Ray Comfort explains the reason why this happens so often with those who used to believe in Christianity. He firsttells the story of how during college he fell in with a crowd of Young Earth Creationists who maintained that the universe is only 6,000-10,000 years old, give or takea perspective he would adopt for many years to come. Listening to their podcast you hear the Rhett says hes lost his appetite for certainty, and I know what he means. A Christians Response to the Deconstructed Faith of YouTubers Rhett and Link. Please make sure all fields are filled out. Episode 29: What Atheists Wish Christians Knew About Them, "I'll be there! So Rhett got hung up on the way that one pair of chromosomes looks (okay?. And then my heart broke hearing not only where they are in their faith, but how they have made it easier for others to abandon their belief in God too. Alisa Childers is an American singer and songwriter who writes at alisachilders.com, an apologetics blog for doubting Christians and honest skeptics. I hope in the future they will explore that question a bit more, as well as their differing orientations toward hopefulness for the future of our species. One article about Rhett and Link said, "they both felt a deep discomfort with biblical sexual ethics, which they perceived to oppress women and their LGBTQ+ friends.". Thats a messy situation. We've known. .What do you think happens after you die? I Work for a Pastor with Low Emotional Intelligence, Split or Stay? Good Mythical Morning Net worth- $30 Million. Thomas, 31, wrote his chart-topping hit, "Die a Happy Man" a story about a man's need for nothing more in life than his woman's "crazy love"for and about his wife, Lauren (Gregory) Akins, 32. What am I gonna teach my kids? Could it be that the cultural influences driving these deconstruction stories needs to be re-examined, rather than Christianity itself? Thats why leaving it is so damned scary. As it is also, evidently, for the more than 16 million subscribers these guys have accumulated since their show started back in 2012. Commercial Kings: With Rhett McLaughlin, Link Neal, Shayne Pax, Brandon Taylor. She Leaves Once This Christian Brings Up This Topic. I read books about it by people who didnt believe in it. Both guys were raised in an environment that assumed Christianity as a part of the culture, and ultimately that did them a grave disservice. / Politics / Trump / Uncategorized, find a Statement of Faith list of things you will need to believe, had to the spiritual journey of Rhett and Link. Their response has been very interesting; they have lamented this by retorting something like . As a result, they are surprised and hurt by Christians who promptly said that they never truly were of us ( 1 John 2:19 ). Postman posited that in the future, we would be oppressed not by an outside force like Big Brother in George Orwells dystopian novel, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think,, He predicted that with the rise of technology and communication, people wouldnt be deprived of information, but rather they would be given, that they would become passive and egocentric. If the below fields are visible, ignore them. Evolutionary theory doesnt have a sufficient cause for the universe coming into existence out of nothing. Just like always, our biggest mistake was thatwe did as we were told. If I wouldve found out he was a former Christian now identifying as agnostic, it would have broken my heart. Thats what pushed us out, in the end. If I wouldve found out he was a former Christian now identifying as agnostic, it would have broken my heart. My advice to Rhett and Link (and borrowing from the Immortal words of Douglas Adams) is Dont Panic; across the Jordan River of spiritual deconstruction exists a promised Land of a deeper, richer, and more beautiful faith in Christ and his Way. I mean we have little finite minds and we are trying to understand an infinite God. Lover of beans. Please help us to continue to make our videos and movies available on YouTube free of charge. Jen's post about leaving Mythical! Fast forward 35 years to a day replete with a global internet and smartphones, and Postmans words ring with the chill of prophetic accuracy. Im not gonna be scared of the truth. It gives you something to hold on to. Rhett was careful to say he doesnt think these apologists are intentionally deceiving anyone. Starring filmmakers and comedy duo Rhett & Link, this non-fiction comedy series follows their travels to small towns across America where they develop and produce commercials for local businesses using local talent. But then on top of all this, adding insult to injury, they keep underestimating the sincerity of our search, which may be the thing that stings the most of all. As an apologist, my knee-jerk reaction was also to grab my computer and start typing refutations with the force of a thousand suns. Rhett and Link met each other way back in Elementary school in North Carolina and theyve stuck together into adulthood, at one time passing through a ministry phase as full-time staffers with Campus Crusade (now called Cru). How Is God Loving if He Allows Suffering. We have to understand were not the first people to grapple with these sorts of questions, said Andros, noting Ecclesiastes 1:9, which says, There is nothing new under the sun., In one interview, Rhett argued that, if Christianity is true, it should be able to withstand investigation and inquiry.. This led to him jumping ship. 4:10). Take Rhett, for example. Our cultural moment is a cauldron of information and celebrity worship in which the cult of personality can ferment and grow. Most of my life I saw the one or two aisles of Evangelical / Charismatic Christianity I was raised with as the totality of the whole store. The lesson we can learn from the Rhett and Link story is to observe the power of the media platform, recognize the roadblocks of the new apostles of unbelief, and keep a humble eye to history, remembering that our Savior told us some would fall away. Whenever somebody other than Rhett mentions the word "Tokyo," Rhett will shout "What" for a length of time, and an overlay appears with the word "Tokyo," stylized to look like the Japanese flag, the cityscape of Tokyo, and a cat chasing a red laser beam, while a bell rings in the background. The stories themselves werent so different from others that have lit up social media over the past few years. For exmaple, you decide you're hooked on a song. I quickly downloaded and submerged myself into Rhett and Links respective stories (which you can also see on YouTube here and here). When the teenage years come and the questions and pushing the boundaries begin most churches are ill-equipped to handle it. Should we avoid it? I cant help but notice the similarities. For Rhett, it started with questions relating to science, the age of the earth, and evolution. their home town version of Christianity placed on them. And soon discovered some of these other traditions had different perspectives on some of the issues that often trigger Evangelical spiritual deconstruction: I came to realise the Evangelical aisle of the supermarket is a wonderful aisle in the supermarket but it aint the only aisleas much as they often like to claim it is. Let me help you out here. Do you want to read more articles like this? Why? Were So Spoiled. Rhett and Link have grown their brand performing hilarious satirical songs and engaging in zany stunts such as duct-taping themselves together, playing wedgie-hangman, crushing glow sticks in a meat-grinder, and flinging bags of dog feces at one anothers faces. I jumped into the water. I was recently at a conference where a prominent Christian leader was asked to give his opinion on what good could come from a Biden America and Continue reading, How are Christians supposed to think about Game of Thrones? (And they do have an audience - their personal channel alone has nearly 5 million followers. be One in Christ. What does this obtain for you? I told him honestly that it could only lead to loss and pain, but that I didnt really have a choice. They both felt a deep discomfort with biblical sexual ethics, which they perceived to oppress women and their LGBTQ+ friends. Christy was born in the United States of America. As an evangelical Christian, you learn to tackle controversial subjects by reading only books by other evangelicals as they talk through their own rationalizations for their beliefs. Every bit helps, and is greatly appreciated. stand to lose if they didnt capitulate to culture on an issue like same-sex marriage? Listening to both Rhetts and Links stories, you can feel how much pushback they anticipate encountering from people who love them. This week, Faithwire managing editor Dan Andros discussed some of those concerns with editor Tr Goins-Phillips. Secondly, I have been preparing to teach John 6 where Jesus says in several ways that God draws people to Jesus, He saves them, and He doesnt lose any of them. Unfortunately, much of the church and pastoral leadership seems committed to stopping the proper spiritual development of Christians and instead choose to keep them artificially in a state of spiritual arrested development. As part of their healing process, they are all told to declare to the world their reasons for why being a Christian is wrong. It only even pretends to talk about how stuff became other stuff. After having spent years in young adult ministry, Rhett and Link now call themselves "hopeful agnostics." Their shift away from Christianity, though, raises quite a few red flags, especially given so much of it seems to hinge on their own experiences and desire to embrace the LGBTQ community. Celebrity YouTubers Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal have caused a few waves following their collective decision to abandon the Christian faith. Watch the rest of their discussion in the video above, and read Goins-Phillips story on Rhett and Link here. Rhett and Link, extremely well-known YouTubers, recently posted videos talking about how they left the faith. While Rhett and Link spend some time talking about their post-Christian lives in the deconstruction episodes, they devote the lion's share of the time to looking back on the life and belief. But as Christians we should be encouraged to remember that for every Rhett and Link, theres a Lee Strobel, a J. Warner Wallace, a Holly Ordway, a C. S. Lewis, and a Rosaria Butterfield who tested their beliefs against the evidence, and found their atheism wanting. And furthermore, who wants to embrace uncertainty? Certain? And it gives you community. Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases on Amazon.com. (Hold up, before anyone gets upset because I called Rhett and Link non-Christians, and am therefore judging them, these are their words. And thats where Ive lived for about six years. (Except for a short hiatus after The Karate Kid, when Ralph Macchio was my all in all for a few months.) Read what Steve Ham has to say on this subject. I never got a reply. I imagine those types of responses will continue to roll in. ", "Until we meet againhttps://www.youtube.com/wat". That is why I read and study. Rhett McLaughlin. When Rhett says hes read all the Ravi Zacharias books and found them uncompelling, the church kid probably wont even bother with more than 30 books, containing decades worth of complex and carefully thought-out arguments that have been tested by time, debate, and rigorous scholarship. It's easy Christianity-it left Jesus out a long time ago. It would appear that despite how destabilizing and difficult their deconstruction processes were, they no longer, The sad reality is that, for the deconverted, disbelief isnt sufficient. When he jumped the Christian ship, he didnt jump into another boat, but into a sea of uncertainty. His Christianity has been replaced with what he calls openness and curiosity. He describes how liberating its been to let go of the appetite for certainty. To the careful observer, its evident that Rhett has traded in one worldview for another: Christianity for postmodernity, with all its skepticism, denial of absolutes, and relativism. But the same timeworn skepticism the church has interacted with since its inception is given a fresh dose of potency when delivered to a whole new generation by cool and funny guys whove become a fixture of their childhood. This brings us to the salient question. Ray Comfort explains the reason why this happens so often with those who used to believe in Christianity.Visit https://www.LivingWaters.com to view more free Christian videos, articles, and to get tracts and other resources by Ray Comfort and the Living Waters team.FACEBOOKLiving Waters: https://www.facebook.com/lwwotmRay Comfort: https://www.facebook.com/official.Ray.ComfortINSTAGRAMLiving Waters: https://www.instagram.com/livingwatersofficialTWITTERLiving Waters: https://twitter.com/LivingWatersPubRay Comfort: https://twitter.com/RayComfort Postman posited that in the future, we would be oppressed not by an outside force like Big Brother in George Orwells dystopian novel1984. They loved not the things of the world, but repented of their sin and put all their hope and trust in him. Gods in control. When I was 11, I only had the opportunity to see Ricky Schroder once a week. 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