Atheist Debates - Prophecy Part 1

Appeals to prophecy serve as a sort of confidence game in support of other religious claims. Exploiting our desires, fears, ignorance, innumeracy and our general need to find trusted sources, they attempt to build our confidence in the source of prophecies...a feat that they can't actually accomplish.

In part 1, we explain this problem and note why we really don't need a part 2 in this series (though we'll continue the series to examine claims of fulfilled prophecy, as well.

[cjdennis]

I've been looking for a simple list, so here it is!
1. Must be made before the event it predicts
2. Must be intended to be a prediction
3. Must be an extraordinary prediction, not a mundane one
4. Must be answerable by a single clear occurrence or set of occurrences
5. Must not be open to interpretation
6. Must be publicly known and not have people actively working to fulfil it

[seans]

“The main purpose of prophecy is to build confidence in the source. The con job.” You just blew my mind Matt. Love it!

[eddypasatrino]

THANK YOU for this video Matt ! My mother has recently become obsessed with the prophecy argument and now thanks to you i can finally debunk this ridiculous claim that many Christians will make.

[qanon]

Matt. You WILL go down as a great philosopher. Whether you like it or not.
Outstanding.

[Botzu]

these atheist debates videos are really good.

[BigRalphSmith]

Thanks for this video, Matt. Clear, concise, thorough as usual.

[screwdog]

Come for the counter-apologetics, stay for the tips on eating steak.

[greendragonreprised]

Matt, Here a little trick you can use in a debate if the issue of prophecy comes up.  I can't remember where I saw this but it's not my own idea, it may have been one of Richard Dawkins' lectures.

Ask your audience if any of them are prophets. None will come forward. Then say you can identify the person with the 'prophetic ability'.  Ask everyone to stand. Get out a coin and tell your audience you're going to toss it and those who prophesy heads should raise their left arm and those who prophesy tails their right. Toss the coin, tell people which side came up and ask those who predicted the other to sit down.  Repeat, telling people they can change their prophesy for the next toss. Again tell those who got it wrong to sit down.  In an audience of 100 it takes around 6 coin tosses to get down to the last person, who you can announce has prophesied something that was 64/1 against.  There is always one person standing of course

It's quicker to do than to explain.  

[Kickboxingaro]

Thank u for all u do Matt ! Smart people like u is what the world needs !

[JeremyMcCandlish]

not for myself for when I re-watch this

around 10:00 to 14:00 you say some amazing stuff. Not new, but amazing.

[Torvar]

The FSM has informed me that this video will get more likes than dislikes.

[dtdyvr]

Thank you Matt - excellent work, as usual!

[curtiscurtis.jokester.nobl]

Thanks Bro, your hard work is really appreciated, and please keep up the great work

[SiriusMined]

Great video, and I especially loved the Wargames ending :-)

[ThePharphis]

I rarely run into prophecy arguments but if I do I'll save myself the time and effort and just link to this video. Great job!

[nofaithrequired]

It would be nice to have a video or list of Biblical prophecies that Christians use and the refutation of those claims.

[douglasrasmussen]

The logic and rational dissection of prophecy presented in this video is flawless. However, it is also on a level that far exceeds both the capacity and receptiveness of most believers. Believers I have engaged with frequently admonish me to accept the "truth" but are nearly impervious to my response that seeking truth must also involve acknowledging that which is false.

[juicer]

Thank you, Matt. This video will be of great help to me in a current debate with a Christian apologist.

[llongone]

As they say, "Nothing fails like prayer...except prophecy. Prophecy also fails pretty fucking hard"

[stuboy]

This is the thing i love when it comes to this type of subject, the amount of structured, organized, logical research that goes into forming these conclusions.
I have never met or even heard of someone that advocates for a prophecy that has done a fraction of the research that has gone into this video.

Let me put it another way because i love the irony:
People claim to take their beliefs seriously and claim to want other people to take them seriously, but its only when other people respect that and do take it seriously that they come to learn just how seriously the believer doesn't take their beliefs and the believers shoot themselves in the foot because the other person has taken it seriously and has come to the conclusion that the believer is wrong, ignorant for believing without being serious and deluded for being under the impression that they did take it seriously in the first place.