By Thin-ice ~ (Prelude: I was a Bible school grad, a missionary in Europe, and de-converted about 8 years ago, after 46 years as an evangelical, born-again Christian. I have posted my original de-conversion story, and 3 or 4 subsequent updates, here on Ex-christian.net, first under the name "Portland Guy", and then under "Thin-Ice". Here's another small episode, that I experienced today.) T oday I was on the Portland streetcar, when I saw a young fellow near me, wearing a t-shirt with the name of a small rural high school near where I grew up in Spokane, WA. He was also writing in a journal which had a cover with an embossed Bible verse reference. I decided not to talk to him, seeing that we had different worldviews. But my curiosity got the best of me: maybe we knew people in common in that rural community. So I asked if he went to school there, and I mentioned the name of the church I grew up in, thinking he might even have attended there. But he didn...

By Thin-ice ~ S ome of you older inhabitants of this website may recall my de-conversion story , as one who accepted Jesus at 14, went to Bible College, was a missionary (Operation Mobilization) for several years, and finally after 46 born-again years (it's never too late) de-converted and became a true-blue apostate and unbeliever at the age of 60. (In case you are curious, here are previous posts , following my journey from hesitant, unsure new unbeliever, to today being a confident activist member of the Portland secular humanist community: Anyway, the title may lead some to believe that I had second thoughts and needed to refresh my Bible knowledge at seminary. No, quite the opposite: I was invited last Tuesday as a guest speaker to a class of post-grad seminary students studying apologetics, to give my de-conversion "testimony", at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. I felt like that admonition in I Peter 3:15: "Always be ready to give an answer to every...

By Thin-ice ~ M y wife and I are selling our house, where we've been for 22 years and raised 2 sons to adulthood. Someone from California saw it on Zillow.com listed as "Make Me Move" and offered the full (over market) price for it. Suddenly we are faced with one of the those traumatic life events that aren't really very much fun, but sure as hell stimulating! And for the first time as de-converted evangelicals who are now atheists, we are going through a major life event without reference to God, prayer, God's will, signs, or anything else that in the old days we would drag into such a decision. It is a strange and liberating feeling! It's great making decisions without having to worry about what God's will is, or how to discern it. Think back with me to all the usual milestones in life: puberty, dating, first car, high-school graduation, choice of college and/or career, marriage, having children, changing careers, buying and selling homes, ...

By Thin-ice ~ I finally found my de-conversion story that I posted two years ago here at exchristian.net. (I couldn't find it because I used a different sign-in back then). If anyone wants to read my original posting so you can make sense of some things I say below, go here . It's interesting to look back and see what I wrote a couple of years ago, and to see how far I've come since then. With my de-conversion came an insatiable curiosity, not only about my former faith and it's origins, but about the entire natural world. Science is my friend now, not a threat to my belief system. I've invariably got about 5 or 6 books on the go at one time, everything from Robert Ingersoll to Robert Wright , from Bart Simpson to Bart Ehrman . I've missed my chance to get a graduate degree, like ExPastorDan is doing (you ROCK! ), but I still enjoy using my limited intelligence to follow the discussions on, for example, John Loftus blog , and Common Sense Atheism . I love...