An argument for Christianity

I've never laid out my full case for Christianity (although I'm writing three books that do that, and I'm almost finished with one of them) until now. Starting on January 1, 2021, I started a new YouTube channel called Introverted Christian. I made 50 videos and just finished the last one today. With the exception of the introductory video and the third video, they are all part of my argument for Christianity.

First, I talked about epistemology. Then I talked about idealism vs. naturalism vs. dualism. Then I gave arguments for the existence of God. Then I made an historical case for Jesus claiming to be the messiah, then rising from the dead. Finally, I made a video tying it altogether and making my case for Christianity.

But don't expect anything great. I did these videos almost entirely off the top of my head. The reason is because defending Christianity was secondary to my main purpose which was to improve my ability to speak. You see, over the last several years (especially the last three), it has become increasingly difficult for me to talk plainly and clearly without stuttering over my words, losing my train of thought, and just getting my words out. About two years ago, Kyle Hendricks interviewed me on his podcast. I was not at all happy with how it went, and it got even worse when I listened to his other interviews. The other people spoke clearly and smoothly, and it really embarrassed me because of how terrible I was at speaking. So I decided to fix it.

Originally, I was going to do my own podcast, but I put it off for a long time and finally decided to do a YouTube channel instead. I wanted to do a bunch of videos where I just monologued so I could hopefully overcome my inability to speak. I decided to do Christian apologetics because that's the one thing I can monologue about.

I did it all off the top of my head because the object was to learn how to speak clearly and fluently without losing my train of thought, or misspeaking, or using the wrong word, or not being able to think of words, etc. Using notes or an outline would be like using a teleprompter, and we've all seen how the use of a teleprompter can make a huge difference when certain politicians are speaking. I didn't want to cheat because that would defeat the purpose.

So the quality of these videos is pretty bad. I do lose my train of thought, I struggle with how to word things or explain them, I often can't think of words or think of what I was going to say, and sometimes I'll use the wrong word without even realizing I did it until editing the video later. In some cases, I would edit out my long stairs into space or my stuttering or whatever. But sometimes I would leave them in for the sake of transparency. Sometimes, if I accidentally used the wrong word or couldn't think of a word, I'd write it in during editing so you can see it. There are a few factual mistakes I made because I was doing it off the top of my head. Sometimes I'd make corrections on the screen, but sometimes I'd just let it go.

So, those are my disclaimers. If you are interested, you can go watch those videos. I made some playlists to make it easier for people to watch things in order. The whole series is meant to be one sustained argument for Christianity. In other words, the videos are not meant to be stand-alone videos. Each one builds on the ones that came before, and they're all important to my overall case.

I made two videos by way of introduction and explaining my problem:

Introduction to the Introverted Christian channel

Speaking as a socially anxious and introverted Christian

I made a few playlists, and there is overlap between them. For example, all the stuff in the playlist on the moral argument are also contained in the playlist on the arguments for God, and then again in the playlist for the whole argument for Christianity.

This playlist is the entire 48 video argument for Christianity in the correct order:

An argument for Christianity

This playlist contains all of my videos on epistemology

Epistemology

This playlist contains all my videos comparing and contrasting the three worldviews: idealism, naturalism, and dualism. I defended dualism.

Idealism vs. naturalism vs. dualism

This playlist contains all my videos on the Kalam Cosmological argument.

The Kalam cosmological argument

I also made videos on the argument from contingency, biological complexity, fine tuning, and the ontological argument, but I didn't make playlists for those since I did them in single videos. They are included in the playlists for the existence of God and for the overall argument for Christianity. I didn't necessarily endorse all these arguments. I just talked about them.

This playlist contains all my videos on the moral argument.

The moral argument

This playlist contains all my videos on the arguments for God together.

Arguments for God

This playlist contains all my videos on the Bible as an historical source.

The Bible as an historical source

This playlist contains all my historical arguments about Jesus (e.g. his claim to be the messiah and his resurrection from the dead).

Arguments for the christology and resurrection of Jesus

And finally, there's my last video that ties everything together, gives my final argument for Christianity, then briefly explains the gospel, the practical implications, and makes an argument for the divine authority of the Bible and the deity of Jesus.

An argument for Christianity

And that's about it. During the course of recording these videos over the last two months, I began to change my mind about what the cause was for my speaking problem. Originally, I thought it was all due to my social anxiety and my lack of social interaction (especially since the pandemic). But now I'm beginning to wonder if I have aphasia. If it's aphasia, I'm afraid doing this kind of thing probably won't help. During the course of shooting these videos, I became a lot more comfortable talking in front of the camera, but I really don't think I made much improvement at all in my ability to speak smoothly. It's very discouraging. But I am proud of having finished it. There are a few videos where I used short lists so I wouldn't have to rely entirely on my memory, but for the most part, I did this whole thing off the top of my head. While I'm happy with having gotten through all that, like I said, the quality is lacking, so don't expect much. Hopefully my books will be better if I ever finish them.