Its the people behind the arguments. While their degrees and first jobs were in engineering, funny video production ultimately became their claim to fame. If I wouldve found out he was a former Christian now identifying as agnostic, it would have broken my heart. They no longer identify as Christians so it is not judgmental to refer to them this way.) I might get a new episode once a week if I was lucky. Christy was born in the United States of America. Anticipating the response he would get for opening up about all of this, Rhett addressed the No True Christian argument right off the bat: I want to emphasize how big of a deal it was to me. Around the time I was nursing a wounded ego for being stood up by the Ricky Schroder fan club, Neil Postman made a prediction in his 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. Its hard not to feel insulted by his unwillingness to accept this. On the other hand, we need to be confident in our faith, so we need to listen to what non-Christians say about Christianity. be One in Christ. Watching people eat bugs and murderously hot peppers isnt really my thing, but its a different story for my kids. She Leaves Once This Christian Brings Up This Topic. Relocating with their families to Los Angeles around this time almost certainly made it easier for Rhett and Link to think through some of their questions, removed as they now were from the Christ-Haunted atmosphere of the Bible Belt. Yep. Try the whole world. And the question that Ive gotten from some people who are close to me, who love me. They began their career as engineers and ended up in the field of comedy. Would. As it is also, evidently, for the more than 16 million subscribers these guys have accumulated since their show started back in 2012. By naming several apologists such as Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, Tim Keller, and Ravi Zacharias, he knocked the legs out from under their arguments. He predicted that with the rise of technology and communication, people wouldnt be deprived of information, but rather they would be given somuch that they would become passive and egocentric. My heart is breaking and my head is spinning in light of the so-called deconstruction of Rhett and Links faith. As part of their healing process, they are all told to declare to the world their reasons for why being a Christian is wrong. The best chance I had of communicating with him was writing a letter to his fan club. It didnt take long before quickly discovering these two were not some boys who got saved at some church youth camp alter call and then used their new found Christianity merely as a buttress against sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll after that. The YouTube comedy duo Rhett and Link are well-known for eating bizarre foods, making wacky music videos, and more recently, walking away from the Christian faith. The joke first appeared in the episode called Odd . The two men, known for their daily Good Mythical Morningbroadcast, have, over the last few years, gone through what they have described as their spiritual deconstruction[s]. After having spent years in young adult ministry, Rhett and Link now call themselves hopeful agnostics.. It morphed into doubts surrounding biblical reliability, the historicity of the resurrection, and the general idea of hell and judgment. In fact, he said that he jumped out of the Christian ship, but not into another ship, per se, but into an ocean of uncertainty more on that later. I wont rehash all the arguments on which he touched (thats your own homework to do if youre interested), but in the end Rhett settled for himself that the gospels are a mix of religious propaganda as well as actual history. Like me, he leans toward believing that Jesus was a real person, even if he didnt do magic or come back from the dead. For more than a decade, Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal have made videos together under the name Rhett & Link, cementing their bromance as one of YouTube's most memorable partnerships.In a recent vlog, McLaughlin and Neal who have been buddies since the first grade took their friendship to another level. If you believe in him and love him, he is supposed to be the most important thing you can speak about with anyone you meet. Its not like hes throwing out the baby with the bathwater, its like hes throwing out the tub and trying to keep the baby and the bathwater intact. And then I was like [**fwip**] Im gonna take the bikini off. Once you've listened to that track a certain number of times, it's clear that you don't own it but would like to. Rhett & Link are entertainers who primarily use the Internet to display their talents. Its okay to have doubts. He was the only one for me. The REAL Reason Why Rhett and Link Fell Away from Christianity Ray Comfort Founder & CEO, Living Waters Rhett and Link, extremely well-known YouTubers, recently posted videos talking about how they left the faith. When I listened to their journeys from belief to hopeful agnosticism I was shocked at how much this looked like a one-two punch attack against Christianity. (And they do have an audience - their personal channel alone has nearly 5 million followers. your local one size fits all faith is THE faithwell, youre going to be in Who will separate us from the Love of Christ? Today, Rhett and Link have a net worth of $25 million as of 2021. Lori calls it guerrilla evangelism, and its a burden shouldered by everyone who knows Jesus. Therefore they had to halt all the crew stuff. We still believe the truth and the opinion of two YouTube comedians cannot change that. How can two guys who make a living as YouTube personalities go from making possum corndogs one day to throwing 2,000 years of Christian history under the bus the next? That, though, didnt ease their concerns over how much emphasis Rhett and Link seem to be putting on their feelings. This is how we know what there is to know about Jesus. Here are nine things you should know about revival and the history of revivals in America. I believe they have a fundamental misunderstanding of the issue. They never talk about if it's morally wrong, but rather the person expressing who they think they are and who they think they love. She articulates her argument well as she did in a recent debate with Lisa Gungor, (and Im more in the Gungor camp) so Childers article became my on ramp into the deconstruction stories of these YouTube celebrities who seemingly had gone astray. A former church elder with a seminary education, Neil now writes mostly about the struggles of former evangelicals living in the midst of a highly religious subculture. I want to hear MUCH MORE about this from Link and Rhett. I was angry at the people who wrote the books. How would it affect their revenue streams and net worth to remain faithful Christians in todays cultural climate? Rhett McLaughlin. Around the time I was nursing a wounded ego for being stood up by the Ricky Schroder fan club, Neil Postman made a prediction in his 1985 book, . 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. 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. Tokyo is a recurring joke on Good Mythical Morning. suggestion that their moving to Los Angeles was just the slippery slope to He feared that truth would be lost in a sea of irrelevance. Fast forward 35 years to a day replete with a global internet and smartphones, and Postmans words ring with the chill of prophetic accuracy. I was crushed. Scarlett had befriended the very people who had destroyed the South. What I want to address is that even if Evolution were true (which I dont believe it is) there are way too many things in this world that need explanations that the Naturalistic worldview cannot answer. Rhett James McLaughlin) and Link (a.k.a. What would Rhett and Link stand to lose if they didnt capitulate to culture on an issue like same-sex marriage? I never got a reply. I remember my former Christian marriage therapist asking me point blank: What are you getting from this? Love these mugs! Get your FREE eBook about deconstruction: 'Before You Lose Your Faith'. Contents 1 The Early Years 2 Career 3 Personal Life 4 Kids 5 Appearances 6 What Link Neal Doesn't Like 7 What Link Neal Does Like 8 Trivia 9 References Please have your Passports Ready. Christians today must be ready to provide a compelling defense for Christand even play some offenseas we demonstrate an alternative story to deconversion. With a successful career line as YouTubers, Rhett and Link have a net worth of $25 . Would Jack Black and Daniel Radcliffe guest star on their YouTube channel if they held to the biblical doctrine of marriage and homosexuality? Should we avoid it? When I discovered that there were many other aisles in the supermarket that contained delicious spiritual food I was at first nervous and suspicious. This week, Faithwire managing editor Dan Andros discussed some of those concerns with editor Tr Goins-Phillips. before can enthusiastically answer, YES, Jesus never answered the thief on the cross who asked Christ to remember him when he came into his Kingdom with, This Day youll be with me in Paradisejust so long as you also believe the world was created in six days. Lover of beans. and African Christians, and South American Christians, and Indian Christians, Please make sure all fields are filled out. The stir online is probably exhausting. Blend that with Rhett and Links magnetic personalities, and its no wonder the faith of many Christians has been unsettled. This was my LIFE. Get resources, podcast episodes, and SWO updates sent directly to your inbox. Are Rhett and Link still religious? They loved not the things of the world, but repented of their sin and put all their hope and trust in him. Rhett & Link, best friends since 2 nd grade, currently host one of the most popular YouTube channels on the Internet, Good Mythical Morning. The two Rhett and Melanie eat:" {Mammy} could distinguish nothing except the clatter of silver on china, and the muffled soft tones of Melanie's voice." Rhett then goes to bed. Evolution by natural selection seemed intolerably non-intuitiveit didnt make any senseand it struck him as a desperate and unsuccessful attempt to explain how a world like ours could come into being without an intelligent designer. I imagine those types of responses will continue to roll in. Now, the debate stops at Rhetts conclusions. This is the effect the gospel has, and we should expect these types of reactions. Rhett said, If I dont have to believe [Christianity], then why would I? Link expressed, Why was I working so hard to make Christianity work for me if it wasnt even true? Aside from encountering intellectual stumbling blocks, it seems that, to YouTubes favorite pair, the gospel had begun to stink. These discoveries challenged the underpinnings of his whole theological system, but like all of us he was encouraged to press on through with his questions without fear because: All truth is Gods truth. But when evangelizing, is apologetics helpful or necessary? Most recently, of course, is the story of well-known pastor and author Joshua Harris, as well as the Youtube comedians Rhett and Link.. I've written on this phenomenon myself in a number of places, including my recent book, The 10 Commandments of Progressive Christianity, as well as my my article, "The . Do you think you know more than all these other brilliant people before you? Of course that knife cuts both ways, although the people who say this never do see how it should undermine their own confidence, as well. Ill confess I havent watched a ton of their stuff, but thats mostly because I dont watch much YouTube at all. He was basically telling MY story, along with the stories of a hundred people I know who went through the same thought processes and the same emotional struggles. Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day. Watch the rest of their discussion in the video above, and read Goins-Phillips story on Rhett and Link here. Link asked, Why on airplanes? to which Rhett replied: Because when youre an evangelical Christian, when you sit next to a stranger, this may be the only opportunity you have to share the life changing message of Jesus with them. It was time to stop just reading Christian answers to everything and go a level deeper, looking next at the answers to the Christian answers. Spotify have songs removed so you will buy them. When he identified as a Christian he said that he had to have certainty, but now he is fine not having certainty. They were getting tired of doing GMM. The best chance I had of communicating with him was writing a letter to his fan club. Thats humanism in a nutshell, and I feel the same way. On the one hand, we dont want people who are not having doubts in their faith to listen to Rhett and Link and start doubting (Id rather have a millstone necktie). Ill leave you with Rhetts self-description, since it seems a good place to stop: I would call myself a hopeful agnostic. Take Rhett, for example. These apostles of unbelief are on a mission to help others deconstruct with the same evangelistic zeal they learned from their previous tribe. And so as I processed Rhett & Links stories I found 5 takeaways to suggest maybe they hadnt abandoned Jesus as much as their (many) critics suggest: When Jesus called his disciples he simply said, Follow Me. Could it be that the cultural influences driving these, Rhett was careful to say he doesnt think these apologists are intentionally deceiving anyone. I quickly downloaded and submerged myself into Rhett and Links respective stories (which you can also see on YouTube here and here). So you "offline mode" it. The reason Rhett and Link's deconstruction is so important is precisely because they are not scholars and neither are most members of their audience - which is no longer limited to Christians looking for wholesome entertainment. Since the release of their stories, several apologists and scholars have offered sound rebuttals to some of the claims made by Rhett in particular. But dont throw the tub out. And I pulled my wife and my children with me. I could go on and on, but Ill wrap this up by looking at the last analogy Rhett used to explain what its like to leave the faith of your upbringing. And we dont have to wait a week for the next episodein many cases theres a new upload every single day. 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