The theology may be bad but those dudes have great hair.

I think the most frustrating thing about this for a guy like me is that those of us who said theology matters, deep thought matters, and asked for deeper teaching said this would happen years ago. Often times, I find that church leaders say "the laity cant handle x", end up far underestimating the laity, and then scratch their heads over deconstruction when the faith many deconstructed from was shallow to begin with. But lots of us still get told, "well the laity cant handle Cyril of Jerusalem or that kind of content" (when he gave those lectures to catechumenates!).

Rhett and Link have a special place in my heart for their ability to make my family laugh in the darkest time we ever went through. When Rhett's deconstruction came out, of course it hurt my heart - the deconstruction conversation was common in my feed and friend group, and it just never got easier to wrestle with. Thank you for addressing Rhett's journey. Walking through the process brought a sense of peace that I didn't know was missing (seems dramatic for a KZfaqr, but creators can have an undeniable impact on us). I'm learning a lot through your compassionate and truth-committed critiques on how culture is viewing our faith, and how to have a ready answer. ❤

I love that you covered this

It's just as contradictory as: "Absolute truth doesn't exist."

You are an excellent example of how to disagree charitably.

I really appreciate you jumping on these cultural topics. You're able to speak into these things without being click-baity, mean or divisive. I like how you can state that you disagree without demeaning the other person. It's awesome and refreshing.

I hope that Rhett not only becomes a Christian but a great saint.

These videos are a source of great comfort and motivation for me. I have found myself having a better outlook and gaining another dimension of understanding regarding some of these questions. God bless!

I think another problem here is he is assuming Christians don't also affirm God is also, to a large extent, veiled in mystery. Christians do claim God is knowable and He has revealed Himself to us, but He is not knowable in every way. He is certainly greater than anything we can conceive -- sort of similar to what Anselm was getting at.

Rhett and link in their first coming out. I was scared and then two years later had my own deconversion which allowed me to know and recover from religious indoctrination.

This hits home, not only because I’m going through my own semi-deconstruction (positively!), but primarily because I know I’ve been the cause of disunity in the past similar to what Rhett experienced. Your channel Gavin not only gives me more personal gospel assurance, but is also central to helping me in my calling, how I cultivate unity and help enable gospel assurance. Keep it up!

It always brings a smile to my face when you post a video Gavin. Thank you your videos have been a huge help through my doubts! And thanks to God

I appreciate what you shared in this video. Personally, I used to watch Rhett and Link quite a lot, but after a while their content went in a direction I just wasn't interested in. When they started coming out with the deconstruction stuff I couldn't really bring myself to watch, though I was unsurprised by it. I appreciate their honesty. Better to be an honest agnostic (or whatever they are) than a pretend Christian. Sometimes I think we try too hard to convince people to stay when maybe they really need to leave in order to see things from the other side. If we really trust God we can trust that He will show himself to those who honestly and humbly seek him. Let's pray we all do that, Christian or not.

Thank you Gavin. Always find your analysis of the issues very helpful and consistent with the title of this channel. I'm thankful for your online ministry. God bless.

"Do not judge motives, bring your arguments"... Good advice.

For a while I was fooled by people like Rhett - likable, kind, charismatic people who claimed this sort of humble worldview while actually speaking from a place of intellectual arrogance. I thought agnosticism was the only respectable, intelligent worldview in the modern age. Then Jordan Peterson’s archetypal analysis of the Bible got me to take a second look at it. I began to see that there were deeper undercurrents of truth running thru the entire thing - currents that weren’t present in any of the other religions I had poked my nose into. Then I found CS Lewis’s essay “Myth Become Fact” and it rocked my entire worldview. It was like everything Jordan Peterson was brushing up against, summarized in a few gorgeous pages. Then the book of Ecclesiastes smacked me right in the chest. It was like seeing the nihilistic battleground of my heart, described by a holy text thousands of years old. I never knew the Bible had anything to say about that, let alone offer answers that struck me as wise, comforting, and true… Then I began listening to people like John Lennox and Ken Ham. I began to realize I had inherited materialistic assumptions about the world, and suddenly I could see the glaring holes in the doctrines of the New Atheists and the deconstructionists. Then Tim Mackie’s sermon on the making of the Bible gave me unprecedented confidence in it as a reliable text… I began to see anew its miraculous claims. What if the Bible really is what it claims to be? God reaching down to humanity, in an epic story unfolding across space and time, documented and preserved in the Word, against all likelihood? And when I allowed myself to entertain it as true - an unbelievable peace and joy settled into me. A wondrous antidote to the nihilism, despair, and emptiness I had struggled with for years. I am still on this journey… I am hungrily learning about apologetics and the historicity of Jesus… but for the first time, I have confidence that my intellectual curiosity leads to one destination - the truth of Jesus Christ. I can sense “the hounds of heaven” chasing me down, as CS Lewis put it. Now I am reading the Bible almost every day… to pursue the transformation of my heart, along with my mind. Sorry for the super long comment. I just wanted to share some of the most influential sources that have transformed my thinking over the last few years, for the better.

So cool to see you interacting with this!

It is extremely easy to fall into deconstruction these days. I started my Christian journey around two years ago now and I’m not ashamed (well, maybe a little) to say I’ve deconstructed twice since then. I’ve come back both times, but with a different perspective on faith and Christ in general. My first deconstruction was caused by emotional doubt and struggle with sin, my second deconstruction was caused by intellectual doubt concerning modern critical scholarship and other philosophical questions like other religions, everyone thinks they’re right, miracles, divine hiddenness/suffering, etc. As someone who was not raised in the faith, I’ve found the Christian journey to be, for lack of a better term, very frustrating. There’s just enough evidence for Christ that I continue to remain in the envelope, and I do truly deep down feel it to be true; it pulls on my heart. But there’s so much assault on faith from our modern society that it feels like a constant state of drowning, or treading water against an unending tide of waves. It feels impossible to navigate what’s true and what isn’t anymore, and I have to admit when feeling deep doubt and uncertainty, God’s mysterious and partially revealed nature can easily make you think he’s turned his back on you. It is a constant intellectual concern of mine that maybe I am just ignoring the obvious: that God is truly not real and the very dark and horrible and unenchanted world we seemingly live in is just that: dark, horrible, and unenchanted. I understand where people like Rhett are coming from. The urge to turn my brain off and ignore the tough philosophical and theological questions is intense. I’ve had more anxiety and distress caused to me by my struggle to find God than I had when I was just a normal guy living in ignorance and contentment. The problem I ultimately have though, is now knowing what I know, the atheistic/non-belief/spiritual-but-not-religious worldview is just as unsustainable in my opinion. It’s easy to attack faith as a nonbeliever, because you have no burden yourself to uphold your own system of beliefs, because you don’t really have any. That being said, knowing what I know now, I can’t just turn my brain off and go back to living in contentment as a non believer. It’s truly a rock and a hard place, and I can see people like Rhett struggling with the same things as me. You can tell he isn’t happy with his deconstruction by the way he uses some fairly complex philosophy to try and defend it and support his new position. Once you delve deep into very tough philosophical questions, and take a stance on them, it’s impossible to just pretend like you never did that and go back to where you were before. Maybe with time, but I haven’t been able to do it. So that’s just some random thoughts on deconstruction. It’s easy, very easy and I think that’s why you see it so much these days. Life is hard and it only gets harder, and taking the mental energy to examine all of this stuff while you’re dealing with so much already feels like it will literally kill you. I also actually agree with Rhett fairly strongly with his views on American evangelicalism. Particularly on the emphasis on personal experience and emotion. As someone who has never really felt the presence of god in the way many evangelicals describe it, it makes you just want to give up. It’s very disheartening to put it plainly. It also just seems like an unhelpful circular argument when I interact with a lot of these people. Haven’t felt God? You haven’t opened your heart enough! On repeat. Again, it makes you resentful inside and once you start feeling resentment it’s only downhill from there, in my experience. Sorry for the mini-rant, I just saw this video and felt a connection with both sides of the argument and wanted to express how frustrating it is to be a God seeking person in our modern skeptical society. Your videos have helped to keep me on a somewhat straight path, among other things, so I appreciate the work you do. They aren’t overbearing and you don’t make any claims that aren’t at least somewhat defensible, so I find the videos to be a good starting place for issues that burden me.

I think Rhett misses his own point when he denies that he is advancing his own truth claims.

Dr. Gavin this was really helpful. I appreciate what you do so much. God bless you brother!

OK, time to get Rhett on the podcast. Listened all the way through, and loved your assessment.

I am so thankful for discovering this channel. Excellent video. I thank you, and I thank the Lord for the good work He has done in you and through you!

Is it not ok to say “I don’t know”? Or “I’m not convinced”? Does Rhett not have that right?

I really hope and pray, that you will get Rhett on the show! ♥

The Lord bless you and your work Gavin. The Lord is clearly giving you wisdom to see through arguments used by those "deconstructing". As always, you do it in a kind, winsome way. I pray your videos reach those who need them the most.

Thank you for all the great ideas and intellectual break downs of so many different intricate issues. Your compassion for all people is intoxicating and your intellectual prowess is just as formidable. Praise Jesus!

Thanks for addressing this Gavin! God Bless!

I love the analogy of leaving the attic but staying in the house. I personally went through two phases of “deconstruction”. Using the same analogy… One where I almost “left the house” for another, and one where, after I determined the bones of the house were good, I decided to simply repair the parts of my belief that were shaky and rotten. Growing up in modern American Christianity, I felt like I missed out on a lot of needed context. I went to church every Sunday and Wednesday, and I knew the “Bible Stories”, but looking back, it was all so shallow and surface level. I never heard about other expressions of the faith. I never heard about historical or archaeological evidence that supports the faith. And if I dared to ask questions, I was usually shut down and chastised for having “weak faith”. I don’t think I was alone in this experience, and nowadays I am happy to say that I see more encouragement to ask questions and seek answers. I’ve seen not only my faith strengthen because of this, but the strengthening of others. I’m not sure if that is because I’ve found better church homes, or if people have learned and improved from past mistakes. But either way, I feel encouraged. There is a wealth of knowledge and proof out there for those who are seeking… and I’m so thankful for KZfaq channels such as this, because they continue to bless me with knowledge and perspectives I never knew existed before. Keep up the excellent work Dr Ortlund

Dr. Ortlund, thank you for your videos. I recently started watching many of them, and I am grateful to have found someone who is both Christian and has an academic background. There was an anti-intellectualism I sensed in some Protestant circles, which turned me off as a Catholic interested in church history. Anyway, I have been trying to get back in communion with the Catholic Church. Currently, my marriage is invalid, and I’ve been unable to fully participate in church life until the situation is rectified. I found myself jumping through hoops and praying some priest who I never met approved some paperwork for me to be back in the Church’s good graces. I’ve been so anxious about it all, and I noticed that I was essentially putting my relationship with God on hold in the meantime. It was about this time that I stumbled upon your videos. I appreciate the scholasticism of the Catholic Church, but I honestly had no idea that church history wasn’t so black and white and wasn’t solely in the favor of Catholicism. It gave me great peace to begin to conclude that Jesus, I think, transcends the physical boundaries of a denomination and we can meet him where we are. Thank you for the great work you are doing!

Thanks for your thoughtful, compassionate responses and your extensive scholarship to provide us a fair perspective for the viewpoints we encounter. I pray God continues to use your willingness to learn and dialogue to build up and love others 🙏❤️

I was a listener when Rhett and Link moved to California, and I noticed a change in tone and attitude in both guys, and thought even before their "announcement" that they were changing according to the attitudes of the new place. Gave me the impression of adapting to whatever the local religious attitude was, and explanations of why followed after. Just my impression.

Thankful for you Gavin, I hope Rhett will see this and talk with you

I so very appreciate how you are able to talk about topics such as this without being driven by emotion. It is so clear that you have a humble and genuine heart posture and it truly is a skill to be so tactful and respectful in light of sensitive topics and strong opinions. Thank you for your ministry!

I preached on bearing false testimony today as part of a series on the ten Commandments. Refraining from ascribing motives to other people's actions was one of my major application points.

Thanks for this, Gavin. Catholic friend here, who loves your videos and your charitable sharing of Christianity.

Helpful as always. Thanks Gavin!

Rhett's making a truth claim, but to him it's not a truth claim. This is funny. I never knew him though. God bless you for the video ❤✝️🙏

Rhett says he doesn't "live in a house", which means he is homeless. Okay, fair enough. However, even a homeless person has a specific environment that is objectively different than those who live in houses, and he is claiming his environment is the one everyone should enter. He thinks it avoids the problem, but really it's just jumping out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

I was where Rhett was for a while. I could not deny God, but I was angry with him. Eventually I worked my way back. There is hope for Rhett.

Excellent! Thank you. About to give a talk on doubt at an apologetics conference and this is a helpful addition. Plan to show this to my 11th-graders, too!

When Rhett and Link published their apostasy podcasts I was working at Awana and let me tell you: it shook the kid’s ministry world. I’ve always wanted to hear a proper response to them (despite the fact that I never found either of their stories compelling).

Great video! Thanks for sharing

Such a helpful reflection. Thank you for sharing!

Great video, thanks! It reminds me of part of Tim Keller's book, "The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism"

These videos are such a blessing!

Would love to see you chat to Rhett about this

I like what you said about facing your fears and getting to the bottom of the barrel. I've been a Christian since 2004. Until 2012 I was confident in my faith. I was rock ribbed when it came to doubts. I just believed God. In 2012 doubts started pouring in and it's been a rough ride since then. At first I was panicked, I thought I was losing my faith. Since the start in 2012 it's been a game of Whac-A-Mole. When I defeat one major doubt, another one takes it's place. It's exhausting and each one comes on with new strength. I've learned to live with the fear and doubt and plod along but it does sap my spiritual energy.

I’m so excited for this video

Gavin, thank you for spreading the Truth. You do an excellent job.

Hey Gavin! Question: You mention early in the video about how some weaknesses in Evangelical culture can lend themselves to deconstruction at times. Do you have a particular video that goes through some of these weaknesses? As a Pastor in College Ministry I feel like that video would be of great help to me! Love your channel man!

I applaud Gavin for trying to steel-man Rhett before critiquing his views. I think this kind of charity should be shown more on youtube and other social media with those we differ. Rhett is willing to admit he may be wrong about his beliefs and I don't think many Christians (or Muslims, etc..) will admit that they may be wrong about their faith.(Not denying that there are some but I don't think it is the norm) I think Rhett makes this point near the end of his video where he talks about the difference between his faith and most religious faith. I think intellectual humility where one is willing to admit they may be wrong, about their strongest beliefs, even though they feel certain about them.

2010 called and "The Emergent Church" wants its Apophatic-only Theology back

Thankful for you Dr. Ortlund

Sometimes I feel like the odd man out by always having faith in Christ and never really having a “deconstruction moment.” Not to say my faith is the same now but there’s never been a time in my life I would say I didn’t have it

Great video!!

As for the unknowability of God, Christianity talks that way, too. The way the Eastern Orthodox Church describes this is that God is unknowable in his essence but known to us in his energies - that is, his activity in the world, his revelation to us. As for the discussion of the fruit of the Spirit, I recently heard a story about a people group who, when they first heard the story of Jesus, they thought Judas was the hero, because they valued betrayal. So, I think Rhett's values are placed by God (Rom 1) and already influenced by Christianity.

The house is bigger than people realize at first! True indeed

Another masterfully done video. I wanna be like you when I grow up.

Thanks for making this video. Sadly, Rhett and Link have led so many young people away from the church over the last few years.

As someone who deconstructed their faith and is no longer a Christian, I really appreciate your demeanor. I firmly believe that if I had been exposed to some of the views of Christianity that I have since I left the faith, there's a decent chance I would currently still be a Christian. This video is something that makes me think that.

Hi Gavin. Not sure if you'll read this, but if you do, thankyou for all that you do. I do have a question, do you have somewhere a deeper analysis/defence of irenicism? I'm very interested and attracted by it but I do see so many different approaches to Christian communication, even in the Bible sometimes(it seems). I would love to hear you unpack your thoughts on communication and what a good standard to hold is. How much rebuke and fire and how much grace and quietness. Blessings to you!

Professor Ortlund, you are perhaps the kindest, most understanding person I’ve ever seen on social media or anywhere for that matter. I know you don’t want any attacking comments to be written about Mr McLaughlin. If what I say is seen as an attack or disrespectful, especially to you, then please do take it down. I am concerned and do not want to go against your wishes and offend you. The thing that bothers me about Mr McLaughlin’s deconstruction is not that he left the Christian faith, it’s that he did it very publicly. He could have said something such as “I have been at odds with some of the beliefs of Christianity (or even American Evangelical Christianity) and I have decided that I am taking my beliefs private from now on. I don’t criticize anyone who remains in any form of Christianity. You should not be influenced by me and anything I say or do.” I could respect and even admire an approach like that, but that’s not at all what happened. His criticisms have been specific, targeted attacks on Christianity and by not so subtle implication, on believers. When you hold up a book by someone who is not a Christian, someone who has a totally different worldview and who uses metaphors to criticize those who hold a Christian worldview, that’s an attack on them. It’s a pretty brutish attack as well, considering they were his customers on social media. The other rather naive statement which you mentioned was his taking for granted the fruits of the Holy Spirit of Galatians 5. This is not uncommon in western cultures to believe that these spiritual and moral values are obvious to everyone everywhere. I know that you know they are not. I call this spending the residual spiritual and moral capital of Christianity. As the faith fades out of predominance, these values will not be obvious. They do not come naturally to human beings.

I agree with all your points. If someone in my environment says he is without a house then I often push back in the very same way you do.

Gavin, have you ever done a video, or published in writing, your journey with doubt that led ultimately to confidence, peace and joy? I’ve heard you reference it several times but a detailed account (if it’s not too personal) would be of great interest and assistance to many I think.

Great video. I like your approach and your level-headed attitude when disagreeing with some of what Rhett says. I am figuring out my own "deconstruction" journey, grew up as a Christian and attended church every week for 22 years. In the past few years have realized that I have no reason to believe that God exists or that the Bible is true, and despite wanting it all to be true, I just don't believe it. Things like I would pray every day and nothing would happen, wouldn't feel anything or experience anything from God, and from there wondering what kind of "relationship" it really was. Like I have 2 little boys, and if I wrote a book that tells them how much I love them, but every time they tried to speak to me or see me I would never speak to them or show myself to them, that wouldn't make any sense at all. Different things like that that just started to not make sense to me led me to where I'm at today. If anyone has advice for me or could pray for me, I welcome it.

Thank you for the work you do for the kingdom, Gavin! Your videos have been a constant inspiration for me for holy living since I have discovered them. I have gained a greater assurance of salvation through theological depth, so the purpose of your channel is being met. God bless you!

Appreciated you playing clips of the original so things weren't taken out of context. I think Rhett is more trying to say that no one can see the elephant. He's pretty sure there is one, but he has no proof so he won't try to convince anyone else. But since many people claim to see different things when interacting with the elephant, how can we know which of them is right? He's saying we're ALL blind and trying to figure out what's there, so it doesn't seem to make sense to make any specific claims about the thing we can't see the whole picture of.

I appreciate your attitude 💪

What I love about my house is that it’s built on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ. I know why it stands and I know it can withstand anything. I have an eternal life of perfect living with a holy God ahead on me, why would I ever abandon that?

nice video! good watch

As usual, wonderful job Gavin! One slight tweak: several times you mentioned the fruits (plural) of the Spirit. As you well know, the Greek for fruit in Gal. 5:22,23 is singular. Karpos not karpoi. The fruit of the Spirit are in a cluster rather than separate entities.

Hi Dr. Ortlund. I've grown to like your channel. I'm currently in a Mark 9:24 situation of "I believe, help my unbelief". I believe in the truths of regeneration and sanctification since I've experienced them in my life, but there are certain parts of the Bible I'm struggling to come to grips with, particularly reconciling Romans 9:22 with 2 Peter 3:9. My question is, if God has already prepared vessels of wrath for destruction, how is it that He doesn't wish that any should perish? Kindly help me understand. Many thanks Sir, Nick.

Very helpful, thank you; I appreciate your gentleness and assuming the best of people who doubt. That is really a brilliant image of the compassion of Christ Himself, which is sincerely lacking in the world today. Also, I think I should just note - for everyone's safety - that looking at the sun through a telescope is a very bad idea (that fact, however, has no effect on the meaning of this analogy). Thank you, Pastor Ortlund; God bless you and I pray God's best for Rhett.

Thank you Gavin 🤝

Your grandfather did a great mini-series from his radio program on this subject. A look at Romans 12:1-2 gives a little different approach talking about the “spirit of the age” and seeking the God with all your mind. John Fischer has a few articles worthy of note also as I recall if people are interested. Since we are all under an umbrella of grace, we need to meet people “where they are” and be consistent in loving them (Ephesians 4:15). Soli Deo Gloria!

DUDE. Watching videos at 2X speed saves so much time!

"When in doubt, tell the truth. It will confound your enemies and astound your friends." -Mark Twain

Beautiful video

It breaks my heart that Rhett and Link have deconstructed their faith. I have grown up watching them and I always found them to be such a good influence and positive mark in my life and I had always believed that they were Christians. I believe they still practice many of the things that are taught in Christianity. They love everyone regardless of their background or race or gender. They are just genuinely wholesome people and I don’t think they would be who they are if they weren’t raised the way they were. I’m very thankful they have been exposed to the gospel and I pray they will one day come to reignite their faith. They have already made such a huge impact on this world but they would be an amazing tool in spreading the gospel. I wish Rhett and Link the best in all they do. I am truly thankful for them and the impact they’ve had on me.

I dont not think Ive liked a person Ive disagreed with (on few points mind you) more than Dr. Ortlund. What a charitable critique.

man I would pay to see you sit down and have a dialogue with Rhett

Great work, I hope Rhett sees this!

What does "love people" mean? Sure, it doesn't *seem* complicated to Rhett, but it seems complicated to me. That's a word that seems to have quite a few definitions and applications.

As a Catholic observer, I think Protestantism and especially Evangelicalism needs to co-opt “deconstruction” for “reconstruction”. If your enduring moto is semper reformandi-always reforming-you shouldn’t be afraid of questioning what you understand about the faith and coming to somewhat different conclusions afterwards. The truth is, pretty much everyone will go through a kind of conversion-like experience at least once in their life, where they will leave behind a seemingly more corrupt faith for a seemingly more pure faith (though others will disagree about the corruption and purity!). Instead of telling people not to do this, Protestants need to show people how to do this practically-inevitable process well and encourage them to do it better. This will show people that the end result of deconstruction is not the destruction of faith altogether, but rather the reconstruction of their previous faith into something hopefully much better.

I would love to see you engage with Brandon of MindShift. Specifically: ""You Just Sound Hurt!" | When Christians Respond".

Can you do a video on eternal security? It’s one I’m wrestling with right now as both eternal security and loss of salvation seem to have lots of Scripture used by both sides in their support. I would also be interested to hear how you would deal with the claim that nobody believed it until the reformation.

Gavin, I appreciate your comments at the end about not judging people’s motives. I guess I would push back against a couple of your arguments: 1). I think Christianity makes much more comprehensive or totalizing truth claims than just arguing (or asserting) that a transcendent reality or god exists. So in one sense, I don’t think saying “Rhett is also making truth claims” really acknowledges the different kinds of truth claims being made (in the case of Christianity, this is further complicated by the fact that socially, and increasingly politically, it’s truth claims are being put forward in various authoritarian postures). 2). I think apologists need to really clarify when they want to claim and when they want to condemn “modern western values”. I think even your comments suggested both that you want to see Christianity as taking credit for what is good about modern values, while also wanting to critique ways these values are applied in modern society. This seems to be an instance of wanting to have the cake and eat it too. 3). Finally, I suspect that Rhett thinks that the Bible is multivocal in terms of what it advocates morally. For example, he probably sees a distinction between the way the OT condones violence against women/children vs the “fruits of the Spirit” that he wants to model his life on. I realize that each of these issues is just scratching the surface of much deeper topics that would all warrant detailed argumentation and support. But if you see the Bible as being multicocal rather than univocal, then the issue is not nearly as simple as “getting our ethics from the Bible” because the Bible itself would contain multiple ethical postures on various issues.

Nice job, in a divisive world we need to try and connect more

As a Catholic, I support this video. :-). Seriously, this is good , firm, charitable engagement.

I would be interested to see whether such deconstruction stories are the same across different versions of Christianity. "Deconstruction" is a specifically Evangelical term so perhaps you could just say apostasy? Does a former Lutheran or Catholic tell a similar story, or are they different? If different, why? Is the number of ex-evangelicals who renounced their faith later on life (unlike the 14 yo whose parents faith never "took" to them) higher than ex Catholics and ex Lutherans? Is it lower? It is this just the fruits of free will that will always he with us ?

Great video. You nailed it. Once I realized that just sentiments like to "help those in need," to "live healthy," or to "love others" have their roots in Christianity, I came right back to the Cross of Christ.

I had never heard of Rhett up until a couple of weeks ago when my family and I were watching one of their videos about generation alpha slang. Now I see him and link constantly especially now regarding his take on Christianity. On a different note, everyone I see link I see Dana carvey.

There is a difference between people being engrossed in their particular cultural or religious truth claims, and those who stand outside them making far less truth claims and merely questioning the former.

I think the deconstruction movement seems to have a lot of backing by the social justice movement. It plays on the idea of niceness being the paramount virtue, not love/kindness. To treat one as your kin means that you have to tell them things that you don’t want to in order for them to better themselves. It’s difficult. I struggle with this, I often times don’t want to confront people for fear of being “not nice.” But at the end of the day, when I examine myself (not saying this for everyone else), it ultimately is selfishness that holds me back. And I think that plays a role. A lot of people don’t want to call out homosexual relationships or people living together before they’re married or even outright heresy because they don’t want to seem like they’re mean or a bad guy. And you shouldn’t want to seem that way, that’s not wrong. It’s wrong if you let that overshadow your duty to call people to repentance and to tell them the truth.

I thank God for you and your work to advance His Kingdom! My telescope was skewed for quite some time, and then Jesus put it in focus ✝ Your videos and strong faith played a part in that Gavin Orlund. Thank you. God bless you!

I really like how you wade through this, Gavin, especially how you acknowledge the values he promotes have been gifted to him from rich theological tradition. He seems to assume they are “self evident” but ignores that this means at some level God has to be known. If these virtues are “good” in and of themselves then they are transcendent. While I understand Rhett’s frustration with being “placed in a box,” he misses the fact that truth claims like this are inevitable. It is literally impossible not to be in some kind of “house.” But to affirm love without definition is amorphous at best and detrimental at worst. Like Chesterton says, to separate the virtues of Christ from the person of Christ is just as dangerous as vices.

The thing is, with Rhett in the 12 minute mark is that I understand that to him he's not "building a house" he's more like figuring out the house and planning it before he starts building it, but the problem with that is, while he's doing that he's telling others in his opinions and the thing about seeking truth, is that it is objective, so when you make claims about seeking truth you're inherently making it so that objectively things are like this and aren't like that. The thing I find amusing is that the things he says, are addressed in the bible "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known." John in the first chapter agrees with Rhett in saying no one can know God, and John then therefore says Jesus, who is God, has made the unknown God known, similarly in Acts 17: So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. when you know the historical context Paul was speaking to people of philosophy, stoic and hedonistic philosophers, and if he wants to say "well I don't want to take the bible at face value" I agree with that, I went through a de conversion journey myself and one of things that led me back to Christianity is the reliability of the Bible, on top of philosophy and questioning about the reality of existence itself.

Mr. Ortlund, I appreciate your willingness to tackle challenging subjects and I'm curious if you have ever addressed Joe Atwill's thesis of Jesus being invented as a result of Roman conspiracy (i.e., Titus Flavian and how the Jesus story runs parallel to his military campaign against the Jews). Not related to this video but might be a good topic for another one... hint, hint ;-)

The KZfaq algorithm sent me here, and now I know why. Respectfully, I do feel like you may have misunderstood Rhett's point. I don't believe that he was saying that he could see the elephant. He was saying that there has to be something bigger than the trunk, or snake, or wall, or whatever part of the whole that one can see and experience. To me, that makes a big difference in critiquing his position. Thank you for your charitable approach to Rhett's story (it's close to mine too).