By Klym ~ N o matter how hard I try, I just can't get away from the constant bombardment of Christian culture. Granted, I live in the Bible Belt of the USA, in the south, so why should I be surprised? But, still, I find myself getting "evangelized" in the strangest places and at the strangest times. Picture this: I'm minding my own business at work last week when I go to my work mailbox and find a plastic 16 oz. bottle of water, the neck of it wrapped with a pretty bow of pink netting, with a couple of cards attached to the bow advertising "P31 fitness". Now mind you, I'm an educator, so this was in my "secular" mailbox at school. Every single mailbox in my school (even the men's boxes) had the "message in a bottle" placed in it that day. I eagerly look at the cards attached thinking, "Wow, I haven't heard of this new fitness craze---I wonder what it is?" Since I was 18 years old I have been a fitness junkie-...

From Marc ~ M y Story is precisely the opposite of yours. I've read the same articles and the same messages propagated by atheist agenda. My initial distrust in Religion was fed by the would be Christians dominating the headlines. I'd see a public figure who represents a church somewhere with a strong constitution saying and doing things that are not a reflection of Jesus and his teaching. This is repeated over and over again in society. I believe you quit your learning to early. The messages you have received from the internet sites are not accurate. To many prosperity sermons, or intolerance sermons or fear sermons. These are not the message. Being a Christian should be hard not easy, as I have found, It means thinking of others and not yourself. It means living for God. I struggle with this daily. One thing is clear when it comes to the Bible and Prophecies, Man always gets it wrong. When people try to Predict the ways of God, they simply develope expectat...

By Rev. Ex-Evangelist ~ W hile working out at the gym this past Sunday morning, I watched a mega-church , "non-denominational", charismatic minister deliver his sermon on the television monitor in front of the treadmill I was on. The guy was dressed casually; no stuffy and formal, traditional dress coat and tie. This guy had a cool hair-cut and glasses. His delivery was flawless, funny, entertaining and personable. He looked like he works out regularly. I guess he is about 40+ years old. He was a total hipster. You could tell by the verbal response of his congregation that they think this fellow is the best thing since sliced bread . I know they thank God that they have such a cool, modern and holy ghost-anointed pastor. But for all the cool cat vibe he presented, and the background music accompanied by electric guitars, drum-sets awesome sound-system, choir and assorted bells and techno whistles of American-style "contemporary worship," his mess...

By Chris E. ~ I was raised by my grandparents, who were Christian, while we did not go to church much, there were plenty of readings of bible passages. I can remember once, I was about 5, had lied and my grandmother sat me down and read to me the book of Job and thinking “wow, this God person is mean!” This was pretty typical of my childhood, if I didn't get spanked with a belt, I had a passage from the bible read to me. Skepticism from an early age came almost naturally for me, maybe it was the thrust into religion without any questioning, or just basic curiosity. I did not have many friends at this age, but I did have my brother and cousin who were pretty much my age. They both had imaginary friends, my cousin had some weird duck thing, and my brother had a T-Rex and Apatosaurus . They would always run around telling me how great they were, and even my brother told me that if I was alone and called their names that they would come to me. This was sometimes a daily occurr...

By Carl S. ~ T he scriptures referred to herein are those of the three Abrahamic religions , Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, each of which have their own variations and interpretations of what they consider “inspired.” We might seriously consider those lessons which are basic to every one of them, and the implications for everyone not ascribing to those lessons. These ARE the lessons of scripture: The Ghent Altarpiece: God Almighty (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) TWO WRONGS MAKE A RIGHT The punishment for disobeying the god frequently involves killing an innocent human being. Innocent children are punished, even to the third and fourth generations. Mankind, with its multitude of good people, were drowned as rats even as they struggled to survive under already harsh conditions, to raise families, even as they loved and cared for one another and their pets, as we ourselves do today. To rectify “shame” or dishonor because your daughter or son disobeys you, kill them. (It is ...

By Cat ~ I was born into Christianity, the son of a deacon. I was a Son of God for 16 years, baptized too. All my best friends were devout evangelical Christians , as was my girlfriend (ex now), and I loved them all and still do. Those were the happiest times of my life, and sometimes I do wish I could go back to them. At 14, I began being mentored in 1-on-1 sessions by the head youth leader of the church , and I was pretty sure he was teaching me to succeed him, as did his mentor before him (the previous youth head leader, now a pastor). I loved learning about God, Jesus and the Bible - in fact I would go around and attend theological study groups led by well known evangelists. I also led the weekly Christian group at my high school. At 15, I became the youngest leader for one of the largest evangelical youth movements in my country. I tell you these things because I want you reading to know that by any and all standards and in the eyes of many a pastor or youth leader, and ...

By WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ Y esterday, my good friend Carl S. called to pass on an observation. He said, “ Abraham didn’t free the slaves, Moses didn’t free the slaves, Jesus didn’t free the slaves, St. Paul didn’t free the slaves, Abe Lincoln freed the slaves. Think about it.” I did think about it, and found a very important message in this observation. If you think about it, you too will see that the Bible presents the morality of primitive men, not the morality of the best of men. Isn’t that odd for a book which is claimed to be the word of god, or at least inspired by god? Just what does that say about those men who set those words to parchment? We could easily fill a book with examples of Biblical passages which reflect the morality of primitive men, but let me just provide a few. When Adam and Eve disobey god, he doesn’t just curse them, he curses the whole human race. This is even worse than when he threatens to punish the ancestors of men to the third and fourth gen...

By Discordia ~ I found a free Android app that lets me create memes for posting on various social sites. One of the myriad templates is the philosoraptor with the following text offered as a sample: If Satan punishes the evildoers, wouldn’t that make him a good guy? That question made me sit back and think. (I love when that happens, by the way!) The only logical answer would have to be "Yes". I have always heard that Satan is the enemy of God and stands against everything God is for. Since God orders the eternal punishment of people who don’t believe in Him, then why would Satan follow that order if he was The Bad Guy? According to Christian doctrine, Satan and Hell are a special creation of God to punish people who don’t believe in God. Christians believe that people who don’t believe in God are enemies of God, just like Satan. So….what possible reason could there be for Satan to torture those billions who should be his steadfast allies in his fight agai...

By Daniel out of the Lion's Den ~ M y mother claims that when she was four years old, she floated down a staircase. Astonished by this feat, she ran to the neighborhood children to tell them about her amazing achievement. Some were skeptical, and demanded that she repeat the event in their presence. The crowd gathered in her house as she climbed to the top of the stairs. She stood there trying as hard as she could to launch into the super-human glide that she was certain occurred just minutes beforehand. But nothing happened. As the naysayers began to dispersed, she exclaimed, “You have to eat a lot of carrots!” “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall the matter be established.” This biblical axiom is scattered through the Old and New Testaments. And why shouldn’t it be? It’s actually not a bad rule. Certainly, in modern courts of law, when more than one witness independently corroborate a story, the story is given credence and becomes believable. In the Bib...

By Tom Brower ~ I trace the beginnings of my spiritual journey to a time when, as a young teen, I began to take interest in the great questions in life and was frequently distracted by a desire to understand how I fit into the big picture. Living near the beach, I often took advantage of the opportunity to sit and contemplate on the shores of Huntington Beach, California. I felt a palpable sense of peace and belonging at the ocean and I often would retreat there for solace. My answers to life’s great questions remained ill defined at this point in my life, but my own native religion was nature-centered and non-theistic. In my later teen years, however, I came under the influence of several enthusiastic Christian friends. At first, I was very resistant to the Gospel message and to some of the content of the Bible. But over time, my attraction to the welcoming fellowship, the high moral standards, the reassuring divine promises, and the ready supply of answers to my deepest questi...