By Bore Venal Charlatan ~ I had a long discussion with a proselytizing Christian student at the bus stop, who had made a habit of passing out tracts. He had been around a few times so I decided to ask him about his side, and tell him of my version as well. Turned out to be Baptist (not surprisingly) and brought up all the familiar evangelical tools - man's sin in face of the ten commandments, the parable of the sower, the impending judgment day, and so on and so forth. He seemed surprised when I mentioned I had used the exact same arguments when 'witnessing' when I was still a Christian. Every evangelist uses the exact same old arguments which I have refuted so often and thoroughly they do not cease to withdraw into the classic 'Only God can know' defense. Naturally my friend assumed I had never known Christ to begin with, which is false, especially considering I probably had more experience in evangelism/apologetics than he did. Thankfully our experience did n...

By Bore Venal Charlatan ~ I s it possible to become so absorbed in an idea that it is impossible to be persuaded otherwise? At what point does a human mind become so fixed that it ceases to think independently? If so, is it ever possible to wake up? For me the act of actually leaving the Christian faith was, compared to others’ experiences, relatively uneventful. I had always been far more logical than emotional; changing my beliefs internally was not much more complicated than changing their listing on Facebook. I had been mainly content with Christianity, but decided based on science and history that the religion was not absolute truth. However, what I do feel strongly about is what I learned afterward, specifically from the responses I received from Christian friends. What I expected was a fun-filled theology debate, like the ones I have with deist and agnostic friends. But when I informed a church member of my reasons for leaving, I was surprised to see my de-conversion bla...