By James Wilhelm ~ W ho was it that said the best case against Christianity are Christians? If there’s any real value to Christianity in terms of helping humanity, why do so many Christians ruin it for so many others? Having lived the Christian life, I came to know many sincere and devout Christians. However, when I lived that life, I was ignorant of how scant the evidence supporting the truth of any of its fundamental beliefs. Christians argue and twist history considerably, but in the end all that’s left for a their foundation is blind faith. There is nothing especially wrong with a life based on blind faith, but I don’t agree with taking advantage of people by insisting Christianity is "TRUE" when there is no real evidence supporting that belief. So many believers don’t want to acknowledge that for every person who ends their struggle with the concept of Christianity and God by deciding they are “lost” and must accept Jesus as their “personal savior,” there are just ...

By James Wilhelm ~ C ontrary to what my religious brothers and sisters think, the decision to abandon Christianity came only after much careful thought and painful years of self-doubt and anxiety. It didn’t come easy or lightly. A lifetime of trying to resolve the faith into something meaningful and lasting took a huge toll on me, with the final decision holding much sadness. And the blows that followed like: “You were never really a Christian” or “You were never really saved” or “You went to the wrong church” just added to the sadness. In my heart I went deeper into Christian principals and know the Bible better than most espousing it. People abandon Christianity for various reasons. Some see the contradictions, hypocrisy and silliness and decide it isn’t for them. I understand that. But leaving something you truly believed in, something you gave your heart to, and something you ultimately found to be fundamentally incorrect, is mind bending and life altering. For some o...

By James Wilhelm ~ W e are all part of the same universe – every one of us – like it or not. Religion, Jesus, or a misguided belief in heaven and hell won’t change this. One of the larger problems with Christianity is that it won’t acknowledge this idea. In fact, this viewpoint is considered evil – inspired by the devil – because the Bible tells us so. As believers raise their hands to the Lord and listen to the Holy Spirit, they convince themselves they’re OK – saved by Jesus – but they are not so sure about you (especially if you're an unbeliever.) "I’m going to heaven – you’re going to hell." We all hear Christian leaders preach with this or similar condescending attitudes. Where I live a well-known Christian minister recently reminded his congregation to avoid certain people “because you don’t know what demons they carry around with them." In Europe in the 1600's Christians were burning people to death because they were smart enough to figure out...

By James Wilhelm ~ F or so many people life is significantly stressful. Many problems we have are because of how we were brought up. Most were never shown how to handle the problems life gives us. The result is we respond in ways not good for us and not in our interest. We all do it to some degree. If only were given the guidance we needed when we were growing up. Most of us needed to be shown how to be stable - how to react appropriately to things when we were children and young adults. The result is we bring trouble on ourselves without even recognizing it. Have you ever noticed the bad choices so many Christians make? Even with God on their side? Churches are full of people praying to God for solutions to self-inflected problems. They would be better served by learning how to make better choices and decisions than pushing a belief in something as tenuous as religion. When you know things are not working out and you look to God for help – I’ve rarely met a relig...

By James Wilhelm ~ S uperficial Christianity works best. The deeper you go - the more damaging and destructive it becomes - and the more mentally unstable a person gets. And the Bible implores us to go deeper and even chastises us if we are only superficial Christians. Take the case of the parents that opt to withhold medical help from their child. The child dies. This happens frequently. In virtually all cases you can’t fault their theology. They took the bible at its word – doing what it implores. Living by faith - and it destroyed them as well as their offspring. Were they more theologically superficial and secretly took their kid to a doctor - they could still be going to church with their child – praising the Lord - laying guilt on non-believers and believers alike to have more faith. Christianity’s endless mind loops are the problem. You do what it says. Things go wrong because you did what it said. The loop starts. Things get real complicated - real fast. Mor...

By James Wilhelm ~ C hristians tell us that God's ways are not our ways. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8 And also this: “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out. In faithfulness He will bring forth justice.” -- Isaiah 42:3 The accepted meaning of this verse is that a battered and broken person - God will not further damage. As one interpretation explains – “He will not extinguish us while in our brokenness.” I’ve had the opportunity of knowing many Christians in many settings. So many times you hear them pray for the frivolous. Praise the Lord! I lost my car keys and He found them! Thank you Jesus! Or; I was almost out of gas - late at night - and prayed to the Lord to find an open gas station – Oh, thank you Jesus - I found one! The list goes on and on. Jesus and the Holy Spirit sure takes care of the faithful. Praise the Lord! I lost my...

By James Wilhelm ~ I came from a Catholic family and grew up in the 50's, 60's and early 70's. I'm the second oldest – now 65 – and have a sister two years older. We went to Catholic schools, catechism classes, mass every week, confessed our "sins" to a priest every month and all the usual nonsense connected with this brand of Christianity. My parents held strict Catholic beliefs. We had aunts and uncles that were priests, nuns and other holy people. We were deeply entrenched. We believed that priests were one step lower than God. They were prefect – we were lowly ignorant children. The expectation was that we children shut-up, and if there were any blame to go around it was always us kids that took the hit. My father would say over and over and over, "Children should be seen and not heard," and he abusively meant it. My older sister revealed to me just recently that while attending Catholic school as a child she was abused by a priest....

By James Wilhelm ~ (The following is a true story - one of many I have personally come across during my 40+ year journey through Christianity.) I have a good friend - a dependable, devout, genteel type of guy. Regularly attended church - always participating in "fellowship" and other church activities. Being single - he met a girl in church and quietly and discretely dated her. One night a very clear dream came - God wanted him to marry her! God answered his prayer! They married months later and soon a child followed. Turned out his new wife was a secret drug addict - and within two years sunk deeper into addiction and eventually killed herself. Now - totally broken and no faith he's struggling to explain to his child what happened to her mother. The real issue is how do you stop from being angry, bitter and resentful at a God you believed in that really doesn't exit? This is the conundrum of many of us who have abandoned religion. My anger is toward the th...

By James W ~ I grew up in a strict Catholic family of seven children. Fear was always present – fear of God - fear of my very abusive parents – fear of life – fear of myself. At 15 years old stress and depression finally overcame me. I was barely able to maintain. I asked my parents for help - I was rapidly losing the ability to cope. My mother – a very mean person - totally ignored me and didn’t care - my father screamed and yelled at me. I sunk deeper but somehow managed to graduate high school and left home for a technical school at 18. I started drinking. I graduated an 18 month technical school and got a job - but the stress and depression now overcame me and I was hospitalized four times. I spent a year and a half in a mental hospital. In the last hospital stay I met a man that introduced me to fundamental Christianity. I decided to “give my life to Jesus” and get “saved”. From that point I slowly began to cope and understand things better – at least I thought. At...