At a Christian school where I used to work, one of the founding members was diagnosed with cancer. There was some sort of agreed upon spiritual sense that she would be healed (a prophecy? I don't remember how they characterized it). When she died, all the staff gathered together and her widower described some sort of "spiritual exchange" in which she passed along her promised healing as a blessing to the school. I knew it was weird but I was green and I kept my mouth shut. Years later, I thought it was creepy and cultish. Listening to your explanation of cognitive dissonance, I've relived all of it and it gives me shudders.

Matthew, I don't know how long it took you to produce this video, but it is incredible. It's accessible, jammed packed, full of relevant citation, and IMO clearly outlines the killshot for my own faith (articulated way better than I ever could). Well done! I appreciate the closing line: it really is the best explanation for the triumph and tragedy of Christian faith.

i had a deconversion experience in 2010. shit hurt yo. if i could go back to cognative dissonance i would, but the pain from believing an absurdity was greater than the pain of walking away

Great video. I was riveted by your arguments. Well done! I’ve always known that the early Christians adopted different beliefs about Jesus after he was killed. But you have put this into a whole new universe for me: cognitive dissonance. Your arguments are thorough, sound, and so well explained. It must have taken a very long time to make this video but I, for one, really appreciate it. You have a new subscriber.

This is gold! Thank you for such an excellent presentation 👏 👍 🙌 😊

Reminds me of the Qanon crowd constantly moving their goalposts as well

Found your channel from the collab with Mythvision! So happy I did. This is a gem.

As a christian believer I find your videos extremly interesting. It has a real intellectual benefit to think and talk about how Christianity itself fits into the general "laws" of how human psyche works. I personally don't think that demystification derogates faith's relevancy in one's life, but even more: you can't live even your christian life in a vacuum where results of everyday science count no more. I see in the comment section, that mostly ex-believers or non-believers leave comments. Let's have one more from the other side :) So well done, and keep posting such videos!

This video on how belief can be strengthened when it encounters evidence to the contrary is helpful in understanding how people cling to belief systems from the past that ignore today's reality. If belief allowed for facing the present-day realities instead of being a shield to protect one from reality, it would give the faithful something to stand on--a firmer foundation. In the writings of Marshall Vian Summers, facing conflict is a way to deepen one's experience of Knowledge. "Use conflict today to remind yourself that there is only Knowledge and the need for Knowledge. Using this approach gives you a way to see beyond the complexities that confuse people at the outset. This will enable you to see into the deeper nature of the human predicament and your own predicament... You are sent to serve the world. To do this, you must recognize conflict...Learning how to clear the mind and to quiet the mind can sometimes seem to be a great effort because the captivation has already occurred... And though the current may be strong, you must pull yourself ashore." (MVS, Steps to Knowledge Continuation Training) Recognizing conflict as a part of the human condition and something to be faced strengthens us if we use it to deepen our understanding and our desire for Knowledge.

Turning that bug into a feature!! And necessity is the mother of invention!! I love it. I’m loving this video, keep them coming. I learned of you from the MythVision Video you recently did.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

not a Christian, but here's something we should consider: not only is the response to coginitive dissonance helpful, it's actually pretty rational. If you use a tool to achieve a goal, and you fail, would it be more reasonable to assume that the tool is faulty or the goal is unreachable? If you calculated the movements of the planets and moons and you predicted the exact date of a solar eclipse, but at that day the eclipse doesn't happen, should you rather believe your calculations were wrong, or that math is wrong or that solar eclipses don't exist? The answer is obvious. And by no means is that to say that God exists and we just misinterpreted everything so far. The truth is, we don't know. and we might never. But I think it's important to point out that the same things that explain Christian beliefs also explain the entire enlightenment and scientific pursuits of the 19th century.

WOW. I had just discovered the notion of cognitive dissonance a few days ago in one youtube video and then encountered this masterpiece, a complete reconciliation of the psychological with the spiritual for me. I am reminded of my college freshman class in old testament by Rabbi Cain over 50 years ago when as a naive Christian convert I encountered the pragmatism of interpretation that Rabbi Cain offered. I remember calling him on my dormitory pay phone in an existential quandary and asking him "Who was Jesus?" And him answering "A radical Jewish activist."

Thank you, KZfaq algorithm, for delivering this to my recommendations! Keep doing that, this deserves a ton more than 10k views!

Why don’t you have more subscribers? This was really solid work.

After seeing this video, I watched a video about MAGA people talking about January 6. One of the comments mentioned cognitive dissonance. And it looks like it is.

The comments to this video are a great example of confirmation bias. The video really provides no compelling reason to reach the conclusions you do. It's just an exercise in constructing alternative explanations. Which I'm fine with, but that's different from arguing for that explanation. I want to note something really important for this video that a lot of the commenters are missing: cognitive dissonance is a normal part of human psychology, it arises every day, and fuels all inquiry, scientific or otherwise. Everyone has it, and we all resolve congitive dissonance through revising our beliefs in some way. Just because someone or some group resolves cognitive dissonance doesn't mean anything. The question is whether they did so rationally or irrationally, cynically and in a self serving way, or truthfully. This video really doesn't make that clear. You can analyze almost anything along the lines of cognitive dissonance or other irrational, cognitive dysfunctions. You can reduce every motivation to something cynical. The question is whether that's a good explanation, whether this is really what's going on or not. For instance, cognitive dissonance and rationalization follows the broader pattern of belief adjustment that all humans engage in. Any time we have any sort of unexpected experience, we integrate it into our beliefs by modifying the structure of our previous beliefs to remove tension. This is just how the human mind works, both when it's functioning rationally or irrationally. Any particular instance of adjusting our beliefs can be interpreted under the lens of rationalizing away cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is itself simply tension. The question is this: is the way we relieve this dissonance rational, or irrational? You can't just say "oh look they're relieving cognitive dissonance by modifying their beliefs" and conclude anything profound from that. Cognitive dissonance and belief modification is the starting point of all inquiry. You can draw parallels between any act of synthesizing and the crazy spiritualization of the Millerites! You should probably ask more clear questions, like: (1) Did Jesus Himself, prior to his death, really teach that the disciples were misunderstanding him? Or is this a later revision/invention to make sense of failed prophecy? (2) Did the OT source material have a specific, well defined messianic vision? Or were there multiple readings even prior to the 1st c? You assume that the early Christians had to "reinterpret" certain OT passages, and impose new order on them to make sense of their failed prophecies, all part of a process of spiritualization. But that assumes they needed to do this, that the way they read their texts were like how the Millerites read theirs. (3) Did the disciples really believe they had scene Jesus resurrected? That they had spoken with him in person, etc? This would suggest against a mere spiritualizing process of relieving cognitive dissonance. (4) That is, did the early Christians have gold reasons to resolve their cognitive dissonance in the ways they did, or did they do so irrationally? Tldr: you can't just say "oh they were resolving cognitive dissonance" and infer anything more profound from that alone. You jump from giving a possible explanation to saying that it is THE explanation.

Well you are obviously very intelligent and articulate. This doesn't disturb my faith at all.

Great video! It must have taken a decent amount of time putting this together. Well done.

Absolutely excellent presentation, Matthew. A half hour extremely well spent. Subscribed.

If i hadn't already deconverted, this video would have caused me a huge cognitive dissonance. Excellent work, Matthew. Keep it up!

Clear and concise application of cogdis...well done. The scary reality is that it leaves apocalyptic believers in a permanent state of expectation and renewed fervor to further evangelize and indoctrinate as they actively pursue the fulfillment of updated prophecy.

Concerning your first point, that the writers of the New Testament believed the victory was a present thing. You need only to understand that the kingdom is within. “…nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:21 NKJV Edit: the kingdom is within for the believer* As for the non believer, they’re in hell; “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36 NKJV

- I have been an atheist for about 5 years. Roughly 2 years ago, it hurt to hear my dad speak of his disbelief that "he got old." I was witness in the 90's, upon visiting my parent's church, to the strong belief by that group that the second coming was happening any day. It was clearly shown, through scripture compared to current events, how they knew this was true. 28 years later . . . My dad is still a believer, I am not.

Great video. Reminds me of how God supposedly answers prayer by: 1. Giving what you asked for due to your faith 2. Not granting the prayer which is still an answer - that you need to repent, didn't have enough faith, God wants to try your faith (and will grant your prayer later) or a sign that He has a different path for you to take. In all cases, the believer is expected to thank God for the result and strengthen their faith that their prayer was "answered". (Edit due to judgmental responses) - I didn't make this comment out of spite for unanswered personal petition. The comment was on teachings/testimonies that I have heard about prayer.

I think the TV series 'The Leftover' tackles with this subject so well. When confronting the unknown and unexpected the character rush to reaffirm their anchors, afraid that what they held onto was false. Looking to their beliefs for meaning and purpose in their lives. Anticipating that they will have a part in the wider cosmic story and how that can lead characters astay as they become obsessed in the fulfilment of prophecy. I love The Leftovers because it portrays such a human and relatable desire to make sense of suffering and hope in a better future.

Excellent video my man. I found this in my recommendation after I’ve been watching videos on pre and post Christian Rome. You got a new subscriber ❤

People do not realize how much work and research it takes to make a video like this. Thank You and are you a historian?

You just made me feel really good. I teach Dual Credit US History in High School and the very first lesson I teach is that we have to be willing to change our minds when presented with new evidence. When I teach about The Great Disappoint, the students want to know why people didn't just abandon Miller. I tell them that some did, and some remained convinced they'd just got the date wrong and they still needed to be ready. I tell them about the 7th Day Adventists and the Jehovah's Witnesses, pointing out that their newsletter is The Watchtower. I reasoned along the same lines you presented, but my information came from the study of a UFO cult. Great presentation!

I think this is THE best video I've watched recently. Excellent!

Amazing, such an accurate analysis. Perfectly explained, absolutely on point! This needs to be seen more widely! bump bump bump!

For any one (believer or ex-believer) who finds this video interesting, I highly suggest you look up the book he mentioned near the beginning “When Prophecy Fails”. I found it to be one of the most cant-put-it-down books I’ve ever read! A fantastic real life psychological study of the capacity for humans to cling to Faith despite reality crashing in around them.

Great video! It’s fascinating to see modern psychological concepts applied to significant historical events like this. It really makes me realize how much I don’t know. While I’m a Christian mystic, I concluded a long time ago that the historical accuracy of the Bible is all but irrelevant to my faith. The stories and lessons are what count, not whether they really happened. I follow Christianity not because it’s true in history, but because it seems to be true in practice-it produces positive results when we follow Jesus’s example and believe His teachings. It seems to me that most of the biblical writings are symbolic and allegorical, but when we insist on reading them as history, we miss their psychological and practical significance. The way most Christians approach the Bible is like a child hearing the story of Little Red Riding Hood and fixating on the events of the story themselves, while completely missing the cautionary lesson that the story was meant to teach.

You could very well make a whole 30 minute video on how cognitive dissonance explains atheism. I've encountered and at one point was an atheist who suffered heavily from cognitive dissonance. My logic was inconsistent, my beliefs and proofs of beliefs were very fimble and couldn't stand on their own. As an atheist turned Christian just this past year, i realized it took more faith to believe there was no God than to accept the fact He does exist.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a man who went on a long journey, leaving his servants in charge of running things until he returned. And however you think his servants are doing, that is exactly the state of affairs today. Jesus also said we cannot guess when he is returning. This doesn't stop people from guessing. But Jesus warned them not to do it.

Great overview of CDT and religious belief, especially eschatological. I remember watching a documentary many years ago (maybe early-mid 00s) about a cult living out on a compound out in remote desert area of American SW. The leader was a full up messiah type and had a date set for some perceived eschatological event, like his ascent to heaven, start of the tribulation, return of Jesus, etc…. The documentary crew was there with cameras rolling throughout the day and night of this prophesied event, the members were frenetic in prayer and anxious for the pending cataclysmic event, and, you guessed it, nothing at all happened. The next morning, the cult leaders declared that the event had in fact occurred, but in heaven/spiritual realm; exactly as explained in this video. What I found most interesting was how all of the followers just rolled with it, seemingly accepting the BS excuse in its entirety, celebrating this supposed miraculous event.

I can tell you are well resesearched on this topic. However, here are my problems with your explanation. Firstly, your argument is correct when you say essentially "many people across many different faiths all over the world would be willing to die for their faith, that doesn't make it true." However, the apostles of Christ weren't just experiencing cognitive dissonance and here's why. They weren't giving testimony to something that they just "really really believed" to be true, they were giving EYEWITNESS testimony to His life, death, and resurrection. Cognitive dissonance requires the person to believe that they are still telling the truth, however if they were giving false eyewitness testimony, that means that they knew they were lying. Many people are willing to die for their faith, but not many people are willing to die for a lie. You are suggesting that each and every apostle, and hundreds of other disciples, all provided the same eyewitness testimony that they were willing to die for, and they were all lying. Secondly, the quote used from N.T. Wright seems to suggest that Jews from before the time of Christ had some well explained and comprehensive understanding of what would happen at the time of the coming of the Messiah. I could give you all the different passages in the Old Testament that practically unmistakably prophesize Jesus as the Messiah, but I assume biblical evidence probably doesn't hold much weight to you. The point is, Jews at the time had no idea really what the Messiah would look like. However, after the coming of Christ, everything in the Old Testament seemed to finally make sense. Much of the ambiguity and confusing prophecy was perfectly explained through Him. Thirdly, Jesus had become pretty well known amongst the people of Jerusalem. Whether they loved Him or hated Him, word had spread about his claims of performing miracles. He was so well known, that His body was removed from the cross by the Romans and thrown into a sealed cave so that none of His followers stole it. The Romans were predicting that His followers may try to steal His body and make up some lie that he was resurrected, so they guarded it to keep that from happening. If one of the thousands of people who knew Jesus at the time eventually found His body and turned it back over to the authorities, then the conspiracy is ruined and the apostles are proven to be liars. But that never happened either. Finally, you say correctly that the apostles were surprised by his crucifixion and death, but fail to mention that Jesus was not at all surprised by it. Jesus told the apostles many times that he would be killed and would rise back from the dead on the third day. And again, this is even prophesized in the OLD Testament. The apostles, by their own admission, weren't very smart, were generally pretty clumsy, and were definitely cowards during the time Jesus was alive. So much so that they couldn't even watch while he was being tortured and killed. But your claim suggests that these unintelligent, fumbling, cowards somehow because brave enough to face that same torture and death themselves, for something they know is a lie? Again, if it were just a simple case of cognitive dissonance that would make sense. But as I explained earlier, that is literally impossible because they were giving EYEWITNESS testimony.

Very well said! I will be recommending this video a lot in the future!

Coming here after seeing the Mythvision interview. This hypothesis makes sooo much sense! Thank you!

I find it so interesting how some believers desperately want the world to end. I, personally, would like the world to continue to exist and do my part, little by little, to make it better.

How to appeal to atheists. 1. Speak authoritatively while doing Sola scriptura 2. Place books in background.

This video left me with more questions than answers. As a Christian, I find this video intellectually dishonest. I am not sure you have read the New Testament wholly, and if you have, I don't think you have studied it. In my studies and personal experience, wanting to be a good person, doing the right thing, acting like you have a purpose for life, that your intention is good and just, and straying away from that would be wrong. But that is being an intellectual hypocrite, cognitive dissonance, as the worldview of not believing in God directly contradicts that worldview. I was an atheist until I started thinking about my worldview and the values I held dear; they did not align with how I acted. Furthermore, in the NT, Jesus constantly corrects and educates his disciples as they had expectations of what they thought Jesus came to do. I feel again that you're being intellectually dishonest here. If you read those chapters and the books within their context and not cherry-pick like you seem to be doing at 17:25, you would not come to the same conclusion you had. Along that same notion around 22:28, you fail to elucidate how you came to those conclusions about Jeremiah. You state Jeremiah "speaks of an inward regeneration that will accompany the outward restoration of Israel" Nowhere is that said or implied within the context of Jeremiah. And again, you failed to understand Hebrews 9:15. That is not a prophecy; Paul is stating how the new covenant came to be through Christ Jesus; it lines up perfectly with what was said in Jeremiah if you read the actual source material wholly and in context. You fail again to elucidate your claim or how you got to that notion. You're explanation of Psalm 110, Hebrews 8:1, and 1 Corinthians 15:25 leave much to be desired as well; it starts to be very palpable. You are cherry-picking and or not reading in context. You have to be able to let the author use comparison amongst other literary tools; Paul says what he does in Hebrews as to attribute Jesus to the Father in the Godhead, being on the same level, and the line from Psalm 110 does that very well. 1 Corinthians 15:25 uses Psalm 110 to compare the end times in revelations; it's intellectually dishonest, and you're putting things in there that ought not to be due to ignorance of the context or not thoroughly studying it. It could also be your presupposition of what or who you think God is. God's victory is not outstanding; this is where the thinking comes into play. God was, is, and always will be. God is outside of space-time and thus can see what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen concerning how we perceive time. You have essentially put your understanding and presuppositions into and onto God, projecting things into the text and on to God that did not get said and do not happen as we know it, respectfully. The last thing I want to touch on is the disciples and Paul. One of the most significant pieces of evidence for the resurrection of Christ is the disciples. You and many others have stated that they were dismayed, depressed, or traumatized following Christ's crucifixion. Their worldview and belief system got essentially shattered, leaving them to either double down or flat-out lie to keep their beliefs or worldview. That notion hits a significant problem when you study the life of the disciples, faced with death at the hands of the roman empire by saying Christ is Lord he has risen or live and say Ceaser is Lord, they all chose death. You need not look too far back in history to see that people are not willing to give up too much comfort to go along with what they know is a lie, I.E., watergate. People will die for a lie if they believe it, but not for what they know is, without a doubt, a lie, and they died some horrific deaths. Paul was a vigorous prosecutor of Christians in his early life, killing them and hunting them down; for someone to change that drastically and become a poster boy for Christianity is not typical. And you said it yourself, Jewish people did not believe this, and the millions of accounts of the conversions of Jewish people within a few hundred years is evidence of itself; they had the intellectual honesty to think about the source material and study it.

I'm starting my own channel on the impact of traumatic stress on the brain and body. Ur structure and delivery is admirable and inspires me to continue my dream. 👍

There's a simple reason why religious people don't give up their beliefs, no matter what: The alternative offers nothing of value. All atheists can offer you is "yeah there's no God, nothing supernatural, and when you die you just disappear". Not exactly an offering of great value there.

You are brilliant; clear and concise. Thank you!

The trouble with this is that, though it’s well-said and consistently argued, I came away thinking “that doesn’t sound like the Bible at all.” I was just flipping through some of the New Testament epistles that you’d reduce to delusions and they're just too detailed and multifaceted in your proposed coping mechanism of rendering everything unfulfilled “spiritual” to be that at all. You skipped over so much of the evidence of Christian life, and the way the world has in fact changed in the past two thousand years. You’ve made the entire history of the early church absurd-but I recognize in some people today the character of the first Christians and there’s nothing so pathetically ignorant, superstitious, and driven by wish fulfillment fantasies as you’d describe them to be. Moreover, your account of desperation as the source of a woo sort of spiritual hope made Christianity gnostic-which was a heresy! You’re right that it all comes down to whether Jesus was raised from the dead or not-and the early church believed he was raised! They weren’t like the Millerites forced to come up with some other explanation. Frankly, I’m confident I could do the same sort of psychological reduction of your life and deepest beliefs too-and you’d balk at all the mechanisms I choose. Edit: One more thing. Does Christian belief jam-up our thoughts with cognitive dissonance? I could also present a clever explanation for why love doesn’t exist but is a mythic or poetical description of ultimately meaningless material and biological functions; I could explain that most (if not all) people construct these castles in the sky, so to speak, as fortresses to protect their emotionally-laden commitment to the reality of ethereal, misty love. But my assertion would beg the very question of what epistemic criteria we are to apply to knowing whether a thing is real or a merely ephemeral, abstract, figment of the imagination (which itself in turn would be the product of chemical processes). You prove too much.

John in NT is the book thats linking to Kabbala that’s an Abrahamic lifeline but theres the forgotten link to Greek Eleusian mysteries trace ergot alkaloids found in their ancient drinking vessels

Some of the greatest spin doctors of all time have worked for Christianity .

This video is an example of, to use Christ's words, "straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel." Every angle is explored, except the most basic and relevant. The Bible specifically says that no one knows the day of Christ's return, no, not even the Son but only the Father knows. So the Millerites were not just guilty of misunderstanding prophecy but in actually contradicting Scripture, which is a massive sin that deserves rebuke. Cognitive dissonance isnt the real issue here; the Millerites simply contradicted Scriptural warnings regarding Biblical prophecy.

You're incorrect in saying that Christianity changed its focus from an earthly messiah who would overthrow the government. Jesus from the beginning said his fight wasn't against the flesh but against evil spiritual powers; he also knew he was gonna die and resurrect after three days. Christianity is based on the New Testament, so it's not as if the early Christians tried to modify their beliefs of an earthly into a spiritual one. In fact, the whole premise is that even before Jesus' crucifixion there were zealots trying to overthrow the government and denying Jesus because he wouldn't join their cause.

Wow, brutal. Thanks. This is an angle I hadn’t considered before.

They didn’t write the Gospels till after his death. But you argued that’s proof they changed their understanding. They wrote the Gospels during the time you said they changed the story

It's ok,Jesus still loves you 💗😘

"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For their fathers treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers treated the false prophets in the same way."

I think cognitive dissonance explains a lot of groupthink, not just traditional religion

Thanks Mathew…printed excerpts with citations! …helpful graphics, illustrations and photos …and…Referencing authors who would disagree! Top quality presentation! I look forward to learning more. Now, I’m curious about your thoughts on how what begins as a response to disappointment transitions to endemic anti-semitism and colonialism. What happens when marginalized failures succeed at flipping-the-script..and begin to conquer? Does one again find that social psychology offers a framework to comprehend expansion and domination? CogDis explains survival..what explains triumph?

I like the name - cognitive dissonance as it perfectly encapsulates this video, as much as large portion of human behavior and belief. Please, allow me to explain. The speaker in the video rightly presupposes that truth exists and tries to show that belief in lies is devastating to the deceived, in wasted potential, time, life and material wealth, to name a few. However, the deceived still reject to correct their erroneous beliefs when confronted with “common sense.” This shows how common sense is rare, but more importantly it shows us our own, human nature and tendency. It is foolish to presume that: _Only those silly people over there believed in obvious lies, but I am above such foolishness._ To continue I have to stress the obvious here- as it will not be to many people reading- truth exists. Truth reigns in your life regardless if you understand it or not. It's up to you to realize this fact and adjust your life accordingly. Seek the truth. Truth is one. Not knowing the truth does not lessen the impact of your folly due to ignorance. Falling still hurts regardless how familiar you are with gravity or whether or not you believe in it. Insisting that you don't believe in reality does not exempt you from being subject of reality. No hypothesis in history has more scientific confirmation than belief in the universal, eternal and singular truth. Reign of truth impacts you regardless of your belief or lack of belief. There is nothing better you can do with your life than to seek and love the truth with all of your heart. Yet, many insist that truth does not exist. Like most young adults, I was saturated with ideas like: a) _Truth is relative. What is true for you is not true for me. Nobody can say what is true._ b) _We are all products of blind evolution. Who is to say that we can even find truth? As mere moist robots, free will is an illusion and we have no chance of finding truth, even if it exists._ c) _Even if truth exists, why bother with it? It only excludes and marginalizes people. Saying that something is right, inevitably means that many are wrong. Is hurting their feelings worth sheepishly focusing on the truth?_ These three are the exact inverse of Christian thought: "1.Truth exists. 2. We can find it. 3. Truth is the best thing we can follow." Where Christianity insists on clarity and truth as the highest goal, these focus on creating confusion, doubt and helplessness. This is not an accident. Both worldviews rest on faith. You have to believe that truth exists first, before you go out there in the world and start exploring it and doing science. Entire science rests on existence of knowable truth and an intelligible universe. However, this alone is not enough. Christianity doesn't stop with merely stating that truth exists and that truth is God (John 14:6). It goes further with declaring that we are made in the image of God and therefore we have the free will necessary to choose and follow truth. This is why we are capable of choosing between many different, competing and contradictory ideas. We are not doomed to be hopelessly lost in a sea of an endless confusion. Lastly, Christianity insists that we are called to love truth with all our heart, mind and soul. (Matthew 22:37). Christianity insists that there is nothing better we can do with our life other than follow and love the truth. This is the first of ten commandments. It is that important. We know the universe is intelligible. It was made with a single mind, a single truth that ordered it all. No hypothesis in history of the world has more scientific confirmation than belief in the universal, eternal and singular truth. Truth reigns regardless if we understand it, believe it or don’t. Only truth can set us free from lies that have us trapped. Christianity also teaches that most chose the “broad road to destruction” - all the many ways you can reject truth and go your own way. God allows us the freedom to act contrary to our own benefit because we have free will. We are not slaves who have to obey truth and love. We can, and do- chose lies and hate. It is exceptionally difficult not to choose lies and hate. Just look at the world we live in. Look at human history. What do you see? The modern lie that “humans are basically good” or the biblical truth that we are fallen, we have rejected the truth, cast out from Eden as we love deception, darkness and sin? I hope this helps. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.

My gosh, the sheer projection here.

Wow, this clarified a lot about my uncanny feelings about this religion I grew up in. Always when I thought I understood it and I tended to believe truly the goalpost was moved. Most significant was when some years ago more and more scholars said Genesis 1 has not to be taken literrary. When I went finally with that step, everything fell down. No cognitive dissonance for me any more, I'm done.

Only Christianity? How about all religions?

Well done. I'm rather surprised that there are so many reinterpretations of the Bible within the Bible itself. I never knew these existed until now.

You need to get pretty good at explaining away discrepencies to believe in an omnipotent, benevolent god in the world we live in.

I had seen this on several occasions in the past examinations of things like John 2:18-22, but this video clarifies WHY and HOW this misunderstanding was created. Superb. And it fits so many other cults, such as the Mormons, Scientologists, Christian Science, JW, and a whole lot more.

My old mum clearly uses her religion as a check out from reality. I am sure she knows she's nose deep in BS. But it's a great buffer from dealing with anything for her. Sad part is she clearly agreed to deep six and explode her human relationship with me her son. But who cares. She's obviously dealing with childhood trauma. But instead of therapy, she goes deep diving in Christianity.

Cognitive dissonance is endemic to the human experience, leaving Christianity doesn't really solve the problem. Your cognitive dissonance just transfers to another one of the many contradictions of existence: Why pursue truth if there is no ultimate meaning? Why do faiths and especially Christianity persist and appear to have significant utility for navigating the uncertainty of everyday life if they are fundamentally false? Why is the person and work of Christ so compelling to so many people if it was made up by Galilean fishermen and a mentally unstable ex-pharisee? Why didn't the other messianic cults become bedrocks of Western civilization? Why does Christianity spread amidst severe levels of persecution in places like China and the Levant? I encourage anyone reading this to watch this video by Paul VanderKlay about why he remains a Christian. The reasons he remains a Christian are not less than the truth of the resurrection but so much more. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jciDpdd-t5PFc5c.html

Hey thanks for the informative video, like charts and glad you mentioned SDA, was one for 30 years unfortunately! Left organized religion years ago. With charts I can take screenshots and post later!

I am 76. I grew up as a Christian and had roles within the Church. I am now an atheist because, while I was in the church, I knew that it was just silly and I only went along with it because I would have been cast out of my family (the proof of that idea has now manifested itself ... I am shunned well and truly). I don't mind being an outcast ... it is rather wonderful, really. I am free of the stupid mind-bending drivel that everybody went on with ... and now having read the Bible through twice (none of my church members read all of the Bible - just parts they were directed to read) I have a very good in-depth understanding, an understanding that assures me that 76 years of doubts were justified. I climbed a mountain and left everyone in the swamp.

Very interesting and informative video! I do find it interesting how pretty much all of Christianity can be explained with cognitive dissonance. Even the fact that Yeshua fulfilled basically none of the messianic prophecies and therefore CANNOT be the messiah is somehow turned around by these cognitive dissonance structures to reaffirm that he is definitely the messiah. Wild. Anyway, thank you for sharing the great video. You put a lot of work into it and it shows! I look forward to your future work as well!

Matthew, one nagging thought I have about your presentation is that there’s a substantial difference between what the Millerites needed to fix their problem and what the early Christians needed. In the former case all they needed was to say something non-empirical happened (Jesus did something in the heavenly sanctuary, or whatever.) By stark contrast, the early Christians had to make an empirical claim about an empty tomb, one that at least in principle could have been disproven. I’m curious how you would respond to this.

A very compelling propisition. However I would point out one underlying feature to CDT through the centuries vs the framework of the early church. That is that the people who spiritualize seem to be driven by pride and fear. "We can't be wrong and we can't lose what we have built, so we spiritualize." Whereas the early church saw that it was thier own pride that had caused them to expect a literal overthrow of the kingdoms of the world. The Jewish expectation was undermined by Jesus alll the way through. He kept trying to tell everyone "It's not what you think". Jesus created cognitive dissonace which divided the Jews between holding on to thier traditions in pride and fear vs abandoning the absurdity and cruelty that religion had become to follow Christ. Matthews entire gospel was written to show Jews that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies required to identify the Messiah. Yet the narritive shows us a majority who refused to accoept the fulfillment because of the cognitive dissonance it creted for thier own cultural and religious paradigm and power structure. However I tend to notice something of a cognitive dissonence theory at work among skeptics. It goes like this. When a prophesy seems to not have been fulfilled, the prophecy was in fact given before the time expected. But when a prophecy does seem to be fulfilled, i.e A.D. 70 and the destruction of the temple, just as Jesus predicted...Oh that was invented later to explain the events they never really expected. Now how are we dividing the cake? Maybe in such a way to have it and eat it too, yes? They also had something going for them that needs to be dealt with. They had a message of forgiveness and personal transformation that turned the world upside down. They were not preaching the end of the world, but the beginning of a new life. And everyone who accepted the death and resurrection of Jesus was radically transformed in morals and character. As in prostitutes becoming saints and cruel greedy people becoming servants and benefactors. The kingdom of God was in fact within them. They were Gods conquered territory, the realized temple and the reign of Christ. Saul of Tarsus becoming Paul the Apostle is what Christianity is all about. Transformation of the person from evil to good from hateful to loving. The story of being transformed by Jesus is being repeated every day all over the world for 2000 years. I do recognize that CDT has manifested in all religions and Christianity is no exception. But falsifying it in it's entirety is way to much of a reach.

This is a really interesting explanation. I grew up Seventh-day Adventist and so I am very familiar with the Millerite story. I had never connected it to the very origins of Christianity like this. Thank you!

Excellent video. I now have a few books to read thanks to you. Good work!

I'm newly deconstructing and this video puts into words and give sources for everything I'm trying to sort through in my head about how Christianity came to be and how it rationalizes nonsensical things. Thank you for this. It helps me make sense of things and I appreciate you digging into this so deep.

Amazing video….and a comment section that isn’t a complete dumpster fire…a miracle has occurred!

Excellent explanation of CDT and its application to religion. I struggled with that for 60 years but, finally could not live with the raging battle in my head any longer. I had to give up the notion of a god, especially one that was supposedly a personal god who loved me. Impossible!

This was really beautifully explained. Very well done!

As a Catholic convert, this has occurred to me in the past, but I think sincere intellectual humility provides a solution to cognitive dissonance. At the outset, you either accept the framework or you do not, and this is true of all metaphysical/religious frameworks. I think it ultimately comes down to whether or not you believe that your experience and what you (or humanity more generally) can confirm to be true is the measure that structures reality. Your answer to that question will significantly impact whether you become an atheist, or delve further into the mysterious aspect of human experience that is belief. It really is up to you, at least on the side of your own experience. Back when I was an atheist, I figured I had nothing to lose in investigating the nature of belief. If none of it was true, then, in a sense, there were no wrong answers, and I was free to reap whatever benefits these frameworks could provide incidentally. I never expected to find Truth, but that is exactly what I received. I do not regret my search.

Very compelling video, and it would be plausible if Christ wasn't resurrected. All throughout history there have been many who try to disprove the resurrection. Also the book of Acts will give you a better understanding of how the church leaders and phenomenons of Christianity came to be. But I'll leave you with this verse. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. 1 Corinthians 15:17‭-‬19 ESV God bless you!

It’s interesting, I love Jesus, I think he was an incredible dude. I can’t deny there is part of me that thinks Christianity is this Roman doomsday cult that got way outta hand… and that seems kinda spot on.

For a man struggling with his faith, this is hard to hear, because it is so logically consistent. I wonder how Dale Allison accepts this yet remains Christian.

Could Trumpism then qualify to be considered apocalyptic cultism?

Excellent. Alfred Loisy also said, "Jesus announced the Kingdom, and it's the church that came.". When I realized some 20 years ago that Jesus was a failed doomsday prophet, I apostatized & have never regretted doing so. I could never go back. He's 2,000 years dead & never coming back.

It seems CDT is also unfalsifiable. What this interpretation forgets to notice is that the disciples were completely surprised by a saviour re-emerging. They didn't formulate a new theory. He shifted their thinking. And of course don't forget the entirely plausible accounts of his re-emergence. With all the documentation (secular included) attesting to it.

As a Catholic, I don't bother with the other faiths or their bullcrap. Too many people think they know God, but they don't and neither do I. Read the word, pray and spend time with him, be grateful and follow his commandments, and don't think like a holy roller. God bless!

Great video! I was raised SDA, indoctrinated from infancy without consent. Throughout my childhood and teen years i fully believed in ALL SDA propaganda including that Ellen G White was a prophet. It was only after 10 years of non participation (still believing but not practicing) that i went back after having kids. It wasn’t long before i was studying the origins of the SDA church and realized it was a cult. Still believed in Christianity though and thought i could find another church. I tried a few and kept studying religion. Turns out SDA is just a rotten apple that fell off of a bigger diseased tree and i am now an atheist. If any of Christianity is true and there is a heaven and hell and a devil then the internet is straight from Satan because it is clearly showing people how flimsy the foundation is for Christianity and educating people so that they can make informed choices about religion. The more of these videos out there the better imo. Young people need to know the full scope of what they are involved in and make informed choices about their religion. Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and Dennett are all exposing the fallacies and failures of religion and this video will help educate and inform the questioning Christian and maybe keep a few people from giving 10% of their income to a high demand religion

That's nice. Christ is King and reigns forever

I think the fact that anyone should be responsible for all of humanity or to die for their sins is deeply emotionally manipulative. Even worse, it had implanted unhealthy values that one has to sacrifice all of themselves so that others could be “saved”. Why do we need to be saved? Everyone has the freedom to be oneself, and to bear oneself; imposing salvation is unasked for, and is an even worse way to justify horrific suffering, even sanctify it. It had bothered me since I was a small child to see this man on a cross. I wondered why this was to be worshipped, why they don’t take the poor guy off. There are many things that seem deeply violent to me in Christianity as in other religions, both spiritually and historically, but also in the contemporary world. Spirituality seems to honour more one’s own freedom of life.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who was slain to take away the sin of the world. It was never about a physical kingdom but a spiritual one. To undue the sin of Adam and save mankind.

Your analysis and J. Gordon's quote at 25:52 would seem to add the sunk cost fallacy to the mindset of believers. They've already invested so much in the belief; cognitive dissonance is inevitable should they not adjust their interpretation of prophecy. To even suggest they were mistaken after all this time would be unthinkable to them.

Matthew very interesting video. Thank you for sharing and I am waiting for more 👍

Millerites had what they wanted but failed to recognise or accept it presumably because they were expecting something Christian. In fact a new religion began in 1844 in Iran, which developed into a further one in 1863. You can find all about this on the web. Look up the Bahai Faith and its predecessor the Babi Faith. They got so close, but missed it. There has never been a shortage of new religions popping up. Mormonism being another example. I seem to recall Joseph Smith died in a gun battle in 1844. Then there's the JWs, Scientology, etc. Every one of the claims something, eg having the only working hotline to God, or whatever. In my local church I was once told "if Jesus returned, we would be informed". Some might consider that debatable. Certainly in regard to the US Evangelical movement, which has so clearly embraced the other guy (ie Satan). The trick of moving the physical event to the spiritual realm is a clever one, and is repeated so often by US Evangelicals, among whom 'prophets' are 2-a-penny (and $profits are by the million). So when Trump is not made president again, they claim he is now president of Earth, at least in the spiritual realm, following a decision by Heaven's own SCOTUS that he won the election. A neat trick, as the millions of followers are so beset by the fear of it not being true that Trump is in the White House, that they will happily believe this BS and keep sending money to their corrupt preachers. In other words all this transferring of events to the spiritual realm is an alternative to facing the reality that ALL these religious prophecies are, and always have been, utter bunk.

Very well said. Excellent video 😀

Well done! I think this is a big step toward understanding why so many people have fallen for Christianity over the centuries. Sad that people just can't get over all of it rather than it going on generation after generation.

Illuminating vlog Matthew. Liked, subscribed, and followed on Twitter. Looking forward to more.

Except it begs the real question: why did the disciples insist on a corporal Resurrection rather than a vision like that of Paul? And what is with the breathless presentation of a “new” explanation which is no different than that which have been offered by Herodians and the Sadducees, who did think of all messianic movements as political, or the Pharisees whose eschatology was also essentially political. Really, it all hinges on what Paul says, If Christ be not risen, then we are fools. Everything depends on acceptance of the testimony of the faithful.

Saw you on MythVision. Came here and have watched this multiple times. I deconvrted years ago, but I'm surprised how much I downplayed this issue even up until now. I deconverted from being convinced Jesus didn't fulfill Messianic prophecy. This topic should have played a bigger part in my journey out. Great presentation.

Clearly and incisively argued! An easy subscription for me! I must say I’m intrigued by the tagline at the top of your page. I wonder what exactly you have in mind. What should a theology (however broadly conceived) that starts from here look like? Personally, I am very interested in what makes a belief so deeply held in the first instance. It is not obvious to me what ‘deeply held’ means, or whether all kinds of belief are capable of being deeply held.

I love how your video is so transferable. I couldn't help but compare it to our current situation. Everyone will regurgitate "follow the science" but when that science shows something they don't want to admit to... cognitive dissonance reeeaallly sets in.

Such a diligent exposition with well-cited arguments while still maintaining accessibility. Thank you sir

So they "spiritualized" the death of Jesus by saying that they physically saw him. And then years later an enemy of the movement, Paul, converted to it, even though he had nothing to do with these predictions? Nah, weak explanation. Also the disciples didn't predict that Jesus would resurrect, so this doesn't even apply. The disciples didn't make public declarations, so there is no need for them to "double down". They reinterpreted texts, yes, but not to explain something that DIDN"T happen, they reinterpreted texts to explain something that they claimed did happen. For your theory to be right they would have needed to "spiritualize" the resurrection. But the key point in their argument is that the body was physically gone. You can dismiss that point if you want, but you shouldn't just gloss over it if that is the main point of your argument.