By Jeff Rohde ~
It has been an extremely long journey to get to where I am now and even though my destination is well in sight, I still feel there is more to be done and that is something I am working on at this time. There is no reason to mention the project I am working on right now because an idea is only an idea until you put that idea into motion and end with a result that not only satisfies yourself, but everyone else you intend to share it with. My project is in motion, it just does not have an end to date. Now, I do not intend on boring anyone reading this with meticulous events or useless babble, so I will be as brief as humanly possible as I present my testimonial for I assume many of you who reading this will already understand the missing parts.
I was born in the heart of the "Bible Belt" in 1970 to Christian parents. My parents and family referred to themselves as Baptists, so that is what I believed my destiny to be also. I got saved and Baptized in 1979. I believe it was sometime around the year 1987 when, even though still proud to be a Christian, I had questions. Something about the whole story did not settle well in my stomach. I remember thinking that something about all of this just simply did not make sense. After asking a few questions and getting the all so common answer of, "we should not question the Bible" or "do not look too deep into something that only requires faith," it started to hit me that I might be on to something. I wondered if there might just be something they are not telling me, so I decided to figure it out for myself.
I did not start right away on my journey. I had to pack for it first and that did take some time. Around the year 1998, I read the Bible cover to cover for the first time. I felt more confused than I had before I had read it, so I read again a few years later. Still nothing. I read it again for the third time in 2008. Still nothing. I decided in 2009 to take a break from a forth reading. I decided to start reading everything I could get my hands on dealing with the Bible and religion as a whole. I read a book by Bart D. Erhman and if you do not know who he is or have not read any of his books, you must do so as soon as possible. It literally changed my life. Dr. Erhman PhD went to Moody Bible College. He graduated from Wheaton college and completed his Masters of Divinity at Princeton Seminary. Bart can read Hebrew, Greek, Coptic, Latin, German and French. He is a true Biblical scholar and even though he went down this road as a Christian, he walked away an Agnostic.
I am not a prisoner to the lies of Christianity.Now, I want to state this so that you will better understand my passion. I will be 42 years old in June. I have been divorced for seven years. I am currently single, have no children and have a good job. My point is that I have free time to do whatever I want. After reading three of Bart's books, which mainly deal with the problems in the Bible, I read the Bible again for the fourth time. It blew me away. There are not a few problems in the Bible nor hundreds, there are literally thousands of problems in the Bible. I could give you one problem in the Bible everyday for the next ten years! You cannot see them if you are not looking for them, but when you know about them, they are everywhere! In the last two years, I have read over 70 books dealing with everything from Reincarnation to NDE's, OBE's, life after death, books for Christianity and books against it. I have read about the history of Christianity and much about other religions. I listen to books at work, research for hours on my computer and watch everything I can about religion on television. This is my drug if you will and I do not care, I love it. I do not believe it anymore, but I am fascinated to the core as to how almost everyone else is. I am still on the fence as to whether it is outright brainwashing or how one is raised or if it has to do with a fear of Hell, the unknown or just simply the absence of an open mind. Like I said, my journey has been long, but it is not over.
In conclusion. I stated a year ago that I am Agnostic to most of my friends and family. I do not believe that the Bible is the word of God nor do I believe it was inspired by God. It was written by men, men who had agenda's and thoughts about the way they believed the story was supposed to mean. As an Agnostic, I must honestly say that when it comes to everything, I just simply do not know. I have thoughts and theories, but at the end of day, I am not completely sure about any of them. I do, technically, consider myself an Agnostic Theist who believes in Reincarnation, but Agnostic is easier. I am not a Biblical Scholar, but I am happy to discuss Religion or any other related topic with anyone at anytime. My goal is not to figure all this out because that is not going to happen. I just enjoy learning. When you grow up in the "Bible Belt" and leave Christianity and Pastor Bob, friends or family want to know why, it is nice to have an intelligent answer. Leaving Christianity was not easy, but I now wake up every day feeling secure in knowing that even though I do not know, I am not a prisoner to the lies of Christianity.
It has been an extremely long journey to get to where I am now and even though my destination is well in sight, I still feel there is more to be done and that is something I am working on at this time. There is no reason to mention the project I am working on right now because an idea is only an idea until you put that idea into motion and end with a result that not only satisfies yourself, but everyone else you intend to share it with. My project is in motion, it just does not have an end to date. Now, I do not intend on boring anyone reading this with meticulous events or useless babble, so I will be as brief as humanly possible as I present my testimonial for I assume many of you who reading this will already understand the missing parts.
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| Agnostic (Photo credit: las - initially) |
I did not start right away on my journey. I had to pack for it first and that did take some time. Around the year 1998, I read the Bible cover to cover for the first time. I felt more confused than I had before I had read it, so I read again a few years later. Still nothing. I read it again for the third time in 2008. Still nothing. I decided in 2009 to take a break from a forth reading. I decided to start reading everything I could get my hands on dealing with the Bible and religion as a whole. I read a book by Bart D. Erhman and if you do not know who he is or have not read any of his books, you must do so as soon as possible. It literally changed my life. Dr. Erhman PhD went to Moody Bible College. He graduated from Wheaton college and completed his Masters of Divinity at Princeton Seminary. Bart can read Hebrew, Greek, Coptic, Latin, German and French. He is a true Biblical scholar and even though he went down this road as a Christian, he walked away an Agnostic.
I am not a prisoner to the lies of Christianity.Now, I want to state this so that you will better understand my passion. I will be 42 years old in June. I have been divorced for seven years. I am currently single, have no children and have a good job. My point is that I have free time to do whatever I want. After reading three of Bart's books, which mainly deal with the problems in the Bible, I read the Bible again for the fourth time. It blew me away. There are not a few problems in the Bible nor hundreds, there are literally thousands of problems in the Bible. I could give you one problem in the Bible everyday for the next ten years! You cannot see them if you are not looking for them, but when you know about them, they are everywhere! In the last two years, I have read over 70 books dealing with everything from Reincarnation to NDE's, OBE's, life after death, books for Christianity and books against it. I have read about the history of Christianity and much about other religions. I listen to books at work, research for hours on my computer and watch everything I can about religion on television. This is my drug if you will and I do not care, I love it. I do not believe it anymore, but I am fascinated to the core as to how almost everyone else is. I am still on the fence as to whether it is outright brainwashing or how one is raised or if it has to do with a fear of Hell, the unknown or just simply the absence of an open mind. Like I said, my journey has been long, but it is not over.
In conclusion. I stated a year ago that I am Agnostic to most of my friends and family. I do not believe that the Bible is the word of God nor do I believe it was inspired by God. It was written by men, men who had agenda's and thoughts about the way they believed the story was supposed to mean. As an Agnostic, I must honestly say that when it comes to everything, I just simply do not know. I have thoughts and theories, but at the end of day, I am not completely sure about any of them. I do, technically, consider myself an Agnostic Theist who believes in Reincarnation, but Agnostic is easier. I am not a Biblical Scholar, but I am happy to discuss Religion or any other related topic with anyone at anytime. My goal is not to figure all this out because that is not going to happen. I just enjoy learning. When you grow up in the "Bible Belt" and leave Christianity and Pastor Bob, friends or family want to know why, it is nice to have an intelligent answer. Leaving Christianity was not easy, but I now wake up every day feeling secure in knowing that even though I do not know, I am not a prisoner to the lies of Christianity.
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