Did This Theist Have Breakthrough on the Call? | Jimmy Snow + Matt Dillahunty

Theist Andrew calls into The Line hoping to discuss origins and causality. When asked to define his God concept, Andrew vaguely proposes the universe created him intentionally and is therefore "God".

Hosts Matt Dillahunty and Jimmy Snow immediately point out the flaws in this reasoning - the non-conscious universe lacks agency or intent, so its creation is not intentional in the way a deity supposedly creates. Unable to explain his muddled theology, Andrew contradicts himself on whether the universe has consciousness and created him deliberately.

He switches to defining God as simply an infinite, unconscious "creator", but the hosts explain this definition is incoherent since it could apply to anything. As Andrew continues tying himself in semantic knots trying to justify his incoherent God belief, Matt and Jimmy advise him to develop a philosophically rigorous concept before calling back.

The exasperated hosts spend the call highlighting the confused contradictory reasoning behind Andrew's vague God claims in hopes he will reevaluate his flawed thinking.

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Jimmy Snow: @JimmySnow
Matt Dillahunty: @SansDeity
Katy Montgomerie: @KatyMontgomerie
Forrest Valkai: @RenegadeScienceTeacher
Dr. Ben: @FamilyDrBen
Aron Ra: @AronRa
Shannon Q: @ShannonQ
John Gleason: @godlessengineer

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[pujllay]

Sagan put it into beautiful words: 'The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.'

[PietCarlos]

Its incredible to see how people are convinced of an idea without even having thought about it in any possible way. HOW???

[brentverc]

This is Matt at his best. When he can control his frustrations there is nobody asking sharper questions out there on chat shows.

[gking]

The brilliance of this show is in getting people to begin thinking about the consequences of their beliefs. I suspect many insane callers and those listening have thoughts they haven’t spoken about until now, and that is hopefully the beginning of a new phase in their life.

[socialistprofessor]

Feel better, Jimmy. I look forward to seeing you guys every week.

[jasons]

Easier to nail Jello to a wall than figure out what Andrew thinks is his god.

[dinky]

The issue here, I believe, is the 'what-if' argument. Most people are raised believing in some sort of higher being, or intellegence; like, "but what if there really is a God?". They think "I better believe, just in case."
Definitely not the most intellectual way to think, but that's just the way it is. I do like your arguments and responses to the callers.
For the first time, I am learning how to make a well thought, researched argument. I do love to learn.

[michaelmay]

One could hope but chances are he's going to bring this to his pastor and get dragged right back into that hole.

[JoshuaWillis]

“I’m going to a reptile convention” is the least surprising thing I’ve ever heard come out of Matt’s mouth.

[henrypadilla]

I have to wonder: did this guy know he was going to call in? Did he know he was going to have to defend his position?

I don't think he was ready for that at all.

[theMichaelMayo]

it feels to me like he’s on the pinnacle of earnestly deconstructing but he’s holding on for dear life for some inkling of a god belief. No way to know for sure but this call sounded like someone who (hopefully) will start questioning soon 🤞🏾

[troffle]

The "look back, write down our questions" idea. Gentlehosts, is it possible to put up some sort of onscreen whiteboard to compile up such text on screen to be addressed? Cross out the stuff they do address, have that plain text right there for them to see?

[fedos]

Every time they ask him a question he answers by caveating some belief he hasn't espoused yet.

[VolcyThoughts]

This might be one of the most confusing calls I’ve ever heard

[hopelessnerd]

I've always heard that the best way to find problems in software, or any design, really, is to try to explain it to somebody else. That works for lots of things. We need to talk to real people more.

[azhdarchidae]

"im a god, worship me" - jimmy

[thefirm]

Andrew is dangling away from theism to agnostic… he’ll be this a-way soon 😊

[sparki]

This show needs a QI style claxon for things like fallacies and false dichotomies.

[helloitisitheintolerableba]

I think Jimmy was onto something there. Great performance by all in any event.

[bouzoukiman]

I think Andrew still holds the religious fear imbedded in him since his childhood indoctrination