Ex Atheist Says: Hypocrites CREATE Atheists! | Pastor Reacts

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At some level, atheism is going to persist as long as Christians do not look like Jesus. Do not.

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Oh, oh, how dare he? How dare he put somebody else's atheism on the backs of folks in the church?

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We have to hear this, ladies and gentlemen. It wasn't the issues that he had with the Bible on the more logical side of things.

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It was hypocrisy that did it. Nobody changed their mind because of your pride, arrogance and condescension. It's having an effect on the nonbelievers around us.

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The nonbelievers are watching. A former atheist spills the beans about what's really going on when

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Christians debate atheists. And for some of you, I think his answer is actually going to surprise you. We're going to get into what he said, along with what the

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Bible has to say and see if there are some pieces that can help us as we get out there and engage others for Christ in today's culture.

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But first, welcome to Wise Disciple. I'm Nate Sala, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that Jesus wants you to be.

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Make sure to like and subscribe to the channel, as the majority of you who watch are still not subscribed. We're heading towards 200 ,000 subs, guys, and I'd love to get your help with that.

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Also, if you think this is an important discussion, would you share this video with someone else? Finally, there are just a couple of seats left for Summit Ministries this

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July. Summit is equipping the next generation with a strong biblical worldview with a two week conference. And the great news is

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I'm going to be at this conference. So it's just a wonderful opportunity, you know, to come and sit with me and we can chitchat and hang out and talk and spitball and play some games that I'll probably lose because I'm not good at games.

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Anyway, to learn more about all this, to get your son or daughter equipped so that they can do what I do at this channel, go to Summit .org

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forward slash Wise Disciple. You can save $200 right now when you use the code Wise24. So my senior class, they decided that, you know, we're going to get together in the mornings and we're going to have a spiritual time and the school allowed it.

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So we didn't have to attend first period, which was homeroom. So so this is an ex -atheist. His name is Sebastian Braxton, and he's talking about how he came up as a kid in school.

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Apparently, he started having doubts about the church, even though his family attended. But things started to crystallize for him right around senior year where two things are happening.

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The people around him are partying like crazy on the weekends, and then they're getting together and committing themselves to Jesus during the week.

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We're getting together and the weekend just passed. Crazy weekend parties, the whole nine. And this sister stands up and says, hey, we got to give our hearts to Jesus.

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Now, in my mind, I'm thinking, sister, just 24 hours ago, you were shaking your new you know what? And I'm thinking now you're telling me

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I need to give my life to Jesus. So this started a debate and that sort of debate sort of I guess you can say it was a catalyst for me.

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And I was like, I actually hate everything about this. And so I would go every morning just to debate. And eventually

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I got banned from the morning things. But ironically, I was in tension because in my biology class, he says a random event occurred and life started and my hand goes up.

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I'm like, explain that to me again. A random event. Yeah, just time plus chance plus matter. I was like, that makes sense to you.

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And so I'm debating with my biology teacher. You were debating with Christians and you were debating with the evolutionists.

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Yes. Sounds like my kind of guy. And by the way, I've shared my testimony on the

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Patreon. This is pretty similar to my story. I grew up in church, but thought Christians were idiots. And so at 17,

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I left the church. And along the way, I get into these kinds of debates with believers as an obnoxious young atheist.

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But I never thought that materialism was a great explanation either. I saw the limitations of the materialist worldview and recognized it for what it was.

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I mean, I'm in both camps. So so now this this sort of tension for me, when I get to college, I join the Marine Corps as I join the

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Marines. They say there's no atheist right in a foxhole. I was one of them. And as a Marine, you're trained to kill.

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And in my mindset, which was before 9 -11, I was just thinking, look, I want to be dangerous, a mercenary, whatever you can do.

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But I started to develop this social justice concern of human trafficking was very big at that time. And so I thought, yeah, if I can, you know, use my skills to kill and dah, dah, dah, to take out these sort of terrible things happening in the world, then

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I'm on I'm all for that. And so I had this weird sense of morality at the same time. So now you have this tension where I'm against religion.

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On the other side, I am. I just intellectually can't accept evolution in the Big Bang. But then at the flip side,

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I have this weird sense of morality and social justice of like, why are we not protecting the weak? And this. And how do you ground that morality in something that transcends us all and applies to everyone in an objective sense?

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That we all have to submit to as an objective standard, what is the best explanation for this? Because, again, the idea that we're merely describing subjective preferences when we're doing when we're talking about morality, it takes morality and places it squarely within our own language about ourselves.

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And it removes morality from the actions in and of themselves that are taking place in the world all around us.

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And that to people who are genuinely seeking the truth is a very difficult pill to swallow.

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If you're open to it, it reveals that morality is not subjective, it's objective.

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But where does that lead? Right. Sort of coalesced into this sort of aggressive atheism where it's like, well, what are

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Christians doing for these things in the world? Was there a moment that was you could call it the defining moment where you decided, look,

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I'm actually a believer in God. I'm a believer in Jesus. Yes. What took place? So in college,

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I was known as the guy who was debating Christians. And I pretty much know everybody on campus. I run I see this young girl walking through campus.

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She was beautiful. And I remembered seeing her in the student center reading her Bible. And so as I approach her,

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I'm desperate, right? I'm like, how do I get this girl to spend time with her? So I'm like, we should study the Bible sometime. So I figured

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I didn't really want to study the Bible, but I'll listen to you talk about anything. So in that process, she sits down and gives me a

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Bible study on Daniel chapter two and Daniel chapter seven Bible prophecy for our Bible study for hours, four hours in school.

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Right. I missed my computer class because she finished Daniel two. And she was like, well, there's another section.

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But I know you have to go to class. I was like, no, go ahead and finish. And I was and I was fascinated because I loved history. And here she is telling me that I know as a historian, you know, armchair historian,

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I'm not like officially, but I loved history. So I'm thinking you're telling me that a book, the book of Daniel, at least was collected by 300, 400

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B .C. is predicting events that happened well A .D. And you're telling me this is in the Bible. And I'm like, how is that possible?

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And I knew the history better than her. So she's like, well, after Alexander the Great, there were four generals. Yeah. Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, Seleucus.

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I knew who they were. And so I go home. Only thing replaying in my mind is this study and the reality of if this is true, then surely this has to be inspired.

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There's no other there's no other explanation. How can you predict future events unless there is an intelligence that knew these things before they came to pass?

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I mean, that's the stuff of science fiction. So notice what becomes the seminal event that gets

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Braxton to listen to the scripture and not immediately seek to undermine it or argue with it.

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Notice that was not a debate. You saw that, right? It's not initially being challenged by a debater with some kind of impressive argument.

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It's actually someone who desires who he desires to be around. That person becomes the catalyst for him to change his mind, because this is the beginning of the end of his atheism.

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He is confronted with biblical prophecy and the best explanation for this prophecy. But it just began with an invite by someone that he wanted to spend time with.

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For those of you that are seeking to engage the lost for Jesus Christ, and you're definitely more logical, you're definitely more debate oriented, right?

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You have no problem getting into a spirited back and forth. You know, you can spit facts all day long. I'm talking to you.

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Pay attention to what this young man is saying. We're going to we're going to come back to this in a moment. You're thinking back to the future, like all these other things, like in my brain as an 80s baby, like I just cannot understand how a book could have done that and that other people had this book.

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And I'd never heard a Christian talk about it. One time you felt like you were beginning to trust because you you were learning about prophecies in there.

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Yes. That were clearly, precisely defining events that were taking place or had come to pass well before that took place.

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That's exactly right. And and the thing about prophecy is the fact that what appealed to me as an atheist was that prophecy invites you to reason.

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It invites you to validate because one of the pillars that that grew out of loving history is archaeology. So now you can go and see

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David was a real historical person. Jerusalem was a real historical place. Nebuchadnezzar was a real historical person. So you're like,

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I know that these people existed. I know that this is true. You're just telling me this predicted ahead of time.

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So what prophecy does is Jesus tells in the New Testament, John 13, he says, I tell you beforehand so that when it comes to pass, you might believe.

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And so faith rests upon evidence, not demonstration. And that was always my issue as an atheist. You always want me to be a

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Christian first and then I'll find out why. But God is not insecure. You can evaluate him before you even believe.

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See if I'm telling the truth. See, I love the points that he's making here. To be more precise,

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I would just add to the conversation that, yes, God does provide evidence, but the evidence is not what a lot of atheists would accept.

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So we just did a video on Brett Weinstein. Is it Weinstein? Where he asked the question, why doesn't

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God overcome my atheism? Essentially, it's because Weinstein refuses to accept the evidence of God that already exists all around him.

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And so for people like that, no evidence is sufficient for God. Why? Because they refuse to let go of their presuppositions and most likely of their verificationism.

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And God's response and the biblical response is to encourage these folks to be humble and admit that you don't know everything and that you could be wrong about your materialism.

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Why? Well, because pride is what keeps people from bending the knee to the creator. Romans chapter one, verse twenty four,

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God's invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made.

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So they are without excuse, for although they knew God. They did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened.

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Claiming to be wise, they became fools. We've read this passage many a time on this channel, OK? And for good reason.

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It's because it explains so much about the human condition. Ask yourself, what type of person has the evidence of God all around them?

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They clearly perceive it, but they refuse to honor him and give thanks to him. That's a prideful person.

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That's not somebody that hasn't heard the best argument for Christianity. That's not somebody that hasn't seen any evidence for God.

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It's the person who refuses to bend the knee in submission to a creator. Now, bring this back to debate.

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What fuels most debates between regular people? Isn't it pride? If you know people, then you know this is true.

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And there are many folks within the church, just as much as outside the church, who are as prideful as can be, as prideful as the next lost person.

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And whenever it rears its ugly head, it's always, it's always ugly.

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It's always unbecoming of a true follower of Jesus Christ. Amen. But if a lot of debates are fueled with pride and we desire to be effective and persuasive, then here's the question that I want to leave with you.

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And we'll circle back around on this. Do you think debates are the way to go when engaging atheists and nonbelievers on behalf of Christ?

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My guess is Braxton is going to say no, but let's find out. Telling the truth. See if I actually can predict and find me another path, another religion that has a prophecy that you can validate and evaluate from the outside.

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Okay. So here you are as a young man, you had a Bible study with a beautiful young lady. You were now wrestling with these deep truths.

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You were confronting that you're part of a bigger reality here. Heavily. What started to change from that point on?

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Well, immediately what started to change was I had to read the Bible. So I'm like, if this thing is inspired, that means this is actually from God.

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Like, you know, the stuff I was into in atheism, area 51, like aliens, like you're looking at all these websites that are only online for like an hour.

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I'm sitting here going from, do we have extraterrestrial contact to, if this book is inspired by God, that is extraterrestrial contact.

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It's amazing how similar my story is to this man's story. It's interesting.

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You know, it looks like he grew up at the same time as me. So I suppose we're the same age.

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I suppose we're still both young men, but with regard to the question of how to effectively engage the loss for Jesus, are there some principles that we can pull out of this video from an ex atheist who speaks from his own experience, debating

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Christians? Let's find out. God is not from this world. There is life intelligent outside of earth that is communicated with us through this book.

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So I have to read it. So I start reading 15 chapters a day. And as this happens, right? All of a sudden I was into hip hop music and I was actually working on a record deal with several different popular producers in Atlanta at the time.

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All of a sudden I'm not, my heart's not in it. So I'm at this studio meeting and they're like, Hey, Sebastian, we want to get you to the studio. We're going to record.

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We're going to do this and that. And the third, they're like, okay, we're going to put you, you, you and all these artists here on the website. And I was like, well, can you just take my picture off the website?

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So now the producer's like, what's going on? Like what artist doesn't want to be featured on a website? And so this reading of the

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Bible began to change my, my party life. So now my friends are like, Oh, we're going to the strip club. Not into that. Hey man, we're going out to this party.

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No, I can't do that. And my friends are like, what happened to this brother? So they thought it was the girl. A lot of these perspectives on things started to change.

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But the last thing that really changed for me that was a really shocking was the idea that I could live above my weaknesses, that there was a righteousness that could come by faith, that God would actually help me with my struggles.

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And I was, I was in this relation with this Christian girl at the time. We were being intimate. I'm reading the Bible and I come to the 10 commandments.

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You should not commit adultery. And I'm like, wait, but that's for married people. So of course, you know, my intellectual brain go to the dictionary.

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No, you're being intimate with someone who is not your wife. So I'm like, I wonder if my girlfriend knows that she's a Christian. So I call her,

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Hey, did you know? And she's like, yeah, yeah, I knew. And so I was thinking to myself, we should probably stop.

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She's like, sure. And so I'm on, I'm like, Oh, I'm scot -free. So I come back, we, we get together and it doesn't stop.

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And so I was like, and so I get this sermon about how God can help you by faith to deliver you from your struggles.

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In the sermon, the preacher says, well, why don't we need to talk to God after the temptation? Why not talk to him right then? So in the moment, the temptation comes along.

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My girlfriend's like, all right, I have to go. But then it's like, goodbye, hug, kiss, all of this stuff. And so I'm like, you've never seen a guy so happy to see his girlfriend leave.

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I was packing her stuff. I was getting her jacket for her, because I'm thinking, man, I'm about to see if this Christianity stuff really works practically, not just intellectually.

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The prophecy convinced me mentally. This experience is what convinced me of the reality. And so in this moment, my girlfriend is like,

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Hey, nobody's home. It's just me and you. We said we would stop one last time. And in my mind, I'm praying because the sermon comes back to my mind, talk to God right now.

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So I'm talking to God in my mind, like, Lord, I don't want to do this. I'm not, I have never gone to church. I've never attended any spiritual community at this point in time.

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In my mind, I'm thinking, well, I've already fallen and I'm waiting for God to do something miraculous, right? Like, oh, boom, you know, nothing.

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And so I'm about to lose hope. I'm about to give up and say, what's the point? And in that very moment,

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God supernaturally removes all sexual desire from me. It's like electricity came over my body. So I'm like, this is crazy.

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Pushing my girlfriend off. She starts crying. She's like, I think we should break up. She left. I came in my house and I sat on my bed and I said,

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Christianity is real. I'm going to be a Christian. And that very next week I was in church. You experienced this tremendous.

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I've not quite heard it put like that. It's interesting to hear this man's journey. It began with the mental, but it became more solidified in the experiential.

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The application of what the word of God says to the individual in their daily life. This is who

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Christianity is for. Ladies and gentlemen, somebody like Sebastian Braxton, who is willing to let the search for truth take him wherever it leads.

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Amen. And we Christians recognize that Jesus is the truth. John 14, six,

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Jesus says, I, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

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So the search for truth leads you on a journey that culminates at the foot of the cross of Christ and all those who would go on this journey, no matter what their starting point was and are committed going wherever it may lead.

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These are the type of people that comprise the body of believers, the kingdom spreaders who not only follow

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Jesus, but obey his commands and fulfill the great commission. That's what it's all about. Boy, thank you so much for watching this video.

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Did you know that the majority of people who do watch are not subscribed to the channel? Uh, if this video is blessing you, would you do me a favor and like and subscribe to the channel?

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It just really helps me to get the word out about this ministry. I greatly appreciate it. Why do you think atheism still exists in our world today?

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Uh, and, and, and to top that off, most of these atheists, most people are atheists aren't card carrying members of the atheist club.

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Gandhi has a saying where he says, I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians because your Christians are so unlike your

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Christ. My issue was hypocrisy. That's what really solidified my atheism.

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It wasn't the intellectual. Yes, there were, there were certain things in the Bible. God's going to burn you up forever. Like I don't believe that. And in these different ideas and ideologies that came in, they discouraged me from Christianity, but it was really the experience of these people do not look like the

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God of the Bible. They do not look like the Jesus of the gospels. I'm gonna let that one sit.

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We have to hear this. Ladies and gentlemen, it wasn't the issues that he had with the Bible on the more logical side of things.

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It was hypocrisy that did it. Now I know what a lot of you are thinking. Oh boy. Oh man.

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This kind of video. I got it. It's for all the hypocrites in my life. You know, of course I'm not a hypocrite, right?

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And I say this with all respect, you know what hypocrites would say all the time, right?

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They would say, I'm not the hypocrite, right? Like we have to wrestle with not only what

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Braxton is saying, but what the Bible says, you know, somebody else who had a huge problem with hypocrisy, the

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Lord, take a look at this Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13. The Lord said, because this people drawn near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me.

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Hmm. Jesus says the same thing in Matthew 15. The Lord has a problem with this by the way. And Jesus repeats it in order to make the same point that the

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Lord is making in Isaiah. As a matter of fact, if you pay close attention to a

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Jesus sermon on the Mount, he contrasts two types of people, the kingdom spreaders and the hypocrites.

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The kingdom spreaders are the one who obeyed Jesus. And and then the hypocrites are the religious leaders.

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Jesus says, don't be like these people. Don't be like the hypocrites. Who, who they, they sound a trumpet, you know, when they give, when they walk around on the streets and when they pray, don't be like that.

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As a matter of fact, many will say to him, Lord, Lord, did we not do many mighty works in your name?

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And I'll say, get away from me. I never knew you. Right. You know who he's going to say this to the hypocrites.

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So before we get very defensive and we start thinking, you know, Oh, it's not me at all. Nate, you're not talking to me.

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Are you? We better do some self -evaluating and see whether or not we fit the bill of a hypocrite, because Jesus makes it clear.

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It is by your fruits that you'll know. Does your fruit make you look like Jesus or not?

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Like the type of lowly, humble, merciful, radically generous forgiving person that Jesus described in the sermon on the mount?

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Or are you just like the world, prideful, arrogant, mocking other people, laughing at them, looking down on them, bearing grudges and causing division because you know, your goal is just to slap people upside the head, even if it is with the truth.

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And I've got news for us all too many people in the church look no different than the world when it comes to stuff like this.

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And boy, we all better submit to the spirit's work of cultivating the fruits that Jesus wants us to see to wants us to display because it's having an effect on the non -believers around us.

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The non -believers are watching. And so atheism today is mainly a practical atheism than it is an intellectual atheism.

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Because in reality, as I tell my former atheist friends, and I'm still friends with some of them to this day, 20 something years later.

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And I'm like, listen, if you want to destroy Christianity, that's fine. And you say, look, he's nothing different from the Easter bunny or Santa Claus.

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Great. But what's your answer for suffering in the world? What's the hope that you can offer people? See, I've been where you were on that side of the table and there was no hope.

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There was battles in my life that atheism could not solve an answer. Yes, I'm struggling with this and that temptation and sin and evil in my life and terrible habit and atheism provided no hope.

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So at the, at the end of the day, today, a lot of people, if they're truly fair, intellectually as atheists, they have to admit their worldview is really leaning towards agnosticism.

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I just want to say, I don't know. I can't intellectually prove it scientifically, but experientially, I mean, you have nothing to offer.

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What's the contribution? So at some, at some level, atheism is going to persist as long as Christians do not look like Jesus do not.

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Ooh. Ooh. How dare he, how dare he put somebody else's atheism on the backs of folks in the church?

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Where did he get this idea from? Did you know that there is a pattern of teaching that comes out of the scripture that commands us to be certain kinds of people when we engage non -believers as some of these we've talked about before.

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Colossians four, verse five, walking wisdom towards outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be here.

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It is gracious, seasoned with salt so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

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The second Timothy two 23 have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies. You know that they breed quarrels.

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Sounds like getting into and causing arguments is a bad thing according to the scripture and the

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Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone able to teach patiently enduring evil.

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Does that say punching back twice as hard? Does that, does that say, uh, giving what you've been got no patiently enduring evil and correcting his opponents with gentleness.

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Are you seeing the pattern? Are you seeing the pattern that's taught in the scripture? Let me give you one more Jude here.

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Verse 18. They said to you in the last day, there will be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause what divisions worldly people devoid of the spirit.

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But you beloved, building yourselves up in your most Holy faith and praying in the Holy spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our

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Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And here it is. Have mercy on those who doubt.

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Save others by snatching them out of the fire to others. Show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

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Are you noticing the pattern? Why is it so important to be a loving, a merciful, gracious truth teller?

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You see how way more is required of you as a Christian than simply telling the truth. You must also be a

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Christ -like person who tells the truth. Why? Because non -believers are watching you. That's the implicit point underneath these commands.

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First Peter chapter two verse 15 for this is the will of God that by doing what good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

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Did he say by telling them the truth, you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people? No. He said by doing good, by displaying the fruits of the spirit that Jesus wants you to, and by giving folks the space to consider what you have to say, this space is created, not out of arguing and debating and then mocking people and laughing and being arrogant towards them, but by extending grace and mercy and gentleness and patience by being humble and lowly and forgiving.

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In that sense, friends, you embody your theology. You prove that you truly believe what you say.

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It's more than just a game of getting the right answer on the test question. You actually act like your whole life depends on it.

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Imagine telling someone that you believe in Jesus, who teaches his disciples to be certain kinds of people, humble, merciful, forgiving, and to be this type of person as you spread the gospel.

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And you are none of these things in your own behavior. But you talk about Jesus and you talk about the gospel.

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You go on and on about God's love and the gospel, but you have none to give yourself. Why would someone take you seriously?

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Why should they take you seriously? If you're not even changed by what you say, you believe. That's why the

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Bible pushes us to go further than just speaking the truth. That's what a lot of folks think is required to just be a

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Christian. And they're just missing the fuller picture here. Truth is not something you just say.

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It's a person that you enter into relationship with. Jesus is the truth.

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And so the truth, you know, again, it's not something you merely know. Truth is the one who will change you as you spend time with him.

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The more you spend time with Jesus, who is the truth, you will conform into his image. And it's that transformation into those very specific

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Christ -like qualities that will cause non -believers to take notice. And as Jesus says in Matthew five, they're going to see your good works and give glory to your father who is in heaven.

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I act and treat people like Jesus did with respect and honor and love and a humility, the desire to serve and to meet.

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But at the same time, intellectual atheism is only going to become more aggressive because while your life does not match as a

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Christian, you're trying to intellectually debate with me and I'm not fighting you because I intellectually agree. I'm fighting you because I'm hurt.

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I'm fighting you because I'm disappointed. And I don't know if you've ever been in a debate with a person who they stopped making sense, but you realize that they're holding onto this thing like a dog to a bone because it intellectually means something to you.

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And so many times when I get in conversations, one of the most important questions you can ask a person when you're in a disagreement is why is it so important to you?

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Why is it so important to you that God does not exist? If you ask an atheist that, well, I guarantee you a story is going to come.

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I guarantee you an experience is going. My dad was a Christian, was beating my mom. My mom was a Christian. She was literally the most cold, loveless person in my life.

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Like in these different things, they're going to go back to a story because you don't become that aggressive and it's not important to you on a personal level.

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But if we're intellectually honest, we have a saying in Jamaica, if a person is honestly mistaken, when you tell them the truth, they either cease to be honest or cease to be mistaken.

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But you cannot be both. The moment you're introduced to. Wow. I I've never heard that one before.

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That's a good one. When a person is honestly mistaken and you correct their mistake, they either cease to be mistaken or they cease to be honest.

27:26

Boy, that's, that's true. Amen. Why do people hold on to what essentially amounts to various propositions about the nature of reality?

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Like at base, that's what they are. They're just various propositions. They're truth claims. Why do they hold onto these propositions so tightly?

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It's because more is going on than mere intellectual ascent. And that's what we really need to appreciate.

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That's why I'm making this video guys. The truth. And the moment I tell you as an atheist, there's evidence to believe Christianity. Christianity has evidence to support its worldview, but you still fight.

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Now we're not talking intellectually. We're speaking to the heart. I heard it once said that there are five gospels that most people read, right?

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Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and the Christian. And most people read the fifth gospel. Oh yeah. Right. It's not about the arguments.

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It's about the relationships and the life you live. If you just interact with people with kindness and joy and love and peace, or even your home and how your children behave, you, you have a, a, a certain sense in people's souls that men loving and lovable.

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Christian is a great argument for Christianity and a loving and lovable family. Even more. That's right. Any other questions?

28:30

Um, well, yeah. Loving someone is not an argument you actually do need to say the gospel clearly as well, you know, and, and, and spell that out and make sure that, uh, the person that you are modeling this kind of behavior to, that they understand the foundation for why you are the way you are.

28:49

Right. But anyway, man, that's so good. Um, let me end by affirming what

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Braxton is saying, just with my own words. I've said this before, but, uh, debates are not the, the thing that you should be seeking to enter into with people.

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Okay. If you are a Christian and you love God's word and you love the truth because all truth is God's truth. Amen. And again, maybe, you know,

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I'm talking to the more left -brained, you know, the more avid reader, and perhaps somebody like you, you can handle yourself in a verbal exchange.

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I just caution you. These, these are all ingredients for a disaster. Because nobody changed their mind because of your pride, arrogance, and condescension.

29:32

That's not, what's going to do it. Friends, when you recognize that the beliefs that people believe are like houses that they live in, have you seen the video that I made on this?

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Uh, that they, people get very comfortable inside their own house, um, their own belief, then to be aggressive and debate somebody, particularly when you don't know them, you have no relationship with them to speak of.

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It's akin to standing outside a person's favorite house with a bullhorn and screaming at them that they need to move.

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Why would they want to, why would anyone want to move? But if instead you ask to be invited inside a person's house, because you just want to get them to know them better because they want to get to know you better and feel comfortable enough to do so with you.

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And you start looking around this figurative house and you start asking questions, not to sharpshoot anyone, but because you're genuinely interested in them.

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And the person you're talking to does not have good answers to the questions that you're asking. So for example, you walk around and you notice that the house has no working bathroom, right?

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And you, and you say, Hey, Hey friend, um, how do you actually go to the bathroom in this house? Right. Uh, or you walk into the living room and you look up and you notice that half the roof is missing.

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And you ask, Hey, do you mind if I ask you a question? And like, where's the rest of your roof? You know, like how do you stay dry when it rains?

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This is all figurative because what I'm getting at is poking holes in a person's belief, seeking to ask the right kinds of questions that expose errors and flaws in them, but in a manner that maintains relationship, you'll discover that this relationship and rapport that you're maintaining along with the

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Christ -like qualities that the Bible commands you to have will give the person space, as well as provide the catalyst to think about what you're saying.

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And more than that, maybe they'll start asking you some questions to hear about your worldview and your faith, but not as a debater seeking to win an argument against you, but as someone genuinely interested in what you believe, because they see something in you that is honorable.

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That's when a person can change their minds by the power of the Holy spirit and turn from being a non -believer to a believer.

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And that's how the Bible commands you to engage folks for Christ anyway. Okay. Well, anyway, wow.

31:57

That was really good. I appreciate Braxton's perspective because he as a former atheist can speak from experience and help us to understand what's going on in the hearts and minds of folks like himself.

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It's not about intellectual debate. It's about something much deeper in the heart. Amen. All right, well now it's your turn.

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What do you think about what Braxton said? Is he right or wrong? Let me know in the comments below. I'd love to get your thoughts, particularly those of you who are more logically oriented, you know, let me know what you think about that.

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32:39

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32:47

You can meet up with me one -on -one and chat about whatever you want. The link for the Patreon is below. I'm going to return soon with more videos, but in the meantime,