Or you could watch his talk that he gave on his book at Skepticon 3.



It's 55 min
A tip for longer youtube talks or speeches.
Download them and play the back in VLC player at a slightly faster rate.
Or if the video isn't that necessary download them as mp3's and listen while doing house work or some other multitasking type stuff.

Thank you for posting this tripp.

I wish they wouldn't have cut his talk short because I would have rather heard his complete theory on the made up Jesus. I don't have all that much to say about it. While the people in the audience and some of you may chuckle at all of his cursing and crude/blasphemous comments, I cringed. He appeared to be a lifelike representation of an internet troll. The smugness and cruelty in his words and spirit are evident. Are you all not able to notice the visible difference between good and evil in this world? This person is speaking not to inform, teach, or correct, but instead is playing a role as a demolisher that is looking to bring down a house of cards while his fellow trolls all cheer him on. Intentions matter to me. Educate, not humiliate.

For Donovan's sake I watched it all. Even though I was instantly offended, I sat through the entire thing. I knew within 5 minutes of this video exactly where Mr. Fitzgerald stood. I too have many questions because most of what we read in the Bible is second-hand accounts and we as Christian don't have much else to go on. I currently believe that the different accounts told in the Gospels of the death and resurrection are coming years later by people with different levels of education trying to tell the story as they remembered it. Perhaps they do not match exactly because people remember things differently as time passes, but I don't honestly know. My wife and I remember events from our early marriage differently, but that doesn't mean we are wrong. If she chooses to focus on the emotional aspect of that time we shared but I give an account that focuses upon time and place, it doesn't mean we are wrong or telling two different stories. We are simply communicating the facts as we remember them.

I'll close by saying this:

I understand why some of you think of Christians as fools.

I believe in good and evil. I believe that there is a God, and have seen evidence in my own personal life of this. I also believe that there is an enemy of God that wishes to destroy anyone that tries to serve that God. I'm sure my words are as those of an uninformed child to most of you, but also know that yours at times seem to me as those of angry old men. Perhaps you are more knowledgeable, but I often wonder if any of you are wise.

I will continue seeking out answers and will start with video debates between both sides to see if I can learn more from hearing two educated speakers question one another. I wasn’t a fan of the one sided video series I posted and didn’t really enjoy this one either. I'm hopeful that the interaction provided by debates will assist me as I continue to seek out the truth.

Thanks slowroll. Great comments as usual! Of all the things you stated, I had a question. If god is all powerful and wants followers, how could he allow an enemy to exist that is trying to destroy that unless he wished it to be there? These are the reasoning questions that I ask and people just make up answers. But have you ever notice how the answers are never the same? That is because they are all guessing. That bothers me. If he was real, it should be obvious. All I know is every question I ask, there is a justification for it, and no real consideration. Atheists who had faith at one time, did give real consideration to the faith side, because they wanted to really know. Most religious people like to hide and pretend like there beliefs can't be false. I find that sad. They won't even allow themselves to figure it out. I wish you good will, in all you do my friend.

Oh, and I'm sorry you found this video offensive. I was hoping that the points made might at least allow you to consider why the other side has a hard time dealing with the Jesus stuff. They do laugh and chuckle, as this is preaching to the choir and it can be really hard to hold in things, when you finally get in to a large audience, (many for the first time) who all think like you do over something we were made to feel shame, for such a long time. Skepticon, was probably not the right atmosphere for you. It is the only place I knew of as well, where you could here some of his points without have to read them.

I think the better question would be "Why does he allow us free will at all?"

If you really think about it, free will is pretty much where everything hits the fan. Lucifer's defiance, the other angels dessention, our denial of him/opting out of his plan pretty much all stem from having free will given to us by the creator. The answer seems to be that he gives us an out to go our own way if that is what we choose to do. I've always thought that is because he wants those that truly choose him, and for some reason I like that idea. God not wanting mindless drones forced into servitude but willing followers. But I honestly don't know, and I don't think anyone else really does either.

Have a good weekend all.

Well, if we are mindless drones, he made us that way. You see there is know winning with an all-powerful, all-knowing entity. Free will has to be a lie. If he is what the book says he is, all outcomes are already known and we cannot change what he knows will happen already. It is things like this that make logical people say, "this is just inherently wrong and it just can't be right."

Donovan - your perspective comes from a lack of understanding. Unfortunately for Christianity, we too as Christians have succumbed to a large degree to a similar lack of understanding – the Enlightenment Age philosophy that knowledge is inherently good and more knowledge is inherently better (and don't be tempted to pull implications out of that statement I am not making). And maybe more so that knowledge of "facts" is derived from logic and the scientific method….and that "truth" is defined from that.

Much of modern/current Christian apologetics is ensnared in this hollow and deceptive philosophy. But that way of thinking and deriving/defining "truth" cannot ultimately work for us Christians (and for those trying to understand Jesus and trying to understand those who follow him)!

You see, "truth" in Christianity is a person - Jesus. And, Jesus is the incarnation of God. Jesus is all God AND simultaneously all human. Yes....a paradox to our human minds. Mystery. As Christians, to be "born again" means that spiritually we are alive - Jesus somehow lives in us/the Spirit is alive in us (not so with those not "born again"). So, we Christians share in part with this paradox since we live somehow at the intersection of the physical/human world and the spiritual/eternal world.

continued...

In a similar vein, God himself has this contradictory-yet-true (paradoxical) nature. You correctly say "You see there is know winning with an all-powerful, all-knowing entity"….and he is also infinite, searingly perfect/holy, jealous/angry. But God is at the same time also personal, tender, nurturing, forgiving, and a lover and creator of all kinds of beauty.

What is amazingly captivating about the New Testament is that there are interwoven seemingly self-contradictory themes......one of which is the Free Will vs Predestination. Both are true! And, it makes perfect sense that there would be these paradoxical themes since Jesus is the message of God, the Word of God.

The Enlightenment Age tools of logic and reason and the scientific method do not equip us to deal with the spiritual....nor do they equip us to deal with anything that is eternal (how do you reproduce that experiment or provide a control group?).