debunking prophets — part one [cc]

A reflection on the individuals who design religions — and the holes in their stories.
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opening quote:
Fear prophets, Adso, and those prepared to die for the truth, for as a rule they make many others die with them, often before them, at times instead of them.
—from ‘Name of the Rose’, Umberto Eco
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subtitles
Arabic: TranquilOblivion
Bulgarian: Djeitko
Slovak: Peter Ščigulinský
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Dorothy Martin resources:
Festinger, L., Riecken, H. and Schachter, S. (1956) When prophecy fail — a social and psychological study of a modern group that predicted the destruction of the world. Harper-Torchbooks. [Re-editions by other publishers]
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Lafayette Ronald Hubbard resources:
Hubbard, L.R. (1950) Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health. Hermitage House.
Forry Ackerman and Gerry Armstrong quotes:
‘Secret lives’ (1997) broadcast by Channel 4 UK
Jon Atack quote:
Miller, R. (1987) Bare-face Messiah: The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Michael Joseph.
Not cited in video, but worth reading:
Atack, J. (1990) A Piece of Blue Sky. Lyle Stuart Books.
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Joseph Smith resources:
Smith, J. (1830) Book of Mormon.
Smith, J. (1835) Book of Abraham.
Smith, J. (1835) Doctrine and Covenants.
Smith, J. et al (1856) History of the Church, volume 1.
'Seraphims' apologetic — the typesetter argument:
Original handwritten manuscript containing 'seraphims' mistake:
‘Book of Abraham’ apologetic:
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music © TheraminTrees
Full original music tracks used in videos are available to patreon supporters who pledge at the $1 per video level.

[larrysommer]

Thank you for teaching me how to think critically. your vids are so helpful. I'm 63. Lived 40 years as a Jehovah's witness. Didn't graduate high school. It's hard for me to think things through to a logical conclusion but you are helping me stretch my mind.

[lme]

I’m familiar with religious people actually telling me I need to have “child like faith” in order to believe in their god. Can you imagine that? You know what else requires child like faith? Santa Claus and the Tooth fairy.

[brianedwards]

My mother actually tried to get me to think less so that I could be closer to God.

[aderek]

"People who don't want you to think are never your friend" That deserves a t-shirt.

[WadelDee]

Dorothy Martin: "Everything Bertha Blatsky says is the truth."
Bertha Blatsky: "Everything Dorothy Martin says is a lie."

[rOvertJustice]

“A man in a robe. Claiming communion with the divine. Madness.”
- Darkest Dungeon narrator

[mcanders]

Grew up as a mormon, I could have really used this as a kid. Thanks friend

[nicks]

During my deconversion from evangelical fundamentalist Christianity I binged all of your videos.
The way you communicate philosophy and the human condition is superb!!
I wish you could make more frequent uploads, but the sheer quality more that makes up for it!!!
Channels like yours make such a massive difference for the lives they touch and have sparked in me a hungering flame for knowledge and understanding.
I hope the Atheist, skeptic, humanist, etc. community will be here to support such a fantastic content creator!

[MegaChickenfish]

The "prophets are lone wolves" thing reminded me of the story in the bible where there were two prophets, one saying "let's ally with A" and one saying "let's ally with B" in the coming war. One was followed, and it turned out well, and they had the other one executed.

Somehow my religious family doesn't see the issue that, if it had gone the other way, the other prophet, also claiming to be from the same god, would have wound up on the pedestal/executed. "History is written by the winners" and all that.

[uncleanunicorn]

Everyone can think about the flaws in other people's religions, but we never think about the deliberate deceit, and shortsightedness in our own religions.

[Elkator]

The first time I heard about Mormonism was through South Park and I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. Glad to know they did almost no exaggeration.

[aronhighgrove]

"People who don't want you to think are never your friend". That's so true in so many ways, and not limited to religion. Thinking also means disagreeing and criticizing, and that's why it is so important to speak your mind. Not in a judgemental way, but in a way to approach understanding gradually. And inevitably while doing so, some of your thoughts will be incorrect, but still necessary to voice them, even if imperfect. That's what learning is about, and learning should be possible, even in conflict.

[EmeraldEyesBibleSecrets]

I gotta admit, man, this is the most powerful and professional religion debunking channel around.
TheraminTrees has REALLY done his research. A+++

[FrankLeeWillis]

I'm finding it strange- you see, my family is Mormon. I have lived in very Mormon Utah my whole life. Yet I'm not sure I ever really believed in a god, and I started questioning when I was only nine years old. Mind you, I didn't question because of any of these problems with Joseph Smith. See, with God, any of that can be easily excused. But rather, with the idea of God himself. So it really got cut off at the very root of religion, not just of this religion.
Anyway, I often hear people talking about Mormonism, as in this video (side note: hearing 'Elohim" actually took a moment to compute. Like, I was an adult before I learned that was his name in Mormonism. We always just called him God or Heavenly Father). Whenever I hear anyone saying anything against the church, I feel this uncomfortable sensation of desperately wanting to argue with them. Usually because they're misrepresenting something, but this video was completely truthful. Still, I felt that rise. Maybe it's a remnant of the religion in me, or maybe it's from the habit of trying to correct people. I've come to think, however, that I might want to argue in a way that rationalizes Mormonism for two reasons: 1) the sake of my family, particularly my dear mother, who is as rational a human as I've ever met, and whom I love dearly, and 2) for the sake of something a little more complicated.
When I hear religious people mocking Mormonism, I tend to become rather indignant. It doesn't matter how true what they're saying is. The fact is, I can't stand that people can treat Mormonism like a freak show without realizing their own hypocrisy. At its roots, Mormonism is just another denomination of vanilla Christianity. Its flaws mostly mirror those of any other denomination or, on a larger scale, any other religion. I guess it makes me angry to see people call Mormonism a cult when I can look at them from an outside perspective and see that they are guilty of the exact same things.
I love this channel, but I guess I had to rant a bit to calm this feeling. Maybe I'm trying too much to rationalize this urge, and maybe it's far more simple. Nonetheless, I know that nobody is going to read this far, so whatever. Please ignore my nonsensical gibbering and continue on.

[cattoproductions]

Religion sometimes feel like as if you can say you're a prophet and just come up with pretty much any crap you want

[lyndsie]

I had my own messy experience debunking some "prophetesses." This isn't my only story, but it's the most recent: my mom and I went to them (though I was very hesitant) because I was seeing and hearing something that I could only describe as a "shadow demon." When it appeared, which was only at night in my room, I wouldn't be able to move while he whispered evil things into my ear. I was 19 when I went to the prophetesses, and they told me in great detail about my "demon, " saying that it was a warlock (whom they physically described and even said he was in the room with us, spying on us) and that a coven had targeted me to cause me to turn away from Christ. They gave me specific instructions to follow, some chants, and recommended some oils to anoint myself with. They told me to burn my Harry Potter books and to get rid of a necklace that had belonged to my deceased grandmother (and anything else I had that was second-hand, as the warlock could be using the energy of an object to tie himself to me.) The meeting with them made everything even more real and amplified my terror.

It's been about three years since then, and a few months ago I was diagnosed with a sleep disorder. Among the common symptoms are: visual and auditory hallucinations upon falling asleep and/or waking up (an extremely common hallucinations for people to have is of a "shadow man, "), and sleep paralysis upon falling asleep and/or waking up (which is usually accompanied by the hallucinations.)

While I had already become an atheist by that point, it was still a relief to know that there was an explanation for what had happened, and that the explanation did not include the supernatural or the occult. It's just sad to me that instead of visiting a doctor for seeing and hearing things that weren't there, I kept it a secret because I thought I was being haunted by a demonic force. The thought of speaking to a doctor never even entered my mind, nor my mom's, and certainly not the prophetesses. But I had been conditioned all my life to believe those things were real, so of course it never occurred to me that they could be hallucinations. I'm glad I didn't listen to those crazy ladies, and I'm glad that there are people like you coming out with content like this to warn others about those "prophets" who claim to have answers given to them from the divine. I have a real, physical health condition, and it's so much easier to deal with the crazy symptoms now that I know what they are and that nothing bad will happen.

[jeffreyh.]

"In everyday terms, waiting for something that'll never happen is called 'wasting life'.

Prophets present it as a noble struggle called 'testing faith'."
This statement at 10:10 is brilliant.

[DrShaym]

An ad for something called "National Week of Repentance" played before the video.

[vulpine]

Its funny how people forget that the original books of the new testament were written in archaic greek (koine greek). If they trully wanted to imitate that then thats the language they should've chosen.


Then again, koine greek is nowhere near as easy to learn and replicate as archaic english.

[mythousandfaces]

Soothing narration in a high quality video with a cool discussion? HELL YES.