this is highschool grade folk psychology. The problems go much deeper than that.

Actually they don't. Concepts like heaven and hell are so childishly stupid, contradictory and inane, that they're not even at a highschool level. More like elementary school.

Except that indoctrination usually starts before Kindergarten even.

to my ears this guy has an irish (dublin?) accent with an american twang.. anyone know who he is?

you know, i'm not going to debate this, but i'm getting really tired of all the religion bashing sifts on here lately. I don't claim to be the best christian, but i do tire of being called a twit by half of the Top 15 for believing in God. It is certainly possible to be intelligent and christian at the same time. And for the record, my particular brand of Christianity doesn't acknowledge "hell" as being anything more than the common grave, not a place of eternal suffering.

Supersaiyan93 beat me to it, but I have to agree, far too many videos lately have been anti-religion, more than that, they constantly belittle the intelligence of religious people. A person's belief in a god (or lack thereof) has no bearing on their intelligence. And contrary to what many religious people seem to portray, science and religion are not polar opposites. As a Christian I am sometimes embarrassed by the actions of other Christians (see Creation Museum, among other things) but can we please stop with the constant denigration?

More on topic, the idea of a burning, fiery hell is a lot more common among people who think they understand Christianity; many Christians believe hell is an eternal separation from God, and the sadness and regret that will come with being truly broken-off, separated from Him.

Thank you supersaiyan and Skeeve. I think that sums up my thoughts right there.

The problem Skeeve is that the close-minded individuals you refer to who are more fundamentalist/absolutist in their Christian beliefs are the more vocal.

I don't think this video is particularly demeaning of religion on the whole - it's simply pointing out the idea of Hell was never a logically sound justification for practicing religion, given certain conditions on the concept of a omnipotent, omniscient "God." The speaker's argument is by no means new or innovative, these arguments have existed for hundreds of years. He very nearly recites the Epicurean Paradox word for word.

Absolutely, there are many other reasons to practice religion, and certainly science and religion can coexist. It's when people start blindly accepting translated texts written thousands of years ago by fallible, mortal individuals that problems occur (yes, I mean "faith"). Don't take offense to "religion-bashing" sifts overmuch, because this sift in particular is pretty tame compared to the religious zealots I encounter daily telling me that I am going to Hell.

i'm totally sick of these lame attempts to discredit religion with moronic, unresearched, one sided arguments.

the problem of evil has been debated by philosophers for hundreds of years. Alvin Plantiga and John Hick are two modern religious philosophers who these people should read if they would actually like to engage the subject, although I doubt that's likely to happen.

Umm, how do i collect that guarantee

Fisrtly my automatic reaction to his conundrum wasnt i have faith or any pansy remark but instead

1. Hell is an unscriptural doctrine, the scripture he uses to surport hell being a scriptural doctrine is 2Thess 2:11-12 AND IT SAYS DAMNED!!! but damned only really means 1 : to condemn to a punishment or fate aka judged. We are left to assume that this "obviously" refers to hell.

2. That god does infact know all the decisions that we "will" make, and therefore is horrible for letting this happen etc etc etc. But offers no scriputal baises for this, which is another assuption. Also knowing all of our decisions in advance would pose a problem for free will. "but wouldnt a god that couldnt know the future really be the almighty?" Well in the same way "it is impossible for God to lie" Hebrews 6:18 doesnt make him any less "godly". also it is a matter of propective, because he could choose not to see into the future (in fact he has in prophecy, but in a limited fashion) doesnt mean he "can't".

Stop right there... You're pulling the scriptures? Anything based on them is pure crap, because even though religious people refuse to believe it, it is not the word of god, it's a damn compilation put together to create a religion. More like a propaganda instruction booklet.
IT's CRAP!!!!

Of course how silly of me. You give well based reasons and your logic astounds me. and even though i was only using it as an example, shame on me.

It doesn't matter if it was an example. It was a bad one.

Dammit, late to the party.

"i'm getting really tired of all the religion bashing sifts on here lately...i do tire of being called a twit by half of the Top 15 for believing in God"
Tough luck; be less stupid.

"far too many videos lately have been anti-religion, more than that, they constantly belittle the intelligence of religious people"
Tough luck; be less stupid.

"I think that sums up my thoughts right there."
Tough luck; be less stupid.

" i'm totally sick of these lame attempts to discredit religion with moronic, unresearched, one sided arguments"
Tough luck; be less stupid.