By Edward T. Babinski ~ JOSH MCDOWELL’S TIMELINE OF PUFFING UP HIS TESTIMONY DECADE AFTER DECADE A film came out in 2012 portraying Josh McDowell as having traveled the world in search of evidence to refute Christianity. Unable to do so, he reluctantly converted. The film was titled, Undaunted . McDowell converted in 1959, so let’s start by comparing his earliest written testimonies of his conversion with the expanded multi-part series he composed 39 years later, and again, 48 years later. In the first edition of Evidence That Demands a Verdict McDowell's testimony was titled, "I've Got a Satisfied Mind," while in the second edition he rewrote and lengthened it, and titled it, "He Changed My Life.” Based on those two early versions of his testimony in two of his earliest apologetic works, and based on the date McDowell himself supplies for his conversion he converted when he was a mere sophomore at an unimpressive community college and he convert...

By Cerberus ~ E arly on, (I was 24 my girlfriend was 22) we two lifelong Catholics schooled in the Parish together, wanted to get married. We imagined standing before our priest some quiet weekday — just us and our parents along with whoever the Law and church required. We quickly found out that eight months minimum of "Marriage Education" would be required first. Remember that we were not unknowns here. Upon hearing that (the 8 months...), I abruptly stood, thanked the father for his time, and we left. I told my girlfriend that as far as I was concerned, a justice of the peace would do just fine. We were married within a week. I have never been back there (to that church) since. They showed me then and there it wasn't about God, but rather about the control of people and most importantly, the control of people's wallets. I anticipate going there for my Father's funeral mass, but that is in respect for him, not for his church.

By MTC ~ G otquestions.org , is a popular website for those with questions about the Bible, God, etc. They act "holy and godly" on their website, but watch out! Be warned, this is a lengthy post. LOL To start, here is a message I sent to gotquestions.org : "Hello! As indicated, I'd like to share a few issues regarding the Bible and common answers, including those found on your website. A common theme in Christianity, and that your ministry endorses, is male headship in the church and the home. Supposedly women aren't inferior, less intelligent or capable, etc. Yet God reserves leadership in the church and home for men only. One of your pages says, "Sexism is the abuse of these roles, not the existence of these roles." Yeah, that makes a lot of sense! *sarcasm* And gee, just maybe the existence of these roles, along with the "fact" that they're given by God himself, is exactly why they get abused and taken advantage of. After all, ...

By Michael Runyan ~ I magine there is a summer camp with lots of children. It is a typical one-week affair with a staff of administrators. On the first day, a child finds a letter that states, “On the third day I will arrive at the camp. Every child who paints a star on their forehead will be taken to an amusement park while those who don’t will stay behind and spend all day cleaning the camp.”  It is signed ‘Bob.’ Nobody knows who Bob is, assuming he is a real person, or whether he or someone else wrote the letter. Most of the children dismiss this as a prank and take no note of its requirement. In fact, they later find other letters signed by other names making similar promises. However, a few kids, who somehow believe ‘Bob’s’ letter is possibly true while the others are fake, paint the star ‘just in case.’ Sure enough Bob shows up on the third day and takes them to an amusement park. The disgruntled remainder, many of whom followed the directions of other (now to be s...

By Whitney ~ L eaving the church, my faith and my belief in the Christianity that was once the essence of my every understanding, has brought many freedoms to my life. It has afforded me the space to see people for who they are; not the sins they commit. It has opened my mind to new ideas; allowed me to question the unquestionable. In these almost five years of non adherence to religion, I have been able to build an ever evolving worldview piece by piece. So much of that process has been filled with child like wonder as I begin to see life and all the things that inhabit it from a new, sometimes formerly forbidden, vantage point. The compassion and gentleness and awe that has been cultivated in my heart through hours of discussion with others and sometimes a glass (or two) of whiskey has surpassed the fears I once had when I first started on this uncharted path. I think I would be giving myself and my story a disservice if I said this new enlightenment hasn’t come at a cost......

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 Catherine ~ I was raised Roman Catholic and went to Catholic school until 7th grade. My mother had us go to church every Sunday and we performed all the sacraments required. This gave me the morals to never judge anyone, as God was the only one to judge. This sets up a life of not using good judgment about people – or God – always to see the best in them and rely upon that. When dating, I didn't use discernment as that would be judging. And when my husband-to-be started changing for the worse, I knew God would help and bring him back to the gentle person I had known him to be. From before the marriage I was threatened of what he would do if I didn't marry him, and this included what would also happen to my family. I thought if God didn't help, and if I couldn't help, I'd find a way out later. Ten years later that would be, as laws didn't protect a wife from a husband back then. Think the Bible didn't influence law? I was told by more than one police ...

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 Zoey Dalan ~ I t's almost always the small things that make you question reality. The big things are covered and denounced, over and over, explained away by everyone you know. What'll trip you up is the small things that don't quite make sense, the details that don't fit in. And sometimes, it's not until you are deeply involved in that reality that you question its nature. Ironically, I didn't doubt a word they told me until I was set to be an official member of the church. As a child, I was raised in the Methodist church. My family was involved everywhere. My sister and I were two of half a dozen kids in the church at any one time. Both our parents were in the choir. My dad taught Sunday school for the high-schoolers. And every step of the way, as God was shown to me, I never wondered if He actually existed. I wasn't worried about His existence. I was just trying to be the best Christian I could be. Christianity was like brushing your teeth. The...

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 Carl S ~ Article originally published on 12.19.2019 in the author's local newspaper. E very December, clergy take center-stage. Every time they preach of Jesus, I'm reminded of a fact: any man who does not write down his own thoughts and words gives up control of what is attributed to him after he has died. In the case of Jesus, this seems to be puzzling, since, as a rabbi, he was literate, and had at least more than 20 years available in which to write before he began his mission. There are various gospels, all by unknown authors, written decades after he died. From them, early Church bishops chose merely four. We are presented with only what those men allege Jesus said and did. Some people claim their words are fake news of the times, and there is no way to deny this. What we're told to take on faith means to believe and trust hearsay, handed down by those writers and their echoers. This tradition has created terrible problems for mankind; any faith of exclusion ...

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 Art ~ G reetings to all of you! Sorry if my English is not very good, it's not my native language. So I want to ask you guys to give some advice about my situation. I'm a musician, worship minister in a small Pentecostal church (about 20-30 members). The other members of the group never considered themselves as a musicians and was doing their ministry only because there was no one else who was ready to do it. So when I became a minister, all technical stuff about how to make music not to sound like shit was laid on my shoulders because I was the only one in the whole church who knows how to do it right. Not so long ago I was came out to my pastor and to other ministers about my non beliefs. After some discussions when they realized that I'm serious about my decision to leave the church they're have nothing left to say but to ask me not to leave my ministry until a replacement was found for me as a musician. Actually I can understand them, because the rest of th...

By Kim Anne Whittemore ~ W ow, so much skin. Is it too much skin? This is, without contest, the most provocative thing I've worn on my 25-year-old body in the last four years. Provocative -- there's that word again. Of course, that feeling is here; it's the one thing I can count on when trying on new clothes. It visits me without a specific invitation. It's a drop-in kind of visitor; it's going to show up and usually at the most inconvenient times. In my life's relatively new context (four years ago I was "born again"), that word, provocative, carries a new connotation -- just as many familiar words now have new connotations. In my pursuit of an unimaginably beautiful eternity, I've willingly and wholeheartedly embraced this volume of newly defined words; words with definitions to which I've been introduced. My "mature" Christian teachers refer to divinely inspired texts while standing at a lectern, behind the microphone a...

By Fernando Alcántar ~ T he United Methodist Church has proposed a historic split over gay marriage and LGBT clergy . And it was a long time coming. How do I know? I lived it. You see, I worked in high levels of leadership for the United Methodist Church in the peak of my Christian ministry from 2008-2011. I was the Director of Leadership Development for Young People for the California-Pacific Conference of the UMC (Cal-Pac)—which in that time oversaw almost 400 churches across Southern California, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan. In my job, I oversaw youth and young adult ministries across the region, ran conferences, led leadership councils, and took part in the activism young people had in legislation—among them the always hotly debated issue of acceptance of gay marriage. Fernando Alcántar on the cover of the last edition of The Aquila , an e-magazine he had created for youth and young adult ministries. I came to the UMC after spending 8 years at Azusa Pacific University (APU)—the ...