Cliffe Knechtle's Blind Faith vs. Common Sense @Bible Alive

Watch on YouTube · 2026-03-24 · 35 min

0:00 Hi everyone. Some of you have been asking me to make a video about Cliff Knechtel, which is why today I'm going to be reviewing a compilation of him arguing with atheists.

[video] 0:14 God says, I will judge you if you sacrifice your children. They disobeyed him, they sacrificed their children, and he judged them, first at the hands of the Assyrians and then the hands of the Babylonians. So let's not go off into what ifs. Let's stick with the facts, what really happened. All right, the facts.

0:29 The facts are they disobeyed God. They sacrificed. The facts are they disobeyed God. They sacrificed somebody. These are not facts by any definition of the word. These are stories. You cannot read a book, any book, and get facts out of the book, that's impossible. Books are there for you to read about people's opinions and beliefs. That's it.

[video] 1:04 their children, and they were swept into captivity for it. He judged them for it.

1:08 That's the fact. So you're excusing... That's a fact. No. It's a belief. In this case, a religious belief. A belief which you blindly believe without any proof whatsoever. Some beliefs which you read about in a book can be actually verified in real life. But in this case, you cannot do that. It's impossible.

[video] 1:33 I don't want to go to heaven. I don't want the idea of living forever. That really disturbs me, the idea of never, of existing for eternity and never stopping, especially living in a place where the only descriptions thereof are that we're supposed to be praising God on high for eternity. I forgot the only description, Brennan. He talks about serving God, working. I love to work, do you? You know...

1:51 Working. You can work forever in heaven.

[video] 1:56 If I worked in this veil of tears for my whole life and I get to heaven and it's just more work, I'm gonna be a little disappointed. I'm sorry that university gives you such a headache. Both the reward and the punishment don't appeal to me, maybe is the reason. I love to work.

2:11 He loves to work because he simply flies to different places and talks to people about his religious beliefs. Compared to most jobs, it's pretty easy. That's what he means.

[video] 2:27 I love work. And guess what? When I work with street people, I want to get them a job. Why? Because if you don't work, Brennan, you're going to fall apart psychologically. And if you don't believe me, just go out and examine.

2:41 It's the other way around. When you stop working, then you actually feel good for the first time in your life. Because once you're conscious, you start going to school, and then you work. But people who have quit their jobs know how good it feels.

[video] 3:03 The homeless, if they don't have a job, if they don't work, they tend to fall apart.

3:08 Homeless people are usually way happier than people who work. Of course, there's exceptions. There's people who are addicted to all kinds of substances.

[video] 3:22 It seems that God created us to work, and in heaven, we will be working.

3:26 God created us to work, and in heaven, we will be working. That's what I said before. I wasn't sure if that's what he actually means, but now it's clear. Great. At heaven we will also be related.

[video] 3:42 Guess what? I really love my wife. I really love my boys. And as weird as this might seem, Brennan, I love you. That's why I'm standing here talking with you. So, I would love to be able to talk with you and get to know you throughout eternity in heaven. Heaven is all about relationship. That's why Jesus says in John 17, 3, this is eternal life, that men might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you've sent. So heaven is all about relationship. It's all about work, creativity. You express your creativity in work. I express my creativity in work. That's good. Come on guys, are you really here just to make more money?

4:17 It's interesting how Christians always praise work because it's also a form of slavery. Religions really truly started enslavement And because these people have a slave mindset, they also accept all kinds of other forms of slavery. It's very telling.

[video] 4:39 Is that what you hear all about? Come on, guys. Think. Think. There's got to be more to life than just positioning yourself to make more money. Nothing wrong with money, but there's got to be more to your life and your work than just making money. You've got to enjoy serving people, producing a product to help people. That is good. Work is a gift from God. So you're saying that Jews who don't believe that Jesus was like a prophet and that people who believe that Muhammad was a prophet, you're saying that they're wrong. That's a pretty bold statement. Okay. Sir, if the atheist speaks the truth, I am wrong. If the Muslim speaks the truth, if Muhammad spoke the truth, I am wrong. If Siddhartha Gautama Buddha spoke the truth, I am wrong.

[video] 5:27 Right? Sure. Okay. If Jesus Christ spoke the truth, then I'm going to heaven, because he promised eternal life to all who trusted in him. So, sir, let's be real honest. Pardon? Do you trust Jesus? I trust Jesus. But, sir, let's be real honest.

5:42 That is a crazy thing to say because how can you trust somebody who doesn't exist? You can only trust Jesus if Jesus is there physically in this existence.

[video] 6:00 Anytime anybody makes a truth claim, I don't care if you're an atheist, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew, That means whatever contradicts that truth claim is wrong.

6:15 Just to be clear, what I'm saying is that he actually trusts these texts which were written by some people, not Jesus. To trust Jesus, you would have to be listening to Jesus. You cannot read a book and believe that Jesus has some kind of a connection to the book. You're simply trusting some symbols. That's it. You're interpreting symbols.

[video] 6:48 So, obviously, then the question becomes, who are you going to trust to tell you the truth about God? Who are you going to trust to tell you the truth about heaven? Who are you going to trust to tell you the truth about the way to heaven?

6:58 And I'm standing... You shouldn't be trusting anybody in the sense that you blindly believe them. You should... know the purpose of your life, what you're supposed to do. And the only way to know that is to listen to yourself.

[video] 7:20 You're saying the reason that I think it's wise to trust Jesus Christ is because the historical evidence of the way he lived, the content of his ethical teaching, Robert Coles, the psychology professor at Harvard, pointed out all the writings on ethics.

7:34 Again, just to be clear, I wouldn't even be arguing against him trusting Jesus Christ if Jesus Christ would actually be real, the other Jesus Christ. You can trust a human being who's actually real if you want to, sure. But what I'm saying is that he is actually relying on texts which were written by some people who he never met. That's the problem here.

[video] 8:07 Over the past 2000 years are simply footnotes to the Sermon on the Mount. Ethical brilliance in the Sermon on the Mount. And where did that come from? From Jesus. I'm saying before that, like you could trace ethical beliefs in Christianity to like Egyptian beliefs and that you could trace to other beliefs. Yes. And I mean, you've only shown me that this consistency within people, not within religions. And I mean, I ask my question again, like why Christianity over other religions? Oh, first point is I don't put my faith in Christianity. Christianity has been used to justify the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, all right? I put my faith in Jesus Christ. Christianity has been used to justify slavery in the United States.

8:42 I would never put my faith... What does it matter? If you put your faith into Christianity or any other religion, then you're putting your faith into man-made ideas. Human beings created these religions. And if you put your faith into Jesus Christ, the original one, then you're putting your faith into a being who may have never existed. Who knows? But he for sure doesn't exist right now in this reality. So again, you're putting your faith into man-made ideas. You read about somebody who supposedly existed and now you put your faith into not into Jesus Christ, but into these texts, these symbols, which you then interpret. That's how reading works. That's how languages work.

9:40 So again, you're putting your faith into ideas, nothing else that has to be understood. In Christianity, all right?

[video] 9:50 Tons of problems with Christianity. Jesus Christ is different. He's reliable. His sinless life, his amazing ethical teachings, his death on a cross, forgiving his enemies, and his resurrection from the dead convinces me he's reliable. I can promise you, sir, if you don't...

10:03 Imagine that forgiving your enemies, meaning that your enemies will always overpower you and your family because they will dominate over you and you will forgive them. It's the perfect slave system. They have power and strength. They eliminate you and you forgive all of them. It's exactly what they want. It is the reason why they created religions.

[video] 10:32 and rise from the dead i will listen very carefully to everything you have to say so that's why i trust jesus i mean but other religions have miraculous like miracles that have happened that make them believe that if if you were a muslim you would be just as like convinced that muhammad was a prophet just as convinced and you'd be telling me that muhammad is the truth and that he had the truth and not jesus jesus was wrong everyone before muhammad's wrong okay so now you and i are going to try and be objective in our search for truth which means We aim towards that, I hope. I hope you're being taught here at this fine university to try and be as objective as you can. So you've given every religion an equal chance. That would be objective. I could not disagree with you more. I used to be impressed with that line of thinking. It's impossible to do what you just said. And you see, what you just said, I think, doesn't show open-mindedness. Quite to the contrary, it shows cynicism towards truth. Obviously, there's no way that any one of us can study every philosophy, every worldview, and every religion equally. That's impossible. That's the whole problem here.

[video] 11:31 All of that is irrelevant because what is the truth? The truth can only be what you know. It cannot be a belief. It just cannot be because otherwise what you believe

11:55 could be true, but that cannot be the truth because it could be false, seeing as only what you know can be true. A belief can always be wrong. It could be true, but you cannot know that. That's why it cannot be the truth.

[video] 12:13 out there and say, okay, what has the ring of truth? What seems to be plausible? What seems to be reasonable? And then you better go after the options. And if someone presents you an option that's better than yours?

12:23 That's the fallacy here. It cannot be something that seems to be true.

[video] 12:30 Be careful of that line of thinking, because it's pretty prevalent in our culture, but it doesn't show I don't think a real open-mindedness. Instead, it says, and I'm not really going to try, because I can't obviously study every philosophy and every religion equally. There's no way you could do that. You only need to study two, though. Of course. You only need to study two. What are the two? So, I'm saying everyone says that their religion's right, so you only need to study two religions to show that either one of them's wrong, because you said that, like, a whole contradiction thing. Yeah, good. So... You bet. So, I got Muslim friends. Okay. Okay? So, you bet. If I claim to love my Muslim friend, I better read the Quran. And I better seek to understand why is my friend a Muslim? I've got atheist friends. So you're right.

13:04 I better listen. Nobody is a Muslim or a Christian. You cannot be that. And that's again... why these people get caught up in these ideas. They don't live in this reality. In this reality, there are no Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and so on. In this reality, actually, there are human beings who believe that they can become something else. And that's why they start dressing differently, going to churches, mosques, and so on. You believe that this is what you should do now because you become that human being, but you cannot become a man-made idea. That's impossible. That's why people switch between beliefs.

13:59 They were never a Christian, a Muslim, a Buddhist in the first place. Because if you are something, then you can never change. You can never become something else. I cannot decide to become a wolf or a giraffe one day. It's impossible because in this actual physical reality, I am a human being and my nature will always be the same. So these religions are all about suppressing your nature and making you believe that you can become somebody else. You can become a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, and so on. This is what religions are all about.

[video] 14:48 Very carefully to why my friends are atheists if I claim to love them.

14:52 And that's what I try and do. There are also no atheists. Those are human beings who believe in something else. But they are not atheists because you cannot be an atheist. Seeing as there is no physical form of an atheist, And so, sir, I'll tell you exactly why I'm not a Muslim. I'll tell you exactly why I'm not an atheist. I'll tell you exactly why I'm a Christian. You can just tell that he's lost in these ideas. It's very clear. A follower of Jesus Christ.

[video] 15:28 Yeah. Because I have friends in these different belief systems. All right, I'll tell you exactly. The majority of my friends are materialists. The majority of my friends live for money. And I can promise you, sir, my friends are good at it. My friends are in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Wall Street, and I promise you, sir, they are good at it. I am convinced to put your faith ultimately in materialism and making money is an incredibly empty life. Are there perks? Oh, yes, there are. Are there benefits? Yes, there are.

16:02 That's again wrong because money doesn't exist. He's not talking about materialism. He is again talking about ideas. If he would be talking about collecting paintings, for example, then he would be talking about materialism. You attach yourself to material things, something that actually exists. When you talk about money, you are not at all talking about materialism. It's the opposite of that.

[video] 16:36 Am I saying that money is evil? No, money is good. The Bible teaches that repeatedly. But to live for money, which is what the majority of my friends live for, wow, what a mistake.

16:50 Your friends are the same as you. Then it's also a mistake to follow Christianity because You both base your lives on ideas. You believe in something and then you follow that in your mind throughout your life. People who follow money do the same. Never got your name.

[video] 17:17 I'm Cliff. Cliff. Good to meet you. I'm Cliff. I'm sorry, but I still don't feel like you've answered my question. Sorry, what's your question? Why Christianity over other religions? Because the evidence is Jesus Christ is reliable in a way that none of the options are. So Muhammad isn't reliable? Not in the same way that Jesus is, correct. I have respect for Muhammad. He taught one of his five pillars, give alms to the poor. I respect that highly. So I respect that part of what he taught. But to trust Muhammad to give me the truth about God in light of the way he lived his life, in light of the internal contradictions in the Quran, I could never do that. I'd have to part company with my brain. I can't do that. So you can't have a brain and believe in Muhammad? I personally... I'm convinced that there are so many logical inconsistencies in what Muhammad taught that for me to follow him would be, I'd have to cut off my mind. Like what? Like what? All right. Muhammad lived from 570 to about 632 AD. So obviously he never met Jesus, right? He lives 500 years after, or more than 500. Right. But the eyewitnesses, those who met Jesus, Matthew, Mark, John, Peter, James, insisted Jesus claimed to be God. Now Muhammad has a great deal of respect for Jesus, but he says Jesus is just a good teacher. He denies his deity. That's impossible. That's the one option about Jesus you can't take.

[video] 18:15 Because clearly Jesus claimed to be God, which means he's either a false teacher or else he is who he claimed to be. He's not this middle ground option that Muhammad chose, which is, wow, great teacher, great prophet from God. No, because Jesus claimed to be God. He's either a blasphemer or else he spoke the truth. So there's an internal contradiction. Who is Jesus? Just a good prophet the way Muhammad taught or God? Now, because Muhammad never met Christ, I'm not going to trust him to be my primary source of information. I'm going to go to the eyewitness. i think you would do the same so jesus had no contradictions anything he ever said and none of the bible has it would be fine to talk to the eyewitnesses if there would be any but again you're relying on a book stories any contradiction at all i don't know i've only like read some let's there's no contradiction in the bible zero and in what jesus said you know there are textual problems in the bible what does that mean that means

[video] 19:08 The New Testament that we have today in English is based on over 5,200 Greek manuscripts, which means we have an incredibly high degree of certainty that we really have what the authors wrote, but there are variants in those manuscripts. For instance, Matthew chapter one, In some of the Greek manuscripts, it's stated once, Jesus was the son of Mary, a virgin. But in other Greek manuscripts, twice in Matthew chapter 1, you've got Jesus was the son of Mary who was a virgin. So you obviously have manuscript variants. And Bart Ehrman, head of the religion department down at UNC Chapel Hill, I got to debate him about 20 years ago, and he just put out that best-selling book that a lot of people have bought that says, you know, there are over 400,000 manuscript variations. But you see, the point he doesn't say is, but they are so small. They don't change anything. But there are variations in the manuscripts. So we've got to be, you know, honest about that. And so going back to my original question of why not other religions, you've just shown me that Christianity has these variants and textual problems. And so wouldn't that lead you away from Christianity? No, no, because there's no contradiction. There's no contradiction. The differences are so small as to be totally inconsequential.

20:03 There's a lot of contradictions in the Bible. For example, one of the commandments is that you shall not murder. But throughout the Bible, it talks about putting people to death. It's a different way of saying it for all kinds of reasons. That's one example out of many.

[video] 20:26 See, what's the difference? What truth changes between one Greek manuscript that says once Jesus was a son of a Virgin Mary versus another Greek manuscript that says it twice? I mean, it doesn't change anything. So there's no contradiction in the Bible? Well, here's the good news for you. I've been speaking on this university campuses for 32 years. And I've had religion professors, philosophy professors, students, brilliant students, far more intelligent than I'll ever be, tell me about all the contradictions in the Bible. They haven't hit one yet. If I sincerely believe in thin ice, when I walk out on that ice, what's gonna happen? I'm going through, right? If it's thin. If it's thin. If I have sincere faith in thin ice, when I walk out on that thin ice, baby, I'm going through. I don't care how deep my faith is. I don't care how sincere my faith is. So what that tells me is the validity of faith is not determined by its passion or its sincerity. It's determined by the credibility of the object that you believe in. So in other words, if I have a little bit of faith in thick ice, I walk out on that thick ice, I'm cool.

[video] 21:25 I'm not going through. Because the object of my faith is reliable. So you're absolutely right. For you to believe in Jesus because I'm passionate would be a foolish decision. You've got to read the New Testament gospel, study it yourself, and ask yourself, does the evidence of the way he lived, taught, died, and rose from the dead point to his credibility or does it not?

21:42 And that's the whole problem. You are relying on man-made stories, texts which humans wrote. You can call it evidence by definition, but it's obviously not empirical evidence. It's just something that you can choose to believe in.

[video] 22:02 You're right. And I guess my point I was trying to make is that a Muslim would say that they're consistent and that they're more credible than Christianity. Good. And that's why you got to read the Quran. Any religion. Exactly. Says that they're the most credible. Correct. And that's why you got to read it. You got to read it. Okay. So that's my next step. Read all the... I can't. I can't read everything. Okay, you can't. So take the ones that you think are serious options that have some degree of credibility. and pray, Lord God, whoever you are.

22:28 You shouldn't be reading any texts out there. You can do it if you want to, to get some food for thought, but you shouldn't be relying on the texts. These texts should not define your life. There shouldn't even be an option. It's crazy that this is going on. And this has been going on for ages now. People rely on other people's opinions beliefs ideas instead of themselves if god created you to be able to live a happy and healthy life to survive then obviously he already programmed you to know everything that you need to know but these people tell you that no the truth is out there You need to blindly believe in these texts.

23:26 You simply need to read and have faith in these books, which were written by other human beings, instead of realizing that the truth was always inside of you.

[video] 23:38 But that doesn't validate the basis of Christianity that you're using as evidence. Yes, it does. No, it doesn't. They said they saw Jesus Christ risen...

23:51 the way he leans forward. He is very obsessed with this topic. He seems aggressive. He also looks very unhealthy as if he eats a vegan diet. He doesn't, but he just doesn't look like he's in a mentally healthy state.

24:23 They said that. Who said what? You're simply blindly believing some texts, but he's so deep into it that it would be impossible for him to realize it.

[video] 24:37 They claim to have seen Jesus Christ risen from the dead, and they started worshipping on Sunday because of that, in celebration of what they saw, the dead Christ risen from the dead. Yes, and that's a claim.

24:49 Yes, they supposedly saw that, but you didn't see that. That's why it's not factual.

[video] 24:57 Which means there's a measure of skepticism. Yeah. Yeah. So how do you work through your skepticism? You know, I'm a skeptic about whether you're really here. I don't know that you're really here. I don't know that my eyesight tells me the truth about reality. So I don't know that you're really here. Really? Right about now, I got to make a decision. Is my skepticism good? Or is my skepticism...

25:18 This reminds me of vegans so much. They always talk about meat and blood constantly. They talk about killing animals. But they, of course, in reality... Just want to eat a lot of meat. This guy also talks about all of his beliefs. He holds himself back, but in reality, he just wants to enforce his beliefs. This is very typical with these people.

[video] 25:54 hyperscepticism, unhealthy. My fist stops here because although I'm skeptical that he might not be here, no, the overwhelming evidence is he is here.

26:04 Yes, because there's actual empirical evidence that he is there. You can sense him, but your beliefs are religious. He's actually using second-hand testimonies as evidence.

26:36 That is crazy, that should never be done.

[video] 26:39 How do you know that? You know that by not being able to sense God.

[video] 27:00 Is it possible that your truth is wrong? Is it possible my truth is wrong?

27:04 That's the whole thing. Truth cannot be wrong. Oh man, he makes zero sense. Truth is always true. That's why it's called truth. How can truth be wrong? Only a belief, something that may be wrong, can be wrong, but truth cannot be wrong. That's why it's called truth. I just repeat it because I don't believe that people actually understand this. Your religious beliefs can never be called the truth because truth is knowledge. It has to be scientific. If it's not scientific, then it's not the truth. It's as simple as that.

[video] 27:53 He actually seems kinda nuts in this specific clip. Think about...

28:20 him as a human being, why is he so aggressive? Why is he so passionate about this topic? You should be dispassionate if somebody attacked your family, if somebody actually did something to you, something real happened, but not when somebody talks about some beliefs. If talking about beliefs and opinions makes you disaggressive, then You need to rethink your life.

[video] 28:54 ...philosophies, different beliefs, and what an education is, is a free exchange of ideas where we begin to challenge each other and ask each other, what's the evidence of what you believe is true? That's where I thought we were at a university. I didn't know we were at a place that says, it doesn't matter what you believe because everything is true. I thought we were at a place where a professor said, that answer's wrong. And if you don't learn to study and get in touch with reality, truth, you're going to flunk out of this place. I am so sorry I'm under this misconception. that were in a university, were a liberal arts education, the free exchange of ideas, the questioning and challenging each other, what do you believe and why do you believe it? I thought that's what this place was all about. I'm so sorry for my misunderstanding. I think you're going too far because she came up here respectfully and asked and had a normal conversation with you. No, I think... Yeah, and I'm respecting her and answering exactly what she's raising, and I'll listen to you and answer you exactly what you raise. And that's called intellectual respect. Just to make it clear, you're here on behalf of UT as if this was an education...

29:44 He looks like somebody who wants to attack somebody.

[video] 29:48 He's always thinking about punching and slapping the people around him.

30:13 This is what Christians used to do back in the day. They forced this belief onto people.

30:23 And now people also do it, but they force different kinds of beliefs onto people. The point is that that's the way it goes naturally. force is really what uh dominates in this reality and he's trying to convince these people who are obviously not taking him seriously for the most part which is why he's getting so aggressive his true nature is a shining through

[video] 30:55 Liar. God gave me a hand for a purpose. To respect this woman, to love this woman. But because I have a free will, I don't have to respect her, I don't have to love her, I can steal her backpack, I can smack her around, I can abuse her. And if anybody says, God made me do it, they are a Liar! I believe in God. Good. And I didn't before. Right.

31:16 I believe in God. Good. He approves his belief in God because they share the same belief. This is important because what it means is that he approves the beliefs which he agrees with. And if somebody doesn't believe in God, then he will say, that's bad. And if somebody tells you about their beliefs and opinions and you say, that's good or that's bad, then it means that you are caught up in all of these ideas. You are not living in this reality. You could say good if you would see that somebody is eating raw meat because they are healthy. If you care about them, you want them to be healthy and happy. And because it's actually happening in this reality, it's normal to say good to that.

32:13 And if somebody eats rice and broccoli, it's normal to say that it's bad. But in this case, he's talking about beliefs and beliefs shouldn't emotionally affect you in any way. They should for sure not trigger you. And he seems to be very triggered. in all of these videos. No, it doesn't.

[video] 32:37 How does it point to a designer?

33:03 just because you see design doesn't make any sense no explanation moral absolute an objective moral points to a moral lawgiver morals are man-made just like the bible just like everything that you base your life on now when it comes to jesus it's not going to be philosophical why because he claimed to be god in human form

[video] 33:28 But I like that because that means we can historically analyze Christ, which is why Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, if Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, we're idiots for believing in him. because the veracity, the truthfulness of Christ is based on his claim, I'm gonna die and rise from the dead. That was a big mistake, Jesus. What's the mistake? You gave us a way to verify you or falsify you. If you don't rise from the dead, you, Jesus, are a liar. But if you did rise from the dead, you, Jesus, are the truth.

33:58 The problem with Cliff and all of these religious people is obvious. They do not live in this reality. They base their lives on man-made ideas. They look at man-made symbols, they interpret the meaning of the symbols, and then they imagine that those are holy texts, whereas in reality it's just some texts that people wrote to enslave millions of people at once. That's the purpose of religions. They want you to believe that your nature is sinful and that the truth is inside of these books. And that's because they don't want you to realize that the truth is what you know. It has to be scientific. You have to be able to test it and repeat it.

34:56 It has to be your knowledge. It cannot be something that you believe because what you believe can be wrong. But the truth can never be wrong. And that's why your nature will never be wrong. Thanks for watching.