Rhett said he wants to “stay on this fence…of not knowing” and will “probably die” on that fence. He does, however, “kind of hope there’s something beyond what I can experience with my physical senses.”
The YouTuber added that it’s too limiting to have just the two choices of Christianity and atheism. “There are lots of other ways to think about this,” Rhett said. “The thing that makes the most sense to me is that the whole universe is God, and God gave birth to itself, and split itself apart, and its goal is to bring itself back together. And that’s why every time we connect with one another or we connect with nature, we are bringing God back together to itself.”
Rhett and Link on Hell and Heaven
Another caller asked Rhett and Link if they ever worry about being wrong—and going to hell as a result. Link responded that he doesn’t “buy it” because hell “just doesn’t make sense.” Then Rhett chimed in, saying, “I can honestly say that I do not ever fear hell. I did for a while, especially in the midst of deconstruction, but no, this is not an issue for me now.”
The reason, Rhett explained, is that he “didn’t fear dying and coming back as a grasshopper when I was a Christian because I didn’t believe in reincarnation.” And he isn’t scared about Bigfoot when he goes camping, because he doesn’t believe the creature exists.
Rhett described hell as a human construct, not a biblical one, noting it’s a “really, really effective mechanism to keep people in the religion. Get them in by promising eternal life in heaven; keep them in by saying if you leave you’re going to go to the bad place.”
When someone else called in to ask about heaven, Rhett said that’s a comforting concept—“in fact it’s so comforting that there are times when I think that it’s just worth believing it.” But he said he can’t believe it, though he won’t take that comfort away from other people.
Link added, “Human experience dictates that all good things must end. That’s just…what happens.”
Callers Ask Rhett and Link About Other Topics
A caller who said she deals with trauma from growing up in “purity culture” asked the YouTubers how they “get through the anger phase” of deconstruction. Rhett admitted he couldn’t relate to that, noting that both Christianity and Christian nationalism are “pretty awesome for dudes.” But he told the woman he was “very ashamed that I was a part of that, honestly…and so I’m sorry.”
Using the metaphor of having your house survive a fire when all your neighbors lose theirs, Rhett said, “I almost feel guilty…when I think about my deconstruction because I wasn’t betrayed. I wasn’t let down…I didn’t have somebody do something crazy.” Instead, he “just started reading” and began feeling disillusioned.
After five years away from Christianity, Rhett said he’s not mad at the church or believers or apologists. His anger, he explained, is more inward, “feeling like you got duped and feeling like you were lied to.”
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