By Astreja O ne thing I've noticed about Christians proselytizing online is that rather a lot of them try to come across as Scientists, with a capital S.  In this context, one gets to hear all sorts of twisted misinterpretations of physics and biology.  Not one of them seems to understand what the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics actually is, but it crops up an awful lot.  Evolution deniers are legion.   Chemistry pops up once in a while too, but usually only when a Young Earth Creationist is whining about Carbon 14  dating. Today, though, I specifically want to talk about Christian Mathematics, and red-pencil a few key equations. First, there's the puzzle of the Trinity, wherein 1 + 1 + 1 = 1.   One does not need a calculator or more than a grade 6 education to determine that the correct equation is this: ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓ = 1 In other words, Jesus, Yahweh, and the Holy Ghost only count for one-third of a god each, and with Jesus temporarily out of...

by Astreja Y es, we’ve heard these before:   “Even if God appeared right before you, you wouldn’t believe.” “You just want to sin." " I used to be {a drug addict | angry at God | a pagan atheist Cthulhu-worshipping gay prostitute who traded junk bonds on the Internet}…” That could lead to even more dangerous questions – I just have this to say about that:  So what? What if it  were  true that the sudden arrival of a god would not move us to belief?   So what?   What do you propose we actually do about it –  pretend  to believe?  Wouldn’t your all-knowing deity see right through that ploy? As for wanting to sin – generally by preferring wine to water, chocolate to carrots, or heavy metal to contemporary Christian praise music –  so what?   Thank you for the brilliant observation that our tastes are different from yours.  Thank you also for a heads-up that life in heaven may not be to ou...

By Astreja D ear Christian Visitor, This is just a short note to let you know that you're wasting your time here at ExChristian.Net.  You may think otherwise, but just sit down for a minute and listen carefully to what I have to say. First of all, bear in mind that quite a few of us have been where you are now:  Flushed with excitement at sharing the Gospel, and believing that your words are divinely inspired and have the power to soften the hardest heart. I hate to break this to you, but your words aren't magic.  Not only that, but we've probably heard them before -- Sometimes dozens of times before -- and any power they might have had over us is long gone.  Your impassioned plea has been reduced to a tasteless gob of chewed-out bubble gum.  Please don't stick it under the desk. Secondly, have you ever really thought about what you're saying?  You blurt out John 3:16 as if it's a good thing, not considering that a god who would allow his own s...

by Astreja T his afternoon I was reading the comments on the ExChristian.Net blog and came across the following screed, posted by someone named "Rick": God through Christians have told you what the consequences are in the end so you know. And when you stand before Him at the end of all things He'll say why didn't you believe in me? Sorry, Rick, but there's no evidence for your god.  There's just a bunch of Christians claiming to speak for a god.  Why should we take your word for it? And you will say, I'm sorry you didn't make yourself known to me, the evidence wasn't there and those idiot Christians pretty much ruined my life. And no one told me you exist.  And He will say yes you were told many times, you just needed to look at the heavens, watch nature, and understand how your body works, and listen to My word through those imperfect Christians to know that I exist. And here the believer constructs a fantasy conversation based on an unfal...

by Astreja ~ A common theme in Christian apologetics is the idea of the Disobedient Mortal, i.e. The Sinner. Supposedly as part of the legacy inherited from Adam and Eve, humans really and truly can't help themselves. They regularly go out of their way to disobey God at every possible opportunity, just for the sake of being contrary. An interesting myth -- But it doesn't line up with reality. It doesn't even come close. Look out your front window. How many of your neighbours do you see committing criminal acts right now? Unless you live in a particularly rough part of town, chances are that Mr. Jones is not currently climbing out through a broken picture window with Mr. Smith's big-screen TV. Go for a drive. Do you see a lot of people running red lights, driving on the wrong side of the road, or travelling 130 in a 30 mph zone? Probably not. Think back to the chitchat in the lounge at work earlier today. Were you yelling "You're wrong!...

by Astreja ~ E very once in a while, a dutiful and fervent Christian "stumbles" upon Ex-Christian.net. For some reason these individuals find it monumentally difficult to accept that this site even exists, let alone that we don't believe the same things that they do. In the interest of saving time, both ours and theirs, I have taken the liberty of preparing The Official Unofficial Ex-C FAQ for Prayer Warriors, Concerned Christians, and Trolls. Please don't question our credentials as ex-believers, unless you're prepared to demonstrate that  you  are the real deal. A YouTube video of your Super Prayer Voice causing a mountain to rise up and go flying into the sea will be fine (Mark 11:23). Either that, or just admit that we scare the crap out of you, and that you're terrified of losing your own faith.   Don't ask how we can be moral without God, unless you're prepared to explain the morality of letting Jesus take the fall for you.  While ...

By Astreja T here's a lot of black-and-white thinking in the world of the believer.  It's unfortunately quite rare to find nuanced argument; all too often, we're treated to binary ranting and raving.  Don't worship God?  You must be a Devil-worshipper, then.  Not saved?  Then you're condemned. Things get a little more interesting when one challenges a believer on the morality of their demonstrably immoral god.  Yes, Biblegod destroyed the ________  people, but they must have somehow deserved  it. Christian apologists , professionals and amateurs alike, never seem to offer any good historical evidence as to what the ________  people actually did  to merit genocide and the express elevator to Hell, but it couldn't possibly have been Biblegod's fault because Biblegod comes predefined as Infinitely Good and Infinitely Just. We're told that coveting a friend's candy bar is morally exactly equivalent to committing mass m...

By Astreja Somewhere in the squirrels-on-crack illogic of Christian lay apologetics can be found a concept most bizarre: Biblegod as a "perfect" being. After listening to various believers prattle on about their imaginary friend, I came to the conclusion that a lot of Christians have a frightfully low standard for "perfection." Let's start with Genesis , Chapter 2 and the Garden of Eden fable. Somehow Mr. Perfect thought it would be a good idea to put two magic trees in the Garden but specifically prohibit the tenants from enjoying the fruit of Tree #2. As any sane parent knows, it's a bad idea to bake cookies and leave them on a plate on the coffee table, then tell the kids "Ah-ah-ah! Don't touch!" And after the kids have been caught with chocolate smears on their faces and cookie crumbs all over the living room rug, no sane parent would toss the kids out on the street and hire an armed security guard to keep the kids from comin...

by Astreja -- Y ou've probably heard various Christians make the following statement, or a variation on it: "God doesn't send us to Hell ; we send ourselves there." Let's take a close look at the above assertion. First of all, there's an implicit assumption that an individual will have an actual choice to go to either the Nice Place or the Not-So-Nice place, somehow overriding the Divine Will of the omnipotent and omniscient Biblegod. This flies in the face of at least one variant of Christianity, Calvinism , which asserts that Biblegod has already picked out the "saved" and discarded everyone else. Secondly, it is also assumed that Biblegod will not only know about this person's "choice" but knew about it in advance , and permits it to happen anyway. The usual excuse given for this is that Biblegod does not want to impose upon our free will . Does anyone else see the problem with this? I present the analogy of the Par...