by Robby Berry

Should ex-Christians who become agnostic or atheists 'come out of the closet?' That is, should they tell their friends, family and loved ones about their newfound loss of faith, or should they keep it to themselves and pretend to be Christians? I believe that coming out is far better than staying in, for the following reasons:...

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Dear Believer:

I can't accept the Bible as God's Word because it contains hundreds of problems and contradictions that can't be solved, only rationalized. I ask only that you read what follows in line with James' teaching that Christians should be "open to reason" (James 3:17 RSV) and Isaiah's belief that we should "reason together" (Isa. 1:18) to see just a few of the Book's many shortcomings.

1. If you must accept Jesus as your Savior in order to be saved (John 14:6), what about the billions of beings that die as fetuses, infants, and mentally deficient, etc.? For them to accept Jesus would be impossible. So they are condemned to hell because of conditions over which they had no control. Deut. 32:4 says God is just, but where is the justice?

2. Why are we being punished for Adam's sin? After all, he ate the forbidden fruit, we didn't. It's his problem, not ours, especially in
light of Deut. 24:16, which says children shall not be punished for the sins of their fathers.

3. God created Adam, so he must have been perfect. How then, could he have sinned? Regardless of how much free will he had, if he chose to sin, he wasn't perfect.

4. How can Num. 23:19, which says God doesn't repent, be reconciled with Ex. 32:14, which clearly says he does?.....

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The following is excerpts from another website by a very lucid ex-christian writer. Enjoy:

Does Jesus really give his followers peace and joy? Then why must Christians walk around repeating to themselves, "I will never be depressed another day in my life!" Why, indeed?

I am no longer a Christian. I am no longer marching behind the cross, for I have found something different. I have learned to question, to explore, to climb, to breathe, to be free, to be me. I have the freedom to freely grasp life, without the restraint of religion. I have found a purpose that is as good on Monday as it is on Sunday. Life without Christ can be far more fulfilling than anything that I had ever found in Christianity. And there are hundreds of others who testify to the same thing.

Dear Christian friend, I hope this web site helps you understand why I have changed my mind about Christianity. Here I will cross-examine Evangelical Christianity. Perhaps the case for Christianity sounds convincing to you, but how does it stand when questioned? "The first to present his case seems right," says Proverbs 18:17, "till another comes forward and questions him." I do not think God will mind if you and I ask questions. Perhaps we will learn something.

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by smithbrad

My good friend and empathologist Sharon Kukhahn cautioned me to not have "an agenda" in creating this web page, reminding me that the truth does not have to be proven if, indeed, it is the truth. And that coincides with something Eric Hoffer wrote in The True Believer:

Whence comes the impulse to proselytize? ... It is a search for a final and irrefutable demonstration that our absolute truth is indeed the one and only truth. The proselytizing fanatic strengthens his own faith by converting others. The creed whose legitimacy is most easily challenged is likely to develop the strongest proselytizing impulse.

Of course, Hoffer fails to recognize the fact that many Christian fundamentalists are sincere in their love of others, and are desperate than no one should perish, but that everyone should "repent of their sins" and be "saved" from eternal damnation. Regardless of what many atheists and ex-Christians want to believe, a good number of the most fervent Bible-thumpers really are motivated by love and concern. What else is one to do, who thinks a family member, friend or neighbor is going to burn forever? The Jesus-screaming fanatic on the street corner is living a life much more consistent with his faith than the Sunday morning Christian who is uncomfortable offending others with his religious beliefs.

But Christianity - especially the "hellfire and brimstone" brand - is what I've come to recognize as.......

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We have not found any biblical verses which deal directly with masturbation. However, the practice is widely condemned by Evangelical Christian groups. A few articles on the subject are described below. They use very different approaches to develop their position. Two of the articles raise the threat of eternal punishment in Hell for the over 90% of men (and probably a lower percentage of women) who masturbate....

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^{(from Charles Templeton's book,
Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith)}

FOR MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS, Charles Templeton was a major figure in the church in Canada and the United States.

During the 1950s, he and Billy Graham were the two most successful exponents of mass evangelism in North America. Templeton spoke nightly to stadium crowds of up to 30,000 people.

However, increasing doubt about the validity of the Old Testament and the teachings of the Christian church finally brought about a crisis in his faith, and in 1957 he resigned from the ministry.

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^{(Selected readings from Charles Templeton's book,
Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith)}

In this section, Charles Templeton discusses God as represented in the Old Testament:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." These are perhaps the most familiar words in the history of Western civilization. They form the opening sentence in the Jewish Torah and the Christian Bible and are fundamental to both traditional Jewish and Christian beliefs.

In Genesis, the first book of the Bible in a dramatic series of events spanning six days,...........

They are enthralling tales and across the centuries they have made an indelible impression on countless millions of men and women. But are they history? Or are they no more than the traditions of a Middle Eastern Semitic tribe and best categorized as folklore?

An unbiased reading of the biblical account will clearly show that, while some of the events described in the early books of the Old Testament may have been based on historic events, most are simply embellished folk tales.......

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by Mark Twain
^{from Fables of Man
Mark Twain Papers Series
University of California Press}

How often we are moved to admit the intelligence exhibited in both the designing and the execution of some of His works. Take the fly, for instance. The planning of the fly was an application of pure intelligence, morals not being concerned. Not one of us could have planned the fly, not one of us could have constructed him; and no one would have considered it wise to try, except under an assumed name. It is believed by some that the fly was introduced to meet a long-felt want. In the course of ages, for some reason or other, there have been millions of these persons, but out of this vast multitude there has not been one who has been willing to explain what the want was. At least satisfactorily. A few have explained that there was need of a creature to remove disease-breeding garbage; but these being then asked to explain what long-felt want the disease-breeding garbage was introduced to supply, they have not been willing to undertake the contract.........

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^{by Gary MacNutt}
Christianity has a basic set of beliefs. The fundamentalists all believe in the inerrancy of the Bible and all but the King James version are looked at as suspect by them. To successfully defeat them in debate, and have a chance to deconvert them, you must be armed with a good understanding of the Bible and use it to make your points with them. There is no other authority they will respect or listen to.

They believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that he was born of a virgin, that he was the Messiah as foretold in the Old Testament. The combination of the following arguments clearly dismantles all of these basic beliefs and at the same time shows the Bible to be, not only errant, but to contain out right deceit.........
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1)If your neighbor's dog killed your child, and you had the power to chain this dog, blast him with blow torches, and the dog not die as a result, how long would you torture the dog for its terrible crime?

A) One Day
B) One Month
C) One Year
D) Eternity........

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Often when I have an online discussion with a somewhat apologetically cogent Christian, the topic of Objective Morality is broached. Instead of continuing to banter with them, saying the same things over and over I will attempt to address my take on the topic here......

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^{By Chad Docterman, copyright 1996}
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Taken from:

The Atheist Soapbox (a web-page that has now been taken down)
Published by permission from the author

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Introduction

Christians consider the existence of their God to be an obvious truth. This assumption is false, not only because evidence for the existence of this presumably ubiquitous yet invisible God is lacking, but because the very nature Christians attribute to this God is self-contradictory...

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