People Tell A Pastor Why They Don't Believe In God

I don't personally believe right but it's like that doesn't mean that we can't live the same way hey there i'm erica Campbell I'm a singer a songwriter I'm a mom a wife and all-around cool chick so today I'm sitting down with people from different ends of the faith spectrum just gonna have a healthy conversation can't wait to get into it I'm really excited my name is Josh and I am a former Christian hi I'm Emily and I identify as an atheist my name is Nina and I identify as agnostic I was raised in a very strict Mormon household I was the very first one in my family to leave the church I have been happy non-believer ever since I guess technically I was raised in the Catholic faith kind of by default we went to church sometimes on Christmas usually like weddings or funerals something like that I grew up lightly Hindu we're like cults really Hindu but I kind of came to the conclusion that like whether or not there is a God or there isn't a god like it has no bearing on like how I live my life I don't think she'll be able to in any way convert me suddenly back I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous like I hope I don't say anything to offend her hey hey there I'm Josh I'm Erica I'm Emily Erica nice to meet you to meet you too nice to meet you Vanina yes I mean nice to meet you so I'm a Christian how would you identify atheist yes non-believer so do you believe that like there's there's no bad or there's something out there and you don't know what it did nothing nothing I identify as Nate yes if like agnosticism and atheism it's like a spectrum I'm like somewhere in it I think that when we die it's lights out and that's the blissful end to all of it emily is so let me ask you a question what do you believe exists beyond the universe like the area where our minds kind of exist not the human not the tangible I don't think that that exists either you don't I don't I think that everything that exists is what exists right here right now in this moment in your body I was raised in the Catholic community I just remember the first thing we talked about was Adam and Eve I just remember being like that's just like a little story it culturally were him though personally for me it felt like a lot of these a lot of the stories of it or they're just like stories there's a lot of like believable with multiple arms and like angels are blue I don't which is like not real so I was raised Mormon my mom helped run the Relief Society my dad was a bishop for a long time grandpa was a bishop I was the very first member of my family to walk away from it all and it was not well at first I grew up similar to you but mine was a Pentecostal church called the Church of God in Christ and my father was a preacher my mom was over the choir but there was a lot of things that didn't always make sense to me like why we were so poor everything supposed to work out right you know but the same way I wouldn't doubt love because people have gotten love and that's kind of how I feel about God and I think it's very reassuring to me that after this is over there's something greater so most people who don't believe there was some you know traumatic Church experience or some long line of this doesn't make sense this doesn't make sense okay y'all don't make sense so maybe he doesn't make sense I do find fault with what Catholicism in general if we're not really like practicing so we weren't like praying or like studying or anything and so I just kind of like fell away from that as like as a religion I got kicked out of Sunday school because I was arguing with the teacher about the age of the earth in six days 6,000 years and like but dinosaurs I grew up in a church where secular music was a saying everybody's the devil you know you can't interact you know it's gonna infiltrate you and my mom her favorite saying growing up was that the devil gets to in little ways yes like the first time I wanted a mohawk at nine years old she was like devil gets to you through your hair yeah I got really lucky and I have like great parents and you know they're like you know be kind be a good person like help each other out so I feel like my moral compass is good I hope so I'm working on it the core of Mormon belief is the Holy Bible the King James Version specifically every time I read something what I saw was a twist for human game and all the same stories and had I had the very same questions um and what I feel like you know what I know the Bible is it is all an example of how crazy and chaotic our world is if you believed in God what would that look like to you I feel like if there was a God I think it would be something that kind of unimaginable that I couldn't like processes they came would be do you believe in life after you know I I don't know before I was like I don't know maybe like roll energy like what happened the summer that like nobody knows and that's the crazy thing right and but very recently actually my twin brother passed away this summer and so I've been thank you but I've been you know like searching for him and I've been like trying to be kind of like open like if you know if it is like a thing like please freaking talk to me you know what I mean like I just I haven't I haven't felt it never felt him I haven't seen him yeah and so that kind of for me was like okay like he's just yeah he's just dead and that's you know something that I'm just kind of like okay like I'm just I'm just never gonna see him again he's still you know with me every day and I think about him every single day but it's like I just you know I was I was open for it I I still am what if something were to happen or whatever but like you know me thinking about him every day and remembering him and everything that I do it's like I feel like that for me is like enough you know every time I look at any form of organized religion the only thing I see is division more wars have been fought over religion than anything else yeah whereas when I look at a world with no religion you suddenly everyone has to own up to just what they are and who they are they can no longer hide behind say well I I won't bake a cake for these gay couple because my religion says that I don't have to you can't hide behind that there's always gonna be conflict in religion because religion is man-made and all you see these movies in always a devil on one shoulder in it I really think that's real I think there's always a battle for the best of us and the worst of us if there was one question of God that you can ask if you believed in God what would you ask that's a really hard thing is about you and that's what I does you what makes you happy why I'm feel so small and like the concept of a god it feels so big like I said yeah and I feel so small and it seems impossible to me that anything that oversees like our whole world or a whole universe would have time for me I think that there's still a lot of questions there you know them from what you've said still a lot of questions and I think that's the best way to be like I'm always asked why the wise are the wise why do I feel this way why don't I believe could I believe again right you know what could cause me to believe again because clearly there's something that caused me not to believe if I told you that I would pray for you what would you ask me to pray for that's a great question probably not for me but for like my family I think yeah yeah just for them to be like well and good and happy yeah from my perspective everything you said you can do without any religion and it's completely freeing for me the most free I ever felt was the day I walked away and said I don't have to believe in any of this stuff anymore cuz to me God religion all of it it's completely superfluous to human existence you don't need it you can live a happy productive good charitable life without it I believe in you know if there's a good there has to be a bad you know we can't always explain some of the complexities and craziness of this world but I think God brings gravity to it all to the question I love hearing what you have to say I don't think I necessarily agree with all of it I believe that God knows you he knows your name he knows how many hairs on your head beautiful hair by the way that's a purchase mind nevertheless I think he knows everything about you and what's to get wants to know more this has been such a great conversation and there's such a warm like I feel really like comfortable here yeah it just this has been really great something amazing talking about right talking to you Emily I will be praying for you thank you absolutely so much [Music]

Channel: BuzzFeedVideo

Views: 5,079,478

Rating: 4.8302341 out of 5

Keywords: buzzfeed, buzzfeedvideo, buzzfeed video, pastor, pastor answers questions, atheist, why i dont believe in god, religion, atheism, christianity, god, debate, faith

Id: jeyVV9Ckpt4

Length: 9min 14sec (554 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 13 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Thunderthecat]

I just watched this video and while yes she is kind, able to have a conversation, there was some tendency to get them to change their minds about God, it's so subtle. After watching this, it made me feel really happy that I can spot someone subtly trying to persuade a person to believe in God. They act kind, really interested in what you have to say, make compliments, put themselves down, it's trickery at it's nicest. So many people in the comments were like "What a respectful pastor" but when you really look at it, she disregards their beliefs while asserting hers. The girl's hair was a big one, asking if she can pray for them knowing they are atheist, asking them what they would ask God knowing they don't believe, while stating why He's real, and that he loves (this girl). I didn't like it at all. It reminded me of some of my family members who are literally that subtle, trying to get you to believe again. No thanks.

[u/Ayeaman]

Wait, which god are we talking about? There are thousands to choose from.