ExChristianDotNet - encouraging ex-Christians (de-converting or former Christians)

ExChristian.Net Archives 1/01--2/10

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:25:00 +0000

A New.ExChristian.Net?

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:39:00 +0000

ExChristian.Net is experiencing a growth spurt, has accumulated a backlog of submissions, and as a result is about to undergo a transformation.

Well, maybe a face-lift is more accurately what's in the works.

Anyway, please feel free to check out the new "Beta" version of ExC. It's OK to leave your comments on the articles and testimonials that have already been posted there. In fact, please do!

This is a beta version, so there may be some things that aren't quite right. If you find any errors, or have any comments, please let me know by messaging me using the Contact Form or by posting in a special thread created for your feedback (CLICK HERE).

Your consideration in not leaving random comments regarding the new look on various testimonial and article threads is greatly appreciated.

But mostly... Have fun!

(Click here to explore the NEW ExChristian.Net)

Losing Your Religion

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 09:12:00 +0000

A radio interview with William Lobdell, author of “Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America-and Found Unexpected Peace”

(Click here to listen...)

The Search for Meaning

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:50:00 +0000

A podcast by Dr. Marlene Winell

Dr. Marlene Winell, psychologist, educator, and writer in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as author of "Leaving the Fold," talks about her loss of Christian faith during an interview on the Australian radio program, "The Search for Meaning with Caroline Jones"

(Click here for more...)

Being a missionary showed me light

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:55:00 +0000

By Naomi Prettyman

Image by exfordy via Flickr

I was raised in Kansas City, MO by my Charismatic Christian parents. I got "saved" when I was five years old, as do most children born into a Christian home. My mother homeschooled my seven siblings, and I and most of our friends were those from our church, raised in the same way as I.

We attended a non-denominational Christian church in Kansas City in which we practiced extreme Christianity. Worship services were more like raves, with people dancing in the aisles and speaking in tongues, having what seemed to be seizures on the floor. The documentary "Jesus Camp" reminds me of our sermons. We were "warriors for Christ." The church also sent some of it's members on mission trips, primarily in Mexico.

I submitted to all of this. My life goal at that time was to get married, have kids and serve the Lord. I was a typical teenage "Jesus Freak."

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Leaving the Church

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 18:42:00 +0000

By Kenneth S. (via Carl S.)

Image by sarowen via Flickr

I was raised in a Catholic family, and went to a Catholic school for almost eight years. In my last year I had an older nun, Sister Raymond, around 65 years-old, who did not like me because I used to ask her things that she could not explain. At the time I was following the crowd and dressed and acted the way I thought was popular (wrong). The nuns used to pull my hair and punish me because I had a DA (duck’s ass) haircut and wore pegged pants.

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Faith In Hearsay

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:41:00 +0000

By WizenedSage

Image by ajschu via Flickr

Christian, your faith is not really in god and Jesus. Your faith is really in those men who wrote those ancient texts that now comprise the Bible. Now I’m not going to ask you to believe anything without providing evidence; I wouldn’t insult your intelligence that way. But let me show you the other side of this “faith” coin.

(Click here for more...)

So aggravating!

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:11:00 +0000

By Houndie

Image by Alanna@VanIsle via Flickr

So, this morning taking my old doggie to the vet for a little procedure I noticed a sign in front of a church that is enroute. It's one of those churches where they always think they have something clever to say and post it out front for all the world to see. Today's little gem:

"Dear God, I have a problem. Its me."

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Do You Believe in Magic? (And I Hope You Don't)

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:05:00 +0000

By Bret P

Image by garethjmsaunders via Flickr

I'll freely admit that I've become somewhat cantankerous lately. It's not that I'm an angry person, in fact I'm far from it. I laugh at life's follies, and thoroughly enjoy my existence. I am frustrated however.

Because of my past associations with various churches and living in the bible belt for ten years, a good majority of my Facebook friends are believers. There is quite a range in the levels of rationality and amicability among them, but given my fundamentalist background, it's understandable that I would have a few that are extreme on the right (some of those who are extreme are attempting to understand, so I don't want to lump them into one solid mass).

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Deprogramming the Deprogrammer

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:25:00 +0000

By Dealdoctor

Image by Chicago Man via Flickr

As you read the material below which I found at some website that probably has a Christian bias and defines a “cult” as something other than Christianity. As an Ex-Christian you might find something enlightening in the fact that Christianity is obviously a “cult” itself and there is a bit of humor in those in a “cult” seeking to deprogram someone who is entrapped in a “cult”. The de-conversion process is nothing other than being deprogrammed from the Christian “cult” in the same way that Christians want their “wayward members” who have fallen into the clutches of an evil “cult” to be deprogrammed. It might be interesting as you go through the process of de-conversion out of Christianity or as you reflect on your own de-conversion out of Christianity think about what that that adventure has in common with the instruction given at ehow.com to those who want to learn how to deprogram a religious “cult” member. I will put a few comments of my own in CAPS and you might think what comments you might have made to this article.

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It's Trendy to have a Non-White Child

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:15:00 +0000

By Daniel Brown

The American Baptists who journeyed to Haiti in recent days to round up black kids and take them to the Dominican Republic no doubt had plans to make them available for adoption in the US. The ultimate plan was not part of “doing the right thing for Jesus”, but rather a need to feed the trendy movement in suburban, white, Christian circles to have a dark-skinned child. Once adopted, these children are held up as trophies symbolizing the parents’ religiosity. “Steven Curtis Chapman does it, so we should do it.”

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I was de-converted by the Bible

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:49:00 +0000

By Sylvester

Image by knowhimonline via Flickr

I converted to Christianity when I was 17, without knowing much about the bible and the religion.

I began attending church regularly when I was 18 and soon was all "on fire" for Jesus. I "served" all I could, spent all my time in church and soon was promoted to become an "area" leader, in charge of about a 100 youths.

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Does Christianity Deserve the Respect it Demands?

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:22:00 +0000

By Bret P

Image by Wellington Grey via Flickr

Christians seem to whine a lot about how they're ridiculed and disrespected in the media, and how this fallen world is somehow persecuting them. I think it's an absolutely laughable claim, especially here in the United States where Christians have far more influence on public and foreign policy than they should.

(Click here for more...)

Desconstructionism beliefs?

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 23:55:00 +0000

A letter from Mike

Image by SnippyHolloW via Flickr

A lot of content and study on this site. According to you an educated Christian would have to go to great lengths in order to "interpret" the Bible and still believe. Deconstructionism is a beautiful thing, isn't it?

Truth is, deconstruction is much simpler than construction... a house can come down quickly but it may take months to build... you get the point. Your conclusion is Christianity is all about faith and only fools would believe it... you celebrate those who reject the Bible and make insinuations that people who believe in Christ as being the Son of God and follow his teachings are foolish. Any one can do that.

(Click here for more...)

Taking the Red Pill

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:11:00 +0000

By BillRPJ

I fell in love with Jesus when I was 12 years old. On the back wall of the baptistery of the Chemung Baptist Church, there was a life-size picture of Jesus as a shepherd, a crook in one hand, cradling a soft, little lamb in the other. As I looked at the face of Jesus, I felt that his eyes were gazing right into my soul — kind eyes, eyes of love. I can recall the picture of Jesus like it was yesterday.

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Whenever I think of religion, I think of the military

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:46:00 +0000

By 0pen ur Mind

Image by Toni Travels via Flickr

I grew up in a Christian home, loving, never to question authority, always bring it to God and you will be blessed. If I wasn’t, well... God was testing me. Growing up it never crossed my mind that there was something else to believe in. I was the good girl who had the truth on her lips. God is good, how can he not be? Not until college did I expand my mind and fully open it. It’s a brief overpass of my history, but a lot of you know exactly how my “upbringing” went. It wasn’t until I met my future husband that everything finally made sense.

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"Good Christians" with non-working noses

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:36:00 +0000

By summerbreeze

Image by maxgiani via Flickr

Listening to the news about Haiti, and hearing the News Commentators talk about "the stench of death", revived a memory of what my Dad had said about his service in WW II. He had fought in the Battle of The Bulge, among other battles, and told us several times about how once you smell a decaying or burning body, you instantly know that it is human, and you never forget that smell. Dad was a very sensitive man, and you could see that even decades after-the-fact he was still disturbed by it.

There's a reason that I'm bringing up this unpleasant subject.

(Click here for more...)

Nothing Fails Like Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:58:00 +0000

By Mriana

In previous postings I have blasphemed the Holy Spirit, God, and Jesus in various ways. This time I am going to say something about prayer, which all too many Christians seem to think that getting housemaid's knees and praying to something that does not exist really does come true. If one tries to point out that it is nothing more than the role of the dice and pure superstition, they act like they are trying to save Tinker Bell from certain death by saying, “It's true! Prayer really works. I do believe! I do believe!”

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Accentuate the Positive -- Ignore the Negative

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:11:00 +0000

By J

Image by asparagus_hunter via Flickr

My ex-relationship with Christianity is perhaps unique, in that my family attended an Evangelical church, but one whose pastor was nonetheless pretty progressive or diplomatic in his views. (i.e. he rarely mentioned hell, End Times, or even sin in his sermons. It was just "love" and "the Good News.")

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Disbelief in a NON-thing

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:28:00 +0000

By dealdoctor

Image via Wikipedia

Disbelief in a NON-thing is different from disbelief in an actual thing.

When someone is a believer in the Spirit of God they rarely consider the fact that a spirit of any kind is not a defined thing. Our nouns are people, places or things which might be found and examined in the world in which we live. When we use the word “God” or “Spirit” however we may not consider that belief or disbelief in such an entity does not involve a limited person, place or thing that might be found in our world. So the word God is a very funky word. It does not work well in any context including arguments about its own existence.

(Click here for more...)

Moses - revisited!

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:27:00 +0000

By James C

Image by Loci Lenar via Flickr

Just about everyone has some knowledge of Moses, be it from the Bible, the Qur'an, or movies. A historical figure, credited with leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt as well as reputedly being the author of the first few books of the bible and famous enough that he is mentioned more times in the New Testament than any other Old Testament character; and is the most mentioned name in the Qur'an.

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Sad About Haiti? Give to Our MegaChurch

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:16:00 +0000

By Valerie Tarico

Image by speakingoffaith via Flickr

Last week I wrote an article about solar powered Bibles that are being sent to Haiti as aid. As a former Evangelical, I was trying to explain the psychology that turns a tragedy into a marketing opportunity for religions that need recruits. On a whim, I pulled up the website for Mars Hill Church in Seattle. Ok, it wasn’t a whim, it was a hunch based on past experience. At the time of the 2004 Asian Tsunami, I was researching local mega churches and ran across Mars Hill for the first time. I was appalled to see their home page recommendations for members: pray for the people in the disaster zone, give to Mars Hill church, give to our church building efforts in India. (Why wasn’t it “Pray for Mars Hill Church, give to the people in the disaster zone . . . ?)

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Countermeasures: Dealing with fundy-in-laws

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 08:56:00 +0000

By exfundy

Image by George Eastman House via Flickr

My super fanatical fundy-in-laws are some of the most rude, disrespectful and arrogant people I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I put up with them for my wife. She doesn't agree with the things they do either, but they are her family and she doesn't want to completely cut them off. We have come to an agreement that I won't just unleash and tell them what I think while forbidding them to ever step foot in my home. In return I do lots of little passive-aggressive things when their actions step over the line. My wife actually gets a kick out of it. The following are the first two stories of some of the countermeasures I have used.

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Good vs. Evil: There's No Such Thing

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:17:00 +0000

By Bret P

Image via Wikipedia

I'm quite exhausted from politicians and religious people talking about evil in regards to foreign affairs (particularly Islam), and propelling this idea that there is some kind of eternal struggle between good and evil in the world.

I think as humans, we're preoccupied with opposites, forgetting there is a spectrum contained within polarized concepts. Good vs. evil permeates our legends and movies. History is viewed through the lens of culture, and humans generally have a real problem with moral ambiguity.

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Atheist Churchgoers Anonymous?

noreply@blogger.com (webmdave) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 08:01:00 +0000

By Vyckie @ No Longer Quivering

I've skipped church four Sundays in a row now and I'm feeling slightly guilty. It's freezing-ass cold here in Nebraska, and I just have been too lazy to scoop the driveway and drag myself and my children out in sub-zero temps. Considering that I stopped believing in God over two years ago, it seems rather weird that I still spend my Sunday mornings attending the local Salvation Army worship services. So why don't I just quit going?

I didn't leave Christianity because of any failure of the people. For the most part, I found the Christians I knew to be sincere, generous and supportive. Misguided and unrealistic, maybe - but hey, that was me too.

It was the Bible and Christian doctrine which I finally recognized as ridiculous and even abusive.

(Click here for more...)