By John Shores ~  I t's time to see if I can live without Christianity entirely. It seems to me that as long as I am investing time and thought into the Ex-Christian journey, I'm still living in the shadow of Christianity. I'd like to see if I can escape it altogether. This will be my final submission on this site. I hope that the things I have written have helped others on this journey. As I say farewell to you all, I wanted to leave with one last offering of thought and reflection. Well, more a recap of what I have found to be the essentials in the whole question of Christianity. I want to thank Dave and the moderators on Ex-C for providing an invaluable oasis for the many who travel the path away from Christian indoctrination. I also offer my sincere gratitude to this community as a whole. Your companionship on this journey is beyond evaluation. I wish you all my highest hopes for great lives full of love and laughter. -John Shores P.S. For any o...

By John Shores ~ M y father was a Baptist pastor, later became a Wesleyan pastor and eventually became an Orthodox priest. Anyone familiar with these sects of Christianity will tell you that this is an extraordinary life journey. Dad and I used to fight a lot about our differing worldviews back when I was a Christian. After all, I had been conceived, born, marinated, and slowly roasted in the Protestant faith . And I was angry about a lot of things from my youth. So, it was natural that I would strike out at Dad when I was old enough to do so at a distance. He was very patient with me, and for that I will always be grateful. I reached a point in my life where I had started to read up on and embrace Orthodox ideas. Dad had already made the transition. The bishop at our church used to teach a message that "God is Not Mad at You." At first, this pissed me off to no end. I mean, honestly! Who could believe such malarkey? But as time passed and I allowed this thought t...

By John Shores ~ A coworker recently sent out an email containing the following: To those who do not know, my husband is a new pastor and “we” have recently been appointed by the Methodist organization to a church in a small town in Nicholson Georgia, outside of Athens in Jackson County.  Being new to  the area where the church is located we  noticed immediately a few things; first the size of the town is small and secondly the need is great because the church is located in an impoverished farm community. When families are not doing well economically the children suffer first. With that in mind the church has started an outreach ministry called “Beyond the walls”.  Our first community service act is partnering with the local elementary school in providing much needed supplies to grades K-5th.   This emailed bothered be on many levels. Conflicted By nature, I am a giver. Hearing about families in distress holds a strong appeal to me. After all, we've n...

By Johns Shores ~ D uring a "Train the Trainer" session, the leader of the session confided, "When I am asked a question, I answer immediately and with confidence. This doesn't mean that I know what I'm talking about, but it always seems like I do." The human brain has a hunger for certainty. As psychologist David Rock observes: Like an addiction to anything, when the craving for certainty is met, there is a sensation of reward (in the brain). Given this physical need, is it really any wonder that religions would arise? One of the hallmarks of religions like Christianity is that an answer to that which cannot be known is delivered immediately and with confidence. And once you have the answer, that's that. I think it can be successfully argued that the attraction of any religious idea is that it provides certainty in those spaces of our worldview that cannot be tested directly. Throughout history,physical events such as the rising and set...

By John Shores ~ I n a discussion with an Orthodox community, the owner of the blog (Father Stephen) and I embarked upon how the Old Testament (OT) God can only be "rightly understood through the lens of Christ." At least, that was his statement. I replied: Quote: I see absolutely no difference between the Old Testament God and the Jesus as described in the Gospels . He took offense at this and called my comment "glib." I rather think he lost his patience with me at that point. And I am sorry that he did. His response underscores something revealing about how even the best Christians view their God. If you know someone who is a really good and admirable man and you say that his son is "just like him," would the natural reaction be to take offense? If someone says, "He's just like his old man" and an offense is taken, that offense can only be possible because the "old man" is not someone with a good character or repu...

By John Shores ~ A s we look back at human history and compare them to the discoveries made in the past few hundred years, we find that the sheer tonnage of natural things that humans have wrongly attributed to spiritual causes is staggering. Why is it so difficult for Christians to say those three little words, "I don't know?" Patently Absurd Most Christians in the West are sensible enough to recognize that a hurricane, earthquake or other natural disaster is not some punishment from god for some human behavior. But there are those who will still claim that natural disasters are just that. Recall with me all those who came out of the woodwork on September 11 and claimed that the tragedy that befell New York and Washington were god's punishment for homosexuality or abortion or some other sociopolitical issue. But even among the most enlightened Christians lives the idea that there is some spiritual entity ("god") keeping track of everyone's...

By John Shores ~ I n a recent discussion regarding the assisted suicide of Brittany Maynard, one Christian stated: Anyone claiming that suicide will end her suffering is making a very strong religious claim. How do they KNOW things will be better after death? Any real Christian knows that dying without salvation in Jesus means an eternity in Hell . This christian woman has started from a perspective that is predicated on some pretty awful ideas. I want to talk to Christians here for a moment. If you are in agreement with the idea that Brittany Maynard or Robin Williams or any other person who chooses to end their own life is headed to Hell, I have a couple questions for you. Why do you feel the need to say so? Obviously the dead cannot benefit from your statements. The biggest impact that your words can have is to torment the hearts of those have lost someone dear to them. This is like rushing to an innocent bystander who received a bullet wound from a drive-by shooti...

By John Shores ~ I n the Christian vernacular, "sin" carries currency of some sort. "The wages of sin" is one phrase that supports this notion. The idea that "Jesus died to save you from the consequences of your sin" also sounds rather like a rich uncle bailing out a nephew who is deeply in debt. What makes this currency of sin somewhat nefarious is that in the Christian worldview sin is not in fact the same thing as behaving immorally . In Matthew 5 , Jesus states that things such as anger and lust are up for "sin" status and can land one at the judgment seat. This idea of elevating thoughts and natural impulses to the status of "sins" really crosses any lines of reasonableness. Born in sin? Christian doctrine is founded on the idea that humans have a "sin nature." What does that mean? If you read Romans 7 ("…For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want....")...

By John Shores ~ T alking to a Christian about the character of God is always tiresome. What troubles me the most is how quickly so many dismiss anything in the Old Testament as being irrelevant. It is as if they think "that was God before he went through rehab, but now he's really a nice guy." To me, this is like watching a video of Hitler playing with a puppy and thinking, "Aw, how sweet!" If one was to do a profile of this god, what sort of person would we be looking at? The Old Testament god is just too easy a target. So let's see what this new and improved god of the New Testament is like. A Kinder, Gentler God… Let's begin with the Book of the Acts of the Apostles . In chapter five we find an account that never fails to astonish me. The scene: A congregational meeting The sermon: "Jesus died for your sins. Repent therefore!" In the midst of this "Repent therefore" sermon, Peter is working himself into frenzy. ...

By John Shores ~ T here is far too much noise out there, noise that serves the purpose of distracting people from those things that are truly important. In the case of Christianity, this noise comes in the forms of sermons, music with pithy lyrics, and "apologetics" either in book form, blogs or online videos. It's all just noise. Is there anything that is truly essential to the Christian faith? I mean, if you threw out the Book of the Acts of the Apostles for example, would that at all impact Christian doctrine ? Not really. Just how much of the Scripture can one do without and still have the Christianity that was defined in 324 A.D.? I asked this question for a long time and I talked to a lot of really smart Christians along the way and in the end, it really comes down to just one thing. There is only one item that Christians claim that Christianity cannot do without; the Resurrection of Christ . Now, a Resurrection implies a life and a death. But if the ...