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Suffering For The Will Of god

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By TheRedneckProfessor ~ I magine, if you will, a seedy hotel room in the dirty part of town.    In the corner there is a small table, the drawer of which contains a Gideon bible.    A garishly ornate lamp casts a pool of dingy yellow light upon the wall behind it, covered in peeling wallpaper, the fading floral pattern now more a study in browns after decades of dust and cigarette haze.    In this room we have a 10-year-old girl: a singular expression of innocence and unfettered hope.    Beside her, on the bed, is a 39-year-old pedophile rapist: the epitome of sociopathic sadism, a monster.    He is neither her father, nor her uncle.    He is, in fact, no one with whom this little girl should be alone.   We know what is going to happen in this room; there is no need to provide further detail.   This is the essence of meaningless, purposeless, gratuitous suffering inflicted upon innocence, examples of which can be s...

Does God have Free Will?

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By Webmdave ~ A short discussion with a Christian believer Question: What do you mean when you say “free will.” Christian Believer Answer: Free will is the ability to make choices without external constraints. Q: Does God possess free will? CBA: God has the capacity to make choices, does not answer to any authority, is not limited by any external constraints, and cannot be coerced. God is unconstrained by all natural laws; He in fact established those laws and is sovereign over them. God most certainly possesses free will. Q: Then, In the same way, is God also unconstrained by moral laws? Since he established those laws, then he must hold sovereignty over them as well, right? CBA: There are certain things that God is incapable of doing because His perfect and holy nature disallows it. For instance, Titus 1:2 says that God “cannot lie.” God’s perfection prevents Him from lying and identifies an intrinsic property of God’s own character. God cannot be unfaithful to Himself; H...

Screwed Up, Beyond Belief-Chapter 12

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Chapter 12 - Beginnings By Ex-Pastor Dan ~ Then Sings my Soul, my Savior God, to Thee... How Great Thou Art... How Great Thou Art! Then Sings my Soul... My Savior God, to Thee... HOW GREAT THOU ART.... HOW GREAT - THOU - ART!!! T he entire congregation was on its feet. Many with hands raised - most with tears streaming down their cheeks. Joyce and I stood with our backs to the thunderous choir behind us and lifted our voices in the final refrain, "HOW GREAT - THOU - ART!" I had instructed Brother Mac to have the entire congregation of wedding-goers join their voices with ours in singing one of my favorite hymns, and all 300 guests had enthusiastically agreed to serenade us with this slightly unusual (yet very moving and emotional) wedding song. My emphasis was this; God was and always would be at the very center of this marriage - Amen, Hallelujah! I don't recall much else about the ceremony. There was the typical vows that were admonished by Bro. Mac, and ...

Why We Are Still Religious

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We're running Modern Applications on a Caveman Operating System By James Aames ~ I n order to understand why humans have a seemingly instinctual inclination toward religious answers, you have to believe in evolution. If you don’t believe in evolution, stop reading now. You won’t agree with anything I’m about to say. Here’s a statement that we don’t often consider; we evolved to do four things.   Stay alive  Attract a mate  Procreate  Raise children to the age where they can procreate That’s all evolution was good for and nothing more. Those are the only things you needed to do to replicate your egotistical DNA. Our brains did not evolve to show us what is true or to help us be our own person. If you meet someone who believes in fairy tales, or simply follows the tribe, they are not less evolved than you. Rather, they are the template of humanity. People who reject mystical answers have rebelled against many instincts that humans evolved to survive. Cavema...

Dualistic Deception

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By James Hollingsworth ~ I read Exchristian.net from time to time because I enjoy hearing people's stories about when and how the light bulb came on for them. My fellow exchristians have taken multiple paths to the realization that religion is all made up. For some it happens in a flash, for others it is a long painful process. For me it was when my friend Joe used the word " dualism " to describe religion. Dualism means that there are two separate and distinct worlds. One is physical. It has substance, flesh and blood; the stuff we feel, taste, and experience. It is where carrots grow, fish swim, birds fly, and galaxies revolve. The other world is supernatural. It exists outside the physical experience and will be our reward or punishment once we die. Religion is the struggle to reconcile these two worlds. This is a contrived dichotomy that only serves to justify the need for religion. There is only one world. What you see is what you get. And, religious...

How Can I Say This Nicely?
Why Christian Churches are Bad for Society

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By James Aames ~  I t’s considered bad form to condemn all versions of Christianity, so most leading voices in religious journalism will only speak negatively of “high-control” religions or simply “cults.” However, the subtle implication of those terms is that “low-control religions” or “non-cults” are not harmful. This has always caused me to stop in my tracks. It’s wrong. Even though Christianity is a continuum of beliefs, all versions of Christianity are indeed harmful. For the purpose of this article, I need to define the word “Christian”? Any version of “Christianity” that does not believe in the redemption from original sin through the crucifixion of Christ is probably misnamed. Based on this definition, every Christian, in spite of all the good things they might do, are still partly responsible for America’s toppling into the chasm of a police state. They are all responsible for making parishioners chronically insecure and susceptible to strong-man leadership. They are al...

The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus

The following is a short interview with Bill Burkland, the author of a soon to be released book entitled " The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus ." The book is available for preorder now. W hy did you write The Misconceived Conception of a Baby Named Jesus? I began the book because I wanted to make people laugh, and finished the book because I wanted to make them think. Sometimes humor is the best way to approach controversial or sensitive subjects. What sort of controversial subjects do you touch on in the book? Well, the book essentially challenges the entire Christian origin story. It challenges everything from the prophecies (and prophets) hundreds of years prior to the birth; it challenges the notion of a virgin birth, the role of the Wise Men and shepherds, the absurdity of miracles, and it challenges how Gospel writers like Luke, stitched together their stories. It challenges these stories through parody and satire. Why did you reach out to exChr...

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