only difference between you and me is that I believe in one less God than you do you've thrown all these gods on the tragedies of history and they serve their time when there were gaps in our understanding there were when people heard of the Thunder and they saw the lightning they thought what is that what would it be it must be some agency it must be some because it's natural isn't it isn't it more probable when you're thinking about probabilities and natural things that if you hear these things up there and they're making noises there must be some agent some creative intelligence behind it isn't that seem natural to you to give it a name let's call it Thor or let's call it Zeus but now we know something about weather now we know something about electricity and that gap and the interesting of ages has closed and now we no longer need those deities we don't know ever need those gods and they have been retired although we still have days of the week named after them there is no Yahweh day in the United States is there or no Jesus day at least in the US I think some countries might have a what do they say in Russia Oscar Sania right a resurrection day so there are some countries that have them you know they are Christian deity within it I was a true believer I was a true Christian in many people many Christians today try to say well Daniel weren't you couldn't been a real Christian because if you were you never would have given it if you really knew Jesus you would never have given it up but I make a case in my book godless that if I was not a true Christian nobody is the Bible says you shall know them by their fruits not by what you might judge or think I believed it I felt it I prayed I accepted Christ as my savior I confessed my sins I believe the Bible was the Word of God I got goosebumps when I talked to God I put that in quotes today but at the time I was not in quote I was talking to God I loved it I thought the world was ending I thought the Bible was true that said there was going to be a second coming and I dedicated my life I was 15 years old I was listening to a sermon in church about going to the world and preach the gospel to every creature so I said you know the time is going to be short I might not even live long enough to go to college you get married because like a thief in the night I dedicated my life to saving souls for the kingdom spent years and years preaching I was I got a degree in religion from Azusa Pacific University I was ordained in the ministry I preached in three different California churches a friend's church I was an associate pastor in a Assembly of God Church for a while which was kind of weird different very sincere very sweet people but way too noisy from my taste if you know what I mean speaking in tongues and all that and then with a Christian Church the disciples of Christ tradition which then I became an evangelist for eight years I was a missionary to Mexico preaching the gospel trying to convert Catholics into Christians if you know what I mean and loving it living it believing it feeling it getting goosebumps when I was talking to Jesus the feeling of joy and the peace that passes understanding in the fact that the Bible was giving me all this wonderful wisdom for life I didn't realize at the time that goosebumps are not evidence of the Holy Spirit goosebumps are actually in evidence of evolution did you know that we get goosebumps because our ancestors were hairier and for thermal control whenever they got cold or scared it would raise their fur so next time you get goosebumps thank Darwin right but I went through a process though when I became about 30 the world hadn't ended Jesus hadn't come again I realized by that time that every generation of Christians has fancied that they're living in the end times Paul said it you know he thought it was going to be any some of you won't taste death jesus said to his disciples the Miller writes that Jehovah's Witnesses I'll think while we're living in the very I thought it was so special I was born in the Wright family in the right religion and the right time of history in the right country and Jesus was coming but I started to grow up I believed it I didn't have any doubts but I started to grow up and I realized painfully that what Christianity actually teaches is not true feels great it gives you purpose but the actual claims of Christianity are not true the motivation that drove me into the ministry was the same motivation that drove me out I stood in the pulpit wanting to know the truth and speak the truth that's why I was up there I wasn't a phony I believed it I loved it that same motivation when I studied the Bible and found out how contradictory unhistorical unscientific and immoral it is as a book that was the beginning of the process of abandoning my belief in Christianity and embracing free thought the freedom to think your own thoughts free from the fear of Hell or punishment or judgment joining millions or tens of millions of good people on this country who have are atheists and agnostics who live good happy wonderful productive loving joyful lives in touch with the real world and they do look seductive some of these arguments when you play them out on paper but when they basically boil down to you and I think Russell hinted at it maybe not oh they basically boil down to what we call God of the gap we don't have an explanation for this how do you explain that therefore God did you notice that Russell in his opening statement even use the word evidence from cosmology as if this were evidence for a god what we're really looking at is not so much evidence for we're looking at a lack of evidence for and then using that lack of evidence that gap that open question and it's good for science to have open questions because that's what drive science there were no open questions science would be dead it's great that we don't know a lot of these answers yet but it is irresponsible to just plug that gap with your particular God of choice the God that you happen to be born into in the country and the culture that you happen to be born into the talk to you as a child so during your model I'll talk a little bit about the God of the gaps another lack that we have when it comes to this question of God is a lack of agreement among people who claim to believe in this God even people who bring the same Bible don't agree with each other about the nature of this God or it's moral principles even didn't Paul write in the New Testament God is not the author of confusion but can you think of a book that's caused more confusion in the Bible they disagree with each other they fight with each other I was just talking with an old missionary friend today Gary I was evangelical Christian Bible born-again Christian and he's had a transformation in his own thoughts he's now at Universal is he still believe in God in Jesus and all that but he's changed his opinion about the nature of this biblical God there is no coherent agreement or nature of this being within the scriptures you find a God who says this and who does this he's the god of lobby's I got a war he's a God of killing he's a God of hatred I have hated them with a perfect hatred the Bible says and a God of contradictions God of insecurities a God who so has such a big ego such a big vanity that you have to have a whole day of the week set aside the worship and if you don't you can have to die and the earth is going to be scorched because it doesn't give him his proper respect and only you find all sorts of different gods and you don't find agreement among believers about what this being is they're even arguing for think about this if life was designed functional complexity of the cell it's amazing the eye is amazing look at it like if you saw a watch on the floor on this how did it get there had to be have a designer because your premise is that functional complexity cannot spontaneously all by itself come into existence it had to be designed by you know a watch is probably designed by a company and it has a history of trial and error and and multiple designers many of whom are dead let's say but in any event you say how did that get it had to be designed by something even more complex more fascinating anything that is complex enough to define like a watch or a human being reliable has to be at least as complex or more complex than it if it is true think about this this is very important in my my Gration away from faith if it is true that functional complexity requires a designer then the mind of a God also requires a designer isn't the mind of a God beautiful doesn't it function isn't it complex doesn't he have desires doesn't have plans isn't he this amazing big is he just a big blob of random nothingness or is it an amazingly organized genius of a beautiful wise being up there that complexity by the argument design also would require a designer if it doesn't then throw away your argument you're just believing by faith the design argument either stands or it doesn't so you can't invoke a designer to explain complexity who's more complex than the thing that are designed that's circular reasoning that's called begging the question what you're doing is you're just explaining one mystery with another mystery let me ask you some things about the resurrection of Jesus according to the New Testament what time did the women get to the tomb was the sunshine here was a dark what do you think it was both the Cuffy Gospels contradict each other the resurrection of Jesus by the way is a fascinating exercise because while most stories in the Bible are given once or twice this is given at least five times and you can compare them you can see that they don't match they're getting their story wrong John said it was dark but the others say is someone who say the Sun was shining who were the women who write who came to the tomb there was a one woman was a two woman was it for a woman was it more than that different names are given by the different Gospel writers what was their purpose was it just to see the tumor was it to bring spices or had this bit to him already mid spiced take your pick these writers don't agree with each other when the women arrived at the tomb was the tomb opener was it closed what do you think oh well if you read Matthew when they got there this tomb was closed and then there was a great earthquake by the way no one else mentioned the graters they said Matthew that would have been an important historical event let's play big enough to tear the temple into to open up the graves of Jerusalem and all these zombies walked around and went back to their houses and then of stone rolled away that would have been chaos would have it may him it would have been dead bodies and fallen houses and yet these people are strolling around like nothing happened but when Matthew tells a story the tomb was closed and then it happened and then the angel came but in the others the two had already been opened the stories don't match in that who was at the tomb when they arrived Matthew said there was one angel Mark said there was one young man Luke said there were two men John said there were two angels if he put those reports on a graph of the decades in which they were written by the way mark was written around the Year 70 Matthew look around 80 and 85 and John sometime after the year 90 you see the growth of the legend with mark you have one man not even an angel but with Matthew have two men and then with Luke II have to age that you have a I'm getting it wrong here but Johnny had two angels you can see the growth of legend you see the footprint of how the story exaggerated Sauveur time where would the messengers situated Matthew said the angel was sitting on the stone before it was opened they mark said it was a young man sitting inside on the right Luke said it was two men standing inside John said there were two angels sitting on each end of the bed the messages that these angels gave were four completely different messages Matthew in Matthew the angel said Jesus is not here you're going to see him in Galilee go to Galilee there you'll see him well where did they first see Jesus what did the disciples four see Jesus according to Matthew was in Galilee which was 60 to 100 miles away in those days how long would it take them to get up there even on the fastest horse possible that would have taken him half a day to get up there get back in time for the others to say that they saw them in Jerusalem for the first time now some people say well you know these differ people can describe it auto accident from different perspectives and have different contradictory which actually proves they were not colluding with each other but if I told you that the accident happened in Sacramento and we also tell you well the accident happened but it happened in Modesto does that make sense there's two different stories here these these Gospel writers don't get their story straight I have about 12 more that I could read but I don't have much time but I'll just say did the women tell what happened contradictory when Mary returned from the tomb does she know Jesus had been resurrected contradictory when did Mary first see Jesus before or after returning the disciples could Jesus be touched after the women to whom did Jesus first appear contradictory stories where did Jesus first appear to the disciples did the disciples believe the two men on the road to Emmaus yes or no what happened at that first appearance different stories about what happened did Jesus stay on earth for a while some say no some say of about eight days others said in acts it was for 40 days where did the Ascension take place Matthew doesn't mention it Mark said it was around Jerusalem Luke said it was in Bethany and access from the Mount of Olives and we can go on and on and on but I think one of the most damning things about the resurrection story is this data point that Russell mentions about the appearances before the Easter morning Jesus is described in kind of normal narrative terms they see him they hear they follow him they talk to him that kind of stuff he's like you would be telling a story but after Easter morning everything changes and now they're talking about he appeared unto them suppose you ask me if Brussels was home but I said yeah I went to Russell's house and when I got to his house he appeared to me and showed himself unto me and then he disappeared you know you're not talking about a real bodily resurrection you're talking about a spook story you're talking about the very same word appeared of the-- from that greek particle from the word means like a vision the same word is used at the Transfiguration when Jesus takes Peter James and John up to see Moses and Elijah who appeared unto them does anyone think Moses and Elijah have empty tombs as well it was obviously some kind of a spiritual thing the earliest disciples did not believe in a bodily resurrection the earliest accounts especially Paul's account in the first Corinthians doesn't even mention an empty tomb or even a tomb at all he said he was buried at toughy he was put into the ground so we see through that first century of growth from a very simple belief that like Grandma Jesus died in what to heaven and you know we can pray he's up in heaven now that's probably what a lot of those followers of Jesus thought that he was had ascended specially to heaven later that spiritual growth evolved and we knew that were into a bodily resurrection from people writing sixty years later people who were probably third hand weren't even first witnesses to the original accounts and there's a lot more to be said about it but the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not evidence at least the bodily resurrection if you believe he's spiritually one of them well that's different but an empty tomb the actual bodily resurrection of Jesus did not happen in according to the Bible in itself which is already not a very reliable book contradicting itself in coming up with the footprints of legendary embellishment we see that it is not it's not even a strong data point it is no data point at all it is an article of faith here's just one there are many examples of the way the Christian God has been defined which cancel themselves out for example God is defined as a being with free will who knows everything he knows the future God not only knows the past and I'm assuming this is the kind of definition that you hold you'll correct me if I'm wrong because you haven't told us yet but God not only knows the past and the present but he also knows the future which means he also knows his own future decisions God knows what he's going to do tomorrow at 12:00 noon because he's God he knows everything but if you know what's going to happen in the future that put some limits on your power doesn't it how can you be omnipotent and unable to change what's going to happen between now and then and if you do change it then you weren't omniscient something's got to give you can't be omniscient and have freewill at the same time they have freewill whatever that means with humans and maybe we do or don't that's a different debate but certainly if God has free will it's a full libertarian free will and he can do whatever he wants because he's God right if God has free will then he can't know the future if you know the future you can't have free will because the future is fixed there's no period of indeterminacy between now and then where you could change your mind I might decide I'm going to have coffee tonight after we go out but I could change my mind in the meantime I have the freedom to make that choice so if God is defined as a being with free will who is omniscient who knows the future then that God is a married bachelor in that God not only does not exist that God cannot exist and there are dozens of incompatible properties between God that showed that by definition mathematically logically the God you believe in cannot exist also in order for any hypothesis to be vertical and it can be true or false it has to be falsifiable there have to be things you can say about your hypothesis which if true would make it false if if we found a black polar bear the statement all polar bears are white would be falsified right we haven't yet which strengthens the hypothesis so I would ask you what kind of statements could be made which if true would prove theism false if you can't do that you don't even have not only don't you not have a coherent definition you don't even have a coherent hypothesis of this being that you are arguing for the second absence and this is probably the biggest one the second absence is the absence of evidence for a god if there were evidence for a god we would have seen it tonight it would have been on the table Jerry would have said here's the evidence for a God not evidence against evolution that's just a gap I've never heard a theist I define their God in such a way that it could be testable or falsifiable in order for any statement to be true any statement there must be other statements which can be said which if true would make this statement false for example all polar bears are white here's the statement that says I found a black polar bear that if that statement would truly would falsify this statement I've never heard of thee is produce an example of a statement which if true would falsify their claim in order for any statement to be true there it must be in principle not not necessarily in actuality but it must be in principle falsifiable there must be other things that can be said which would make it true falsifiability doesn't mean it's disproved it means that it is vulnerable to testing there's no culture of atheism is fighting the truth it's a caricature I think most scientists are a tease because they know there's no evidence for a god and no good argument for a God and we haven't heard any tonight either so the absence of evidence scientists don't take things by faith the scientists gather together every Sunday morning in a circle like a football huddle every Sunday they get together and say yes the Higgs boson is real I know the Higgs boson is real I feel it in my heart I will have faith I will be strong I will fight those doubters I know that the god particle is real oh man what if they did that every Sunday they got together to bolster each other optic make their faith strong wouldn't you think they were kind of insecure on the concept if they do that because there is no evidence there's anecdotes they're stories suppose it claims to prop fulfilled prophecy or miracles and so on but when you scratch beneath the surface there's nothing there they fall apart and we have been scratching and scratching beneath those surfaces for many many many centuries and there's nothing there when I was a believer I thought wow the world is just blind is they don't see the miracles they're not there they're stories they're misinterpretations they're exaggerations they're coincidences answers to prayer happened about the same random rate as chance they do happen it does happen a certain percentage of sick people is going to get spontaneously well some of them will have people that are praying for them and you say I pray for grandma and she lived another three weeks but you know you think you see miracles where there they're not there it's a religious confirmation bias what's happening there's no evidence there's no miracles there's no fulfilled prophecies there's some good Lucky guesses but any of us could do that I could make some lucky guesses so the absence of evidence is another good reason why I do not hold a belief in a god

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Keywords: Dan Barker (Musical Artist), dan, dan barker, best, amazing, arguments, clever, comebacks, part, of, And, Delivery, Atheism, Atheist, Antitheism, Debate, Religion, Philosophy, argument, funny, Science, great, debate, comeback, answer, anti-theist, anti, theist, intelligent, bright, smart, death, afterlife, religion, reason, logic, science, Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, one, Sam Harris, Christianity (Religion), Christian, god, Anti theist, anti theism, agatan, foundation, fnd, agnostic, agnosticism

Id: eJxWGyHUhLU

Length: 24min 27sec (1467 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 12 2014