Confessions of a former Christian
By FightingAtheist
I am an atheist and a former Christian. As a former Christian I look back to what I used to believe. I wonder how I could have been no naive.
As a Christians I had very little knowledge about evolutionary biology, physics, geology, and chemistry. Yet I argued about evolution, fossils, and radioactive dating. I claimed to know problems that scientists just happen to miss when developing these thoroughly tested methods. These supposed flaws were pointed out to me by other Christians. Now I have read several books on each of these subjects and understand more than I thought I ever would. I know now that scientist have accounted for these supposed flaws.
As a Christians I vigorously denied the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but I was irritated when someone denied the existence of my God. I had an emotional attachment to my belief. My beliefs are now based on logic and reasoning and not emotional feelings.
As a Christians I felt insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists said that humans evolved from other life forms, but I had no problem with the Biblical claim that people were created from dirt. I ignored the evidence from millions of scientific tests that pointed to a different theory. Now I study these scientific findings with an open mind.
As a Christians I laughed at polytheists, but I had no problem believing in the father, son, and Holy Spirit that are separate yet the same. To me a trinity made more sense that multiple gods. Now I don't believe in any gods.
As a Christians I got upset when I heard of the violence attributed to Islam, or any other religion, but not when the bloodshed was committed by my God. I made excuses for my God. For Example: the slaughtering all the Egyptian babies in Exodus and the genocide performed in "Joshua" including women, children, animals and trees. I also claimed that my God was loving and kind.
As a Christians I thought Hindu beliefs that deify humans were just silly. I believed Greek claims about gods sleeping with women were absurd. Yet I had no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then flew up into the sky. I realize now that the difference between these beliefs is minuscule. One is just as silly as the next.
As a Christians I was willing to spend my life looking for loopholes in the scientifically established age of the Earth, which is a few billion years, but I found nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing the age of the Earth.
As a Christians I believed that the entire population of this planet, with the exception of those who shared my beliefs, would spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And I considered my religion "tolerant" and "loving." I am free of the fear of hell now.
As a Christians I ignored the textual scholars that showed evidence that the Bible was not a reliable source. However an emotional person rolling around on the floor screaming gibberish was all the evidence I needed. I know now it was just plain nonsense.
As a Christians I thought that the double blind studies showing prayer completely ineffective were diversions from Satan. I believed the unanswered prayers were simply God saying "No." I ignored the fact that praying to any god produced the same results. I also ignored the fact that if my god was the one true god, my prayers would be answered more often than other religions which would cause a statistical anomaly that could be measured. I don't waste my time praying now.
As a Christians I actually knew little more about my religion than what I heard in church. I did not study the history of Christianity, the early church, how the bible was written, what books were left out of the bible, the mistranslations from the original Hebrew, and the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity. This knowledge was not needed to be a Christian. Studying all of these items and actually reading the entire bible helped me see the truth.
I am happy I do not believe in superstitions anymore. I believe actions are more important that beliefs.
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I am an atheist and a former Christian. As a former Christian I look back to what I used to believe. I wonder how I could have been no naive.
As a Christians I had very little knowledge about evolutionary biology, physics, geology, and chemistry. Yet I argued about evolution, fossils, and radioactive dating. I claimed to know problems that scientists just happen to miss when developing these thoroughly tested methods. These supposed flaws were pointed out to me by other Christians. Now I have read several books on each of these subjects and understand more than I thought I ever would. I know now that scientist have accounted for these supposed flaws.
As a Christians I vigorously denied the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but I was irritated when someone denied the existence of my God. I had an emotional attachment to my belief. My beliefs are now based on logic and reasoning and not emotional feelings.
As a Christians I felt insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists said that humans evolved from other life forms, but I had no problem with the Biblical claim that people were created from dirt. I ignored the evidence from millions of scientific tests that pointed to a different theory. Now I study these scientific findings with an open mind.
As a Christians I laughed at polytheists, but I had no problem believing in the father, son, and Holy Spirit that are separate yet the same. To me a trinity made more sense that multiple gods. Now I don't believe in any gods.
As a Christians I got upset when I heard of the violence attributed to Islam, or any other religion, but not when the bloodshed was committed by my God. I made excuses for my God. For Example: the slaughtering all the Egyptian babies in Exodus and the genocide performed in "Joshua" including women, children, animals and trees. I also claimed that my God was loving and kind.
As a Christians I thought Hindu beliefs that deify humans were just silly. I believed Greek claims about gods sleeping with women were absurd. Yet I had no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then flew up into the sky. I realize now that the difference between these beliefs is minuscule. One is just as silly as the next.
As a Christians I was willing to spend my life looking for loopholes in the scientifically established age of the Earth, which is a few billion years, but I found nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing the age of the Earth.
As a Christians I believed that the entire population of this planet, with the exception of those who shared my beliefs, would spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And I considered my religion "tolerant" and "loving." I am free of the fear of hell now.
As a Christians I ignored the textual scholars that showed evidence that the Bible was not a reliable source. However an emotional person rolling around on the floor screaming gibberish was all the evidence I needed. I know now it was just plain nonsense.
As a Christians I thought that the double blind studies showing prayer completely ineffective were diversions from Satan. I believed the unanswered prayers were simply God saying "No." I ignored the fact that praying to any god produced the same results. I also ignored the fact that if my god was the one true god, my prayers would be answered more often than other religions which would cause a statistical anomaly that could be measured. I don't waste my time praying now.
As a Christians I actually knew little more about my religion than what I heard in church. I did not study the history of Christianity, the early church, how the bible was written, what books were left out of the bible, the mistranslations from the original Hebrew, and the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity. This knowledge was not needed to be a Christian. Studying all of these items and actually reading the entire bible helped me see the truth.
I am happy I do not believe in superstitions anymore. I believe actions are more important that beliefs.
Comments
I still pray. I call it talking to myself. Other people call it journaling.
That's all it ever was anyway: self-talk.
Ker
Finding this website has been a real eye-opener for me. Wow! These people seem intelligent, yet they were once caught up in the cult. Fortunately, they were intelligent enough to get themselves out of it.
What I'm actually trying to say, in short, is that I appreciate exchristian.net because it gives me hope that intelligence and the quest for knowledge CAN triumph over superstition. Maybe there's hope for the human race, after all.
I was riding same boat as you. I never for a minute believed any bullshit in the Bible, but I tried really really hard to believe a loving God existed, and I think at times I truly did. I thought my prayers were answered more times than I can count. Like you said I am so glad I found this site and many others like it that showed me the truth once and for all. Nothing reinforces the truth than hearing testimonies from true born again Bible thumpers who have deconverted. IF no one ever came back from Christianity I would still be trying to find it.
To the author of this thread. Most excellent post. To many great points to mention. The over riding theme is the whacky links Christians will go to make their Bible hold true.
I read something very interesting as of late: Someone said because there are so many religious figures that are so full of shit today, what would make the relgious figures in Biblical times any more credible?
xrayman
It was just recently posted last month
My husband, NvrgoingbkEither says: "You're full of shit Fighting Atheist. You just plagarized that. Be original. Give your own testimony. Isn't yours interested enough?"
That was AWESOME!!
Thanks for this!
No bias. When you identify yourself as a Christian here, it just helps people understand where you are. Most of us have been there.
I agree wholeheartedly that knowledge is a good thing. There's also no harm in googling up the key words "critique strobel," for example. Many if not most here have read the "Case for..." books. You'll find many thoughtful critiques of method if you search the site.
I'd recommend spending some time here.
I was the type of Christian who was always looking for confirmation of my faith, especially "scientific" confirmation, but after years of trying to reconcile the Bible's contradictions and absurdities, I began to look outside of the Christian apologetics and read the UNBIASED opinion of other scholars. I know how 'sinful' that is to Christians. God forbid we look to ANYONE else's expertise, because we know that "the wisdom of the world is foolishness to God. THe problem is, that Theologians and Christian scientists often do not agree with each other, and therefore one is forced to look to other sources.
Not all Christian intellectuals (no oxymoron was intended here) believe in a 6 thousand years old earth. Not all Christian intellectuals believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible. Not all Christian intellectuals believe in the fantastic fables in the Bible, and believe it or not, not all Christian intellectuals believe in "Creation Science" (again no pun or oxymoron intended).
So, what exactly do you think will be accomplished by our reading such material? Do you propose we will be enlightened by Strobel's journalistic abilities to sniff out the "truth" and thereby be reconverted to your faith? Are your hopes that we will become enlightened by Lee's amazing arguments for a young Earth, for a Creator, for CHrist, for faith?
I can only assume that your attempt is one made out of the ignorant assumption that the rest of us are poorly read or at least poorly read in the apologetics. I can only assume that your attempt is one made out of the ignorant assumption that we have not done our homework. I hope that I have laid that assumption to rest. You, however would do good to read some material of our suggesting. Care to?
For starters: The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. It's a fairly easy read, but not so easy as to be insulting to someone of your obvious intelligence. Please get back with us after you have finished it.
I've read the 'case for a creator' lent to me by a sibling. I've never been a chritian so maybe I have that bias, but I've always approached everything with an open mind.
i was quite disappointed by the book, as I was honestly expecting something interesting and original. But it was just the same tired arguments that have been harped over and over again by creationists , arguments from incredulity, appeals to authority and emotion.
The fact that the book was so misleading definitely turned me off. For starters the book subtitles itself "A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God"
I used to write for my high school newspaper. And although this book would like to imply that it is a somewhat impartial investigator who examines both sides of scientific evidence, I quickly found that each "scientist" Strobel "interviews" was a "researcher" for the creationist foundation the Discovery Institute! Of course none of this is ever disclosed, I had started to do a little digging on the credentials of his interviewees as Strobel did not choose to disclose much about the backgrounds of the scientists, instead just listing their degrees and schools as if that were reason enough to take their every word as truth.
I had already heard of the Discovery Institute by then and knew that they had a specific agenda to try to discredit evolution in america.
Strobel's "impartial" interviews were laughable as he seemed to have no idea or concept of the arguments against the ideas proposed by the DI researchers, instead providing them with straw men puppet positions that would cause Strobel to go "oh! now way! no way! *gasp*". His almost child-like incredulity and astonishment coming through painfully fake and contrived.
Then there was the matter of him implying that he was an atheist on a search for answers and therefore making these interviews. Except for a little note somewhere in which he mentions in passing that he had become a christian by so and so date, so if you actually did the math, you'd realize, hey this guy is already a christian! As I said I approached the book w/ a completely open mind and did no research prior to reading it as I wanted to not bias myself against anything in the book.
The lack of current scientific knowledge, a lack of understanding of scientific terms, and poor illogical arguments and thinking completely horrified me. Coming from a background in engineering and computer science and a non-science masters in which critical writing and analysis is part and parcel of the training, I could barely finish the book.
And this was supposed to be journalism?! I know journalism. We had one of the best school newspapers in the country. I don't know if Strobel would have made the "fluff" section. He never interviews any scientists or researches who were actively working in the field (many DI "scientists/researchers" have never even performed any real lab work, much less field research), much less anyone with a dissenting opinion.
And here he was claiming to present a case?? I mean come on! I'm not that easily fooled...
Then there's the gem of the book, one Michael Behe. Who has unfortunately been completely discredited in the latest creationism in the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District in 2005. I had some of the more relevant of the transcripts from that trial and its pretty interesting. Interestingly Behe "admitted his definition of “theory” was so broad it would also include astrology."
Reading the Strobel book, to me was very similar to reading the "Rich Dad Poor Dad" book by Kiyosaki. I had seen it around a bit and it sounded interesting and promising. The book's subtitle was enticing enough: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money--That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!
Well, I got as far as about 75 pages or so when I could no longer stand the utter rubbish that was the book. The author makes claims about his background and childhood then the rest starts reading like a self-motivation book. Giving you no solid information but a lot of feel-good, "you can do it!" type prattle. Some of the advice he gives is simply ridiculous, others criminal. When I got to the point in which he claims that the "people who make money" basically do it by using inside news on a company to trade stocks (a la Martha Stewart) I just stopped reading in disgust. I then decided to google the book on the net, and found to my horror the real truth behind the book, how the author admitted to lying about and completely fabricating his childhood and his "rich dad/poor dad" scenario.
Anyway, back to Strobel.. yeah.. reminds me of Kiyosaki. A lot of hand-waving and really reminds me of your stereotypical used car salesman.
Another book I was horribly disappointed in was the one touted by most christians as "the" book, mere christianity. Boy.. I read that to the end, and it was simply ridiculous fear mongering (especially feeding off the wars of that time), appeals to authority and incredulity, emotion, and baseless assumptions in which to build up catch phrases that make me think of netflix commercials:
If Mary is peeling an orange, what is the square root of an apple?
Seriously I don't know how anyone reads the same garbage over and over when there are so many science related books that don't even deal w/ religion. Origins and The Selfish Gene are some good ones
No doubt! Many ex-christians have read this material, too, especially when they were just starting the deconversion process and, like you, were looking for something to reinforce their faltering "faith" before it was gone altogether.
But have YOU ever read anything that presents an opposing or alternative viewpoint to your own? Or would that be too "sinful"?
I'll argue that with anyone!
Truth is if you call yourself and ex Christian........You were never a Christian.
Christianity is not of the head (intellect). It's of the heart (a intimate relationship with God).
You so called ex Christians only had it in the head.....never in the heart....which means you were never a Christian
Argue that with me bitch! Right here:
dan_tammy_m@hotmail.com
When we decided to go back to church in 1999 it was me who said "no lukewarm, only hot or cold", and we were hot for Jesus!
"You so called ex Christians only had it in the head.....never in the heart....which means you were never a Christian"
Who the fuck are you to say what I felt in my heart? I was a gung ho Jesus lover. I studied my way out of superstitious beliefs, because I earnestly wanted to know the TRUTH.
You have my e-mail if you care to have a serious dialogue.
The video was not intended to be an accurate confession. It was intended to show the things I used to believe. It is to help other Christians see the fallacy in their beliefs. I did use the list you mentioned, but I did not know the author. I have placed a link to evil bible on you tube under the description of my video now. My personal confession is on my blog and in the forum on ex-christian.net. By the way, I am not constipated.
Thanks,
FightingAtheist
http://curezone.com/forums/f.asp?f=587
These websites are ABSURD! There's no such thing as an ex-wife!
I'll argue that with anyone!
Truth is, if you call yourself an ex-wife........you were never really married!
Marriage is not of the head (intellect). It's of the heart (a intimate relationship with your abuser).
You so called "ex-wives" only had it in the head, upside the head, to be exact.....nonetheless, you never had in the heart!....which means, you were never a "True" wife!
This whole web site is absurd. There is no such thing as an ex Christian.
I'll argue that with anyone! >>>
Oh we have a Christian who wants to be a "Tough Guy" on here I see! Bring it on Mother fucker!!!!
<<< Truth is if you call yourself and ex Christian........You were never a Christian. >>>
Doesn't your bible say, "Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged?"
<<< Christianity is not of the head (intellect). It's of the heart (a intimate relationship with God)>>>.
Christianity is for people like you who are "Weak Minded Fools" who need a crutch, and who don't know how to deal with reality.
If I'm going to have an intimate relationship, it's going to be with a girl, not some dead man who lived thousands of years ago or some imaginary figure who lives in the cosmos.
<<< You so called ex Christians only had it in the head.....never in the heart....which means you were never a Christian >>>
Not only are you a total loser, you are a total DUMBASS!
Now go cry to your God Moses.
The christian god exists only in the imagination.
I'll argue that with anyone.
So tell us how a person can have an intimate relationship with an imaginary figure?
The heart is a pump found in the human chest. It does not hold emotions. It only pumps blood. The thing in a person that holds emotions is the brain. The brain is found in the head.
What is absurd is someone that spouts off about having feelings in their blood pumper for an imaginary friend and telling others to stop using their brains.
I used to feel the same as you, but I don't anymore. Thats how it is possible to be an exchristian.
"What is absurd is someone that spouts off about having feelings in their blood pumper for an imaginary friend and telling others to stop using their brains."
I would love to tattoo this on my chest!
Okay - I probably wouldn't (might look a bit garrish) but what a great line that sums it up perfectly!
Spoomonkey
PS - Though I understand what he is saying when he says "heart" it is still a great line.
You ex-christians shouldn't be telling my christian children the truth about me along with the way I have deceived and lied to them all thses years.
I know that my christian children are all weak, and can't deal with reality. That's why they turn to such a cult figure as me.
Because I desire attention from them, because my father and I both have a major problem with Insecurity and Jealousy.
When my daddy gets mad, he starts making oceans part down the middle.
i actually spent so much time reading all the comments i forget what the video was about in the first place!
i think on a phsycological level its really interesting to see how people work when it comes to beliefs and all that. saying to a christian 'wow boy! get some science in your head!' invokes the same reaction as saying to an aetheist 'wow boy! get some God in your heart!'
i think it more or less comes down to, on a human level everyone hates being wrong. hates it.
lets say hypothetically neither side of the coin is wrong, because everyone is right in their head if you get me. then someone comes in and no matter how they put it it will ultimately come off as 'the whole basis of your existence is based on a lie' nobody likes that. it scares us. well i imagine it scares us all!
i have pile of thoughts ecetera and im sure ill be around on this site for a while yet.
it was a great find considering all i wanted to find was a song title. it would appear people love using cliche song worthy phrases in testamonies for titles!
Patrick
someone please reply... hate to think all that jebbering was a waste :p
Your claims about the beliefs of Christian teachings are common but are none-the-less mistaken. I will attempt to present my reasoning and to respond point-by-point for as much as I am able. My responses are those of a long-time believer and are intended as respectful disagreement to your argument.
”As a Christians I had very little knowledge about evolutionary biology, physics, geology, and chemistry. Yet I argued about evolution, fossils, and radioactive dating. I claimed to know problems that scientists just happen to miss when developing these thoroughly tested methods.”
There are most certainly Christian groups that espouse the belief that evolution is contrary to faith based original design, but most believers have no problem with evolution since it simply answers the question of “how” God did it and does nothing to prove or disprove his existence. If you ask, you would find that the overwhelming majority of believers support both the scientific process and its findings, including evolution. Most accept biblical timetables as figurative language that has long been misunderstood and misinterpreted. The fact that biblical dating is an inexact science should not be a stumbling block to faith since neither knowledge nor the lack of it changes the fact that God exists. In response to your claim that Christians are uniformed, believers are some of the foremost leaders of research for scientific endeavors of all varieties, so this claim is a bit naïve. Believers are no more or less informed than the average person. After all, about 85% of the US population claims to be Christian so they are the average demographic. The sad part is that the number of practicing believers is shrinking, and if you haven’t noticed so is the morality within our nation’s leadership as well as its people.
”As a Christians I vigorously denied the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but I was irritated when someone denied the existence of my God. I had an emotional attachment to my belief. My beliefs are now based on logic and reasoning and not emotional feelings.”
You have presented two fundamental mistakes, one commonly made by believers and another by non-believers:
The New Believer’s Common Mistake: You mentioned that as a believer you became irritated when someone denied the existence of God. As a believer we must always remember how difficult it was for us to make the leap of faith and to allow others time to do the same. God is patient with us, forgiving each of us when we refuse to listen or disobey. We should be patient as well.
The Non-Believer’s Common Mistake: You comment that your beliefs are now based on logic and reasoning and not emotional feelings. Well, in a truly balanced system you must rely on both (this is the reason fuzzy logic was introduced into mathematics). You cannot reason out why you are uncomfortable when a con artist attempts to trick you, it is just a feeling you have that something is wrong. Until you have the facts you must rely on your gut reaction and suspicion. Similarly, a friend who asks you over for help on your birthday invites suspicion of a surprise party, but without proof you cannot know for sure. Faith is no different. If you look at the world around you and the absolute beauty of it you see a grand design. Reason will not tell you how it came about since you lack most of the necessary information. For most non-believers the evolution theory adequately explains how our world was made and that is enough, but for most believers it simply explains how God did it and we seek more. It is believers who are inquisitive about the how and why and seek a deeper understanding; still, many non-believers think that believers ignore science and scientific discovery even though religious faithful are leaders in most major fields of science. Most believers welcome the prospect to learn and eagerly seek to do so. So it is erroneous to assume that you can reason out all answers since most of the time the facts are not immediately available. God made a fantastic world for us to enjoy and explore, and it is believers who seek answers where non-believers fear to tread.
”As a Christians I felt insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists said that humans evolved from other life forms, but I had no problem with the Biblical claim that people were created from dirt. I ignored the evidence from millions of scientific tests that pointed to a different theory. Now I study these scientific findings with an open mind.”
As mentioned before, it is a mistake to assume Christians refuse to believe the theory of evolution. In fact most believe as I do, that there is no contradiction in believing in evolution; that evolution theories simply explain how God performed the miracle of creation and that there is much beyond evolution we have to explore. And yet, it is still a miracle. If you really understood Christianity as you claim you would realize that the minds of believers of all faiths are quite open and willing to see and accept possibilities many non-believers will never experience. This is not because non-believers have closed minds but because some beauty is reserved for those willing to experience God; and even those who have not yet made a leap of faith. For example, it is a wonderful thing to send your children off to school for the first time but only believers regularly experience the peace of knowing that God is watching over them as they go. Similarly, when a person balances their checkbook it is common to be pleased when all bills are paid, but it is believers who regularly experience the joy of knowing that this pleases God since it benefits the society as a whole when people are trustworthy. And again, all people can be proud when they give to charities, but believers experience a deeper joy because they recognize that they are being allowed to show a hint of God’s beauty by being compassionate. Again, parents experience joy when their child refuses to squash a bug because they realize how precious life is for every living creature, but a deeper blessing for true believers is joy in knowing that the child has encountered God’s wisdom. As I mentioned before, non-believers can claim any blessings such as these but the hardness of a non-believing heart does not easily allow the blessings in. May yours be open and free to experience God’s blessings!
”As a Christians I laughed at polytheists, but I had no problem believing in the father, son, and Holy Spirit that are separate yet the same. To me a trinity made more sense that multiple gods. Now I don't believe in any gods.”
Why, if you were a true believer, would you laugh at polytheists? And why, if you were a true believer, would you not accept that the three parts of the trinity makeup the whole of who God is and cannot be looked at as individuals except in purpose. I will stick with the traditional analogy of an egg to explain. An egg has three parts each which serves a different purpose to the life of an egg but which individually is only part of the egg. Likewise, the whole of the trinity is God, made up of the Father, the Word (Jesus), and the Holy Spirit (Wisdom), with each serving a different purpose in perfect compliment to the other. If it makes you feel better to look at God as three individual components then by all means do so. You should not let it shake your faith either way. But there are some aspects of faith that will be less clear if you do so; namely, during Jesus’ baptism when the spirit descends and lands upon him, and again during Jesus’ death when he shouts “Father, Father, Why have you forsaken me?” It is easier to understand these events if you acknowledge that the three parts are so perfectly united as to be one entity. This perfect unity can be seen more clearly in the separation between the attitudes God asks us to espouse and the rewards we receive by holding on to them. We are told that we are to be kind, generous, loving, caring, gentle, peaceful, etc., and that these are the face of God we should all strive to live by. By holding on to and loving these attitudes we earn the treasures God promises: peace, happiness, joy, love, contentment, etc. Notice that each attribute we are asked to live by perfectly compliments the rewards: peacefulness brings about peace, loving brings about love, and compassion brings about compassion. God also tells us that those who love will receive love and to those who are kind will receive kindness. They are perfectly complimentary positions which cannot exist without the other. For example, you cannot be kind without kindness. And so we return to the original subject, which is that God is still God whether you look at Him as a single entity comprised of three parts or as three entirely independent entities. In either case if you are looking with your heart you will find the magnificent creator who cares about us.
”As a Christians I got upset when I heard of the violence attributed to Islam, or any other religion, but not when the bloodshed was committed by my God. I made excuses for my God. For Example: the slaughtering all the Egyptian babies in Exodus and the genocide performed in "Joshua" including women, children, animals and trees. I also claimed that my God was loving and kind.”
Why would you become selectively upset at violence? It is not a Christian thing to do. Violence of any kind is undesirable even when it is excusable. But what makes the recent Islamic extremist’ actions especially egregious is their motives and the absolute disrespect shown to their victims, their families and their faiths. It is the ultimate in evil. Regarding biblical stories of God slaughtering people, each one contains lessons meant to teach us and if you pay attention you will often (but not always) find that it was men and not God who chose to perform the slaughter. God created this earth and can work equally well with a person whether that person is on Earth or in Heaven, and it is His right to choose who lives and who dies. Thankfully, he gives each and every one of us the right to choose between life and death. I pray you choose life.
”As a Christians I thought Hindu beliefs that deify humans were just silly. I believed Greek claims about gods sleeping with women were absurd. Yet I had no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then flew up into the sky. I realize now that the difference between these beliefs is minuscule. One is just as silly as the next.”
Claiming that other religions are following half-truths is not the same as saying their version of the truth is entirely wrong. It is similar to saying “a rose by any other name is still a rose.” Islam, like Judaism, sprang from Abraham, the first Hebrew, and its early lineage follows in close detail to that of the Jews, including stories of Noah and Cain and Able. So, the god of Islam was and is the same as that of the Jews. But as traditions and the ways of men were passed down entire societies broke allegiances and continued worshiping the same creator using different terms. God continued to love and aid all of His children no matter their creed but He recognized that only the Jews would keep themselves pure enough to keep sacred texts free of egregious misinterpretation. So, the Jews became God’s “chosen people.” The perversion of sacred ideas is observable in Islamic passages which strongly and clearly encourage the abuse of women, the stoning of people for even minor infractions of not just the law but opinions as well, and disrespect toward the laws of foreign lands and governments (Sharia law). God has shown many time over that those who are faithful, even those of non-Judeo-Christian faiths, are his children if they truly believe in a higher power and practice being as He is: true love, respect, kindness, compassion, forgiveness, generosity, humility, grace, etc. Likewise, those who were polytheistic were at least acknowledging a power higher than themselves even if they ascribed to those beings attributes that were less than flattering. The deities had little if any similarity to the true creator (such as murder, theft and sexual immorality among deities) yet these people too were shown favor if they sought after God’s true attributes (…truth, peace, wisdom, compassion …). Even though they did not know Him by the correct name God blessed them and gave to them everything they needed that they might realize who He is. He did all of this without interfering in their free will. In the bible (Acts 17:16-23) there is a story about a city dedicated “To the Unknown God.“ The apostle Paul informed the citizens that the name of their God is Jesus. After hearing about Jesus the citizens came to realize that Jesus truly did exemplify the attributes they knew to be those of their un-named living god. May you too come to acknowledge the God who loves you and has given you life!
… [paragraphs skipped for the sake of both brevity and interest]
”I am happy I do not believe in superstitions anymore. I believe actions are more important that beliefs.”
Well, Fighting Athiest, it is obvious that I disagree with everything in your post. However, I still pray for you that you find all that you are looking for, both in this life and the next.
May Peace be with you always!
Sure you can reason why you FEEL that way. This isn't psychic magic. Those realizations might come from subconscious analysis, but it most certainly based on remembrances of previous experience with other shady characters, and perhaps some reading of body language. The emotion comes after the thinking, not before. That's why kids are so easily duped. No experience with con artists. That's why religion is most effective at gaining youthful converts. They are easy to con.
As to all the rest of your opinions about your god, how or what she thinks, how a "True Christian™" should think or behave, so-called mistakes you think everyone (except you, I assume) is thinking... It's all religious blather. How do you know that ANY of what you said is true?
It is apparent that you BELIEVE what you are preaching is true, but WHY do you think it is true.
I have a suspicion that based on your comments that you merely feel your religion is true.
Well, I feel it is 100% bologna. If feelings are the measuring rod here, then I'm going to trust my feelings over the feelings of someone promoting an invisible, immaterial, imaginary, ghost-god-man, who desires to reside in peoples' pulmonary organs, and who promises eternal horrific torture to anyone who snubs his offer to move in.
I feel all that is ridiculous. Thinking about it, it is ridiculous.