meda as you know my name is David I'm the creator and host of CBS in today's episode of meta I'm going to talk about atheism and agnosticism and to set the stage here I'd like to present you with a little image a colorful image picture in your mind's eye a dungeon beneath the palace of the king and two prisoners gaunt and pale shackled by heavy chains to a damp gray stone wall they were sent here by the king because both men disrespected the King both men refused to bend the knee now does it matter that one man refused to bend the knee because he explicitly denied that the king was king while the other man refrained from bending his knee and showing respect to the king because he hadn't accumulated enough evidence or because the proofs that were presented to him he found fallacious so that there was not sufficient warrant to give credence to the popular belief that was circulating in his village that that man who called himself King was in fact king is the mouldy bread tastier because of his agnosticism he's his cup of foul water more refreshing because of his agnosticism or his shackles more comfortable because of his agnosticism will the rats and all the other pests in this nasty cell bite him less because of his agnosticism will he enjoy sunlight and fresh air because of his agnosticism or will they be treated identically because their behaviors were both identical neither bent the knee they both refused to bend the knee to the king atheism and agnosticism are the same they're one and the same it's one lie hidden in the heart of the agnostic is atheism and hidden in the heart of the Atheist is agnosticism the atheism is there to give them carte blanche for sin so that can indulge in their sensual pleasures like an animal daddy's not watching because daddy does not exist and the agnosticism is there to deflect any serious questions or inquiries which might prompt them to seek the truth and to recognize truth to seek the good and to recognize the good the god man Jesus Christ gave up his will for God and the atheist does the same thing but not in the same way not for the same reason Jesus Christ did it out of love and obedience and above all to show an example to us of how we should love God the Father how we can know God love God and serve God in this life in order to be happy with God forever in the next that's why Jesus Christ gave up his will forgot the Father but the Atheist gives up his will not to know God and to love God and to serve God but in order to not know God in order to be agnostic about God in order to hate God or be indifferent to God and in order to serve not God but in order to serve myself and again with the intellect we are called to submit our reason and to submit to mysteries which are super rational meaning that they are not unreasonable but they are beyond our limited reasons so we are willing to sacrifice our prideful reasoning in order to submit to mysteries and the dogmas of the faith which are beyond comprehension so we need to be willing to submit our minds our intellects our reason in order to approach God the Atheist is also willing to give up his reason but not in the same way and not for the same purpose his purpose as always is to fall away from God if we look at morality we Catholics are bound to submit our hurts our moral judgments to the church the church is a mystery God is a mystery and we submit to that mystery the mystery of an eternal objective and absolute morality we submit for the sake of God for the sake of getting closer to God the Atheist also gives up his morality he gives up his morality though not in the same way and all the pleasures that a hundred years in this fallen world can afford us all those pleasures will not compensate for the pains of hell it's an eternal torment falling away from God an eternity of sorrow regret and despair there is no hope in hell there's also no hope in heaven but it's because our hopes have been fulfilled perfectly in hell it won't be so there will be no fulfillment only regret despair pain and hatred the fire of heaven and the fire of purgatory and the fire of hell it's one and the same fire it is the only reality it is the fire of God's love and if we don't orient ourselves toward that fire that fire will burn in a way that is not pleasant that is not pleasurable it will burn in a way that is indescribably dark so we should choose wisely while we have time in this life we should choose wisely we the most important thing that you can do today if you're an atheist the most important thing you can do today is abandon your atheism it is completely absurd there's nothing good coming from your atheism nothing you're only whistling in the dark you're only pretending that your father is not watching you while you sin because you know in your heart of hearts that you have free will and that therefore morality is real there are consequences because you are making choices free choices and those free choices have consequences you know this you know that God exists you know that heaven and hell are real and you know that you are freely choosing every moment of every day what your orientation is and when death comes and it can come at any moment that orientation will be fixed forever there's no negotiating there's no arguing there are no excuses it will be set for all eternity you have about a hundred years to prepare for your death if you haven't started start now there's nothing stopping you you can start right now it doesn't cost you one penny to drop your atheism stop pretending that you don't believe in God everyone knows it's an open secret that you know that you have free will and that you're responsible and that you can freely weigh options in your mind you have a thing called reason your reason is dependent on your free will and your free will is dependent on the supernatural every atheist knows that there is no free will without the supernatural every atheist knows that the first cause exists and that the first cause is necessarily supernatural every atheist knows this you don't need a PhD the problem lies not in the intellect the problem lies in the will what do you love you need to get out of atheism today I'm not asking you to go straight into Roman Catholicism I'm just asking you to admit that God exists and that he loves you more than you love yourself and that your petty little sins that you're so attached to are not worth it they're not worth the pains of hell they're not you're lying to yourself put down your toys go back to your father the giver of the gifts and acknowledge the gifts he's given you thank him for your life thank him for the grace of conversion tell him you love him and you'll see how gentle he is he will not reprimand you he will not embarrass you he will not rub your nose in your most foul and disgusting sins he will not you've mocked him you've ridiculed him you've spat in his face you've tortured him he is so gentle and it's unbelievable it really is worth giving up your sins they're not that pleasurable anyway just think about it take stock of your favorite sins and think about how much pleasure you derive how long does a pleasure last how much peace do you get from your sins he's at a lasting peace does it give you clarity of mind or does it just stir you up and lead you into other more and more sophisticated forms of distraction you know you already know that only God satisfies you know that so I hope you'll turn away from your atheism today and what I'm doing for you right now you the individual listening to this right now what I'm doing for you right now is I'm upping the ante for you whether you like it or not whether you believe it or not I'm upping the ante I'm raising the stakes for you for your game your game just got more dangerous because you're listening to this the stakes are higher you will have a higher place in heaven and thank me for all eternity for my little instrumental role that I played with my prayers or you will curse me for all eternity because your place in Hell will be more miserable because of those same graces which I was instrumental in bringing your way but which you refused so it all comes down to your death you need to prepare for your death because all the graces you've received are upping the ante a every passing moment the stakes are getting higher for you and at the end your orientation will be fixed for all eternity so I'm raising your stakes everyone that's praying for you is raising your stakes every time you receive grace whether you accept that grace or not the stakes are getting higher the good news is it's never too late you can get all of that grace the technical word for this in Catholic theology is revival grace can revive when you turn back to your father and you ask for forgiveness the graces that you neglected you revive you have not been cooperating God has never stopped cooperating he's eager to help you he's eager to give you more and more and more you just need to ask and as one of my favorite Saints Saint Alphonsus Liguori famously said if you want to go to heaven you have to pray if you don't pray you cannot go to heaven it's that simple so raise your thoughts to God that's what prayer is that's all that prayer is raising your thoughts to your Creator who's all good and who knows you intimately when you're thinking your thoughts when you think that you're alone with your thoughts you're not alone you're not alone you're with God and so I just ask you to take some quiet time to think and to watch your thoughts and to enter into the mystery of your thoughts the mystery of your heart and your mind and make space clear out the clutter of sin make a firm resolution to never sin again ask for help cry out for humble yourself and be gentle with yourself because God is gentle with you so gentle that you didn't even notice his touch but once you start making space for God you will notice his gentle touch it doesn't disturb you it doesn't shock you in any way the only thing that's shocking about the touch of God is how natural and easy and familiar it is it's home so I look forward to seeing you in heaven if God willing you make it there and if God so that's it take care we'll talk soon god bless god bless