Can Christians and atheists find common ground on the importance of having civil discussions today? That’s what Drew (YouTuber: “Genetically Modified Skeptic”) and I aim for in this video. Rather than debating questions about the existence of God and the afterlife, as important as these issues are, I ask Drew a ton of questions about his deconversion from Christianity to atheism and how we can have better conversations today across the religious divide.
For a synopsis of how we met, check out my blog: “Learning from a Young Atheist” (https://bit.ly/2U9vxFA)
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Timestamps
0:00 Intro
2:06 Why would an Atheist come onto a Christian Apologists Youtube Channel?
3:53 How did Genetically Modified Skeptic get started on Youtube?
6:13 How did Genetically Modified Skeptic become an Atheist?
9:20 How did fundamentalism in the Church affect GMS’s life?
12:24 What was GMS’s experience with Christianity in his early life?
18:15 What issues made GMS question his faith?
22:36 How did Christians respond to GMS questioning his faith?
25:50 How did GMS questioning his faith effect his life?
29:10 What experiences occurred after Drew “came out” as an Atheist?
34:50 How did it feel to come out as an Atheist?
41:50 GMS Role-plays as a Christian parent
45:43 How was Youtube an outlet for GMS?
52:05 What is the Atheist-Christian relationship like on Youtube?
57:26 What can both Christians and Atheists do to improve the relationship with the other side?
1:02:50 What can Christians do to better understand people with other belief systems?
source
even though both were cordial, its still hard to watch……
I am either just a mammal primate or that is my
shell and the real me is made in God’s image with amazing potential.
I am convinced on intelligent design. That would be our Creator. The 3.2 thousand million letter word that codes our physical being is part of it. As is irreducible complexity.
I am convinced that there is right and wrong and cannot see this in evolution. If love is just material (like just chemical), then stop singing love songs.
I trust my mind and cannot see how it came from a mindless and unguided process. Same goes with my eyes, etc.
Consciousness ( self awareness, etc.) seems like another conundrum for honest atheists.
Theodicy is a philosophical question that Christianity has dealt with in two ways. I chose the one that is consistent with logic and the Bible. It is a stumbling block for those that don’t look carefully at it. My Grandpa used to say, “I don’t believe a good god would let bad things happen”. I had no answer for him as a young person.
I hear many scientists of the materialists types say give us enough time and we will prove our theories. I hear God say that you have maybe 80 years.I trust that God is correct about the limited time, maybe 80 years. But if you are keeping up with biology, bio chemistry etc. ,the scientists discoveries of biological complexity are outpacing any chance they have. It is kind if like the Tower of Babel. Sometimes I think that God (figuratively) sits at the end pt. In the Hadron Collider and flicks the results just before they enter the two detecting units. It is just, of course, you should not name a particle after someone with out asking. But most atheist scientist don’t pray.
A lot of gm skeptic’s objections really are due to fundamentalism. Can relate. I left another Christian tradition for the same reasons. I’m back now a few years later in a different ‘orthodox’ Christian environment but where I can still use my brain.
I have a lot of worldly knowledge that was extremely difficult to gain but I can see now how important it is to not make the faith an in group/out group ideology, to brainwash and isolate people from the world.
Drew also wants to as he says be viewed as a ‘whole person’ not an evangelism machine under a kind of authoritarian ‘god’ control. I think that’s totally fair and necessary. Modern society can push everything and everyone too far and that affects the faith, too.
When it comes to addressing children, when does a parent put their relationship with their child OVER the child's relationship with God? Maybe there is a big difference to the approach when the child is living under the roof vs has moved out but is there a point where you could be too focused on an unabrasive approach with them and not modeling the utmost importance of a relationship with God?
Astonishing amount of ignorance and talking past atheists in the chat replay on this video. Thank you to Sean for being graceful and listening but some of the viewers on this stream were aggressive and not listening at all to what Drew and other atheists in the chat were saying. Shameful really.
Thank you both so much. I'm 16 and a christian and I've learned much from the two of you today. My heart broke at some moments hearing Drew's story and made me realize I have no idea what atheists or people of other beliefs go through and struggle with. Thinking about it now it just ticks me off how people can be. Your experience helped me understand that a lot of the things I assume about atheists are really twisted and wrong and I thank you for having the courage to come and share your story on Dr. McDowell's channel. Dr. McDowell I appreciate greatly your representation of Christ and having the courage to have a dialogue with someone who thinks differently than you. I've seen this a lot on your videos and it's helped me to think differently about people and think biblically about the world around me. You're definitely one of the reasons I'd love to attend or at least visit Biola University. I thank you both for teaching me to humanize and to just love others unconditionally. I'm grateful to God for both of your channels and hope you both create even better content. Much love to both of you. Thank you, and God bless both of you greatly.
Honestly? I love this. Not a Christian myself, but it kept me here. Respectful conversations lead to more understanding on both sides.
Can someone help me understand why the preferred language is "questioning Christianity" and not "questing the Biblical God" or "questioning the belief in the Biblical God"?
I was genuinely curious about this conversation. It's inspiring to see that even if we disagree, we can have a thoughtful and respectful conversation. Furthermore I feel sorry for Drew that he had to experience a bunch of unpleasant and rude comments from Christians, despite our mission is to love one another like Christ loved us. I was also curious about his Youtube channel, so I took a quick visit over there, but I was surprised to see that he is also quick to ridicule and mock Christians and the Bible. I believe the standard by which he criticized the disrespectful behavior of Christians towards his decision and worldview also applies to him.
I appreciate Drew's willingness to speak about what the Christian response to their atheist loved ones should look like.
A few thoughts:
1. When Drew said his wife wasn't an atheist back then, does it mean she also deconverted?
2. At times, his story and fear sounded like gays coming out of the closet. It can be scary, I get it. I'm more thinking out loud this what I'll say, but if I were a dad and my kid was a gay, and he/she tells me that, of course I would still love them, but isn't it part of loving someone trying to talk to them, reason with them, etc? Not to bore them to death, yell, or yell at them. But I think I would have a lot to ask and say. I think it's natural because you love your child so much, so it would feel awkward just to let them go in a way you don't find to be healthy. This means both being a gay or deconverting. If you believe in Christ and His words – and I came from agnosticism and have no reason to doubt Christ even though I tried hard – then it would be in "your blood" to want to hug, talk to, pray over, and reason with your deconverting or gay child. Yes, you love them, and a way to love them is to point them to Christ. Not 24/7 because that would drive anyone nuts, but, you know… I hate forcing people to act, think, or feel the same way I do, be it Christians or atheists, but if I truly cared about my daughter or son, I wouldn't just make peace about them abandoning Christ. Due to suffering, loneliness, dey seasons etc. I was close a few times in my life to abandon the faith. Yet, the HUGE question always remains as a resounding echo in my mind and chest – WHAT ABOUT CHRIST?!?! We can find numerous reasons not to believe, including myself, but none of those emotional or scientific topics can reject Jesus' existence, sacrifice, resurrection, love, and divinity. I'm thinking to myself, HOW can I turn my back to Christ? I understand leaving a church if it's toxic and feeling not super religious, but abandoning living Jesus who loves me, died for me, and is interceding for me?! Who did so much in my life? This keeps me sober. I'm writing this hoping it will encourage SOMEONE ☺️
3. Not that I'm trying to defend that world known apologist who wrote to Drew that he would die alone, but unless I'm misunderstanding, it doesn't sound as a personal threat. Perhaps the apologist mean to warn him, no? There's a difference if someone personally threatens me and if someone is warning me about something because of ABC. So I hope that this unnamed apologist meant just that, like, "Hey, if you reject Christ, you don't have hope for eternity, so please wake up" and not actually threatening him literally.
I don't know. Drew seems as a very nice and genuine guy and I wish him all the best.
This is very cool 🙂
Have either of you read
Eric Metaxas work?
Is Atheism Dead?
In one sense, a very brilliant clarification of evolution ,
with real science.
I’m 63, victim of narcissistic abuse for decades. Biggest hindrance to my faith is that I begged God for help the whole time. Now I’m borderline agnostic. If anyone reads this pray for me.
This is an excellent video. My family is strongly Christian but my adult son is an atheist and has had problems with family. His suggestions on how family should approach this is very good.
Unfortunately, Drew is very rare among atheists in terms of his perspective.
What Drew says about Christians making assumptions about atheists instead of listening to what he tells them is exactly what trans people go through.
plot twist: he becomes a full blown satanist
I grieve that Drew lost his faith. 😢