by WizenedSage (Galen Rose) ~ I t strikes me that Christians accept the foundational event of Christianity on extremely weak evidence. Supposedly, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, as described in the Gospels, is taken as proof that he was a god and thus deserving of worship. The sum total of the evidence amounts to several descriptions written in those ancient Gospels in a superstitious, pre-scientific age. It occurs to me that I would not believe the resurrection was what it appeared to be, even If I had seen it with my own eyes. In fact, I actually have seen a resurrection of sorts, and didn't believe it. Once, this dude in a tux was on a stage with a very pretty young lady. He had her get into a long, narrow box and lie down in it; her head protruded from one end of the box and her feet from the other end. Then he proceeded to saw the box in two and pull the two halves apart. The young lady had to be dead, right? Well, then he pushed the two ends of the box tog...

By hellboundsoul ~ I t’s been nearly 4 years since I left the beliefs of my childhood behind. The dust has settled for the most part. I have long since developed a new perspective, a new philosophy, a new moral foundation. In many ways, arguably the most important ways, I am still the same person as I always was. I act on my convictions wherever they might lead me. When I was 16 they led me to choose to become baptized in my community’s church. When I was 20 they led me away from everything I had ever known. The settling of the dust that coloured the long and arduous transition phase revealed something that would not fade away into distant memories. It was a new structure, a product of the transition of my beliefs. It was a structure of sadness. The sadness of loss. The bright new world that I saw through my brand new perspective was lacking something that I had become accustomed to having, so accustomed that I had taken it completely for granted. I had always had the support o...

By Still Unsure ~ O ne of the most treasured claims of Christianity centers around the Bible being the only source of truth that people can rely on. To believers, the scriptures are absolute truth because, well – it says so right there in them that they’re true. Truth is important to people, I’m guessing it always has been. What the writers of the New Testament seemed to be focused on was getting the gospel out. The gospel was a “ new covenant ” (legal agreement) that God was making by sending Jesus. That did not go over well with everyone who either liked, or just got used to the “old covenant.” You see, up until Jesus came around, the Jews had been taught that they had the only true covenant with God. His name was Yahweh…he liked rules and hated shellfish.  So the new covenant writers put a heavy emphasis on everything they wrote as being “the truth” about God too. Again, not cool for the “ I am the Lord, I change not ” to go ahead and start changing everyth...

By Carl S ~ W elcome to the Blame Game Age. Should God also be blamed? Under polytheism, gods were specialized, and could be blamed for specific calamities, absences, and lack of responses. But, since monotheism came to predominate, every age is the Age of Blaming a God Who Never Apologizes, Never Explains. But you can't blame God when bad things happen to good people , or hideous things happen to very good people, as when they are abducted, or raped, tortured, and frequently killed. Blame those who do these things using their “free will;” something their victims are deprived of by their perpetrators. But don’t blame almighty God for not doing anything to prevent them, because God is always the fallback exemption from responsibility. Neither can you blame God for telling his very own agents to commit crimes in his name, no matter what reasons. You can't blame God because his Books have caused so much confusion and brought so much misery to humankind, nor for the milli...

by Carl S. ~ A n article, "Papal Economics,” by Leah Mickens , is in The Humanist magazine, May-June 2014. It is more about Catholics than popes. As someone who knows present and former Catholics and their relationships with accepting or not "papal authority," l was not expecting anything new in Catholic laity reactions to the new pope's encyclical, " Evangelium Gaudiium ." Quite a few U.S. Catholics were bothered by it though, according to the author. In her final paragraphs, Mickens addressed some issues I've been thinking about lately, so her words arrived at an "opportune time," as the old saying goes. She writes, "If U.S. Catholics are all picking and choosing from the cafeteria, so to speak, whether it's sexuality on the left or economics on the right, it may be worth asking whether it's even possible to be an orthodox Catholic in the 21st century U.S., or in any other place or time." And further on she make...

By Valerie Tarico ~ B ible-believing Christians play fast and loose with their sacred text. When it suits their purposes, they treat it like the literally perfect word of God, and, in a peculiar twist of logic, they quote the Bible itself to back up their claim: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I [Jesus] have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17 Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:18-19 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword. Hebrews 4:12 Then, when ...

ex-Xtian (aka Thal) ~ The title "What the Hell God?" is based on an entry found on the website TV tropes called "What the Hell Hero?" It describes any event in a book, film or other medium in which the hero is called out on their actions wherein the hero breaks their own moral compass and therefore is criticized for it. I could go on for pages, and indeed have gone on for pages in my blog (see below for the link)about how God appears not to follow his moral compass especially in the Old Testament. Here however, I thought I would stick with the aspect of Christianity that has bothered me the most, Hell. I ronically, I first started having difficulty accepting Hell when I started reading Christian literature , including books by apologists and a few wacky ones on the end times most of which paint a picture of a God who is less than loving. Hell does the same thing, after you peel away Christianity's shiny exterior wherein evangelists advertise the idea of ...

By Rev. Ex-Evangelist ~ M y friend Kary owns a pub. It's a place that persons of my "mature" age can go and enjoy. The pub also attracts a lot of undergrad and grad students from a nearby, large, state university.  They come to have a drink, enjoy live music and play pool.  It's the nearest thing to "church" that I have going on in my life these days. I go to Kary's pub several times a week and sometimes get into some very interesting and intelligent conversations with total strangers while sipping his many fine brews and wines. Recently I was hanging out there when two attractive young women came in to order a drink.  They were dressed provocatively and, as "Providence" would have it, sat down next to me at the bar. Well, being an ex-fundamentalist Christian minister, I quickly judged them - based on their outward looks - as being of a heathenish sort:  they were displaying ample amounts of flesh, numerous tattoos and clothed in bl...

By Carl S. ~ I t‘s not unusual to find individuals testifying to their spiritual experiences , while others describe  themselves as “spiritual” persons. We can be sure, with the new pentecostal movements in the  Christian religion alone, that churches are loaded with those sharing personal testimonies of spiritual  experiences. Have you had your “spiritual” experience yet, and aren't you tempted to join this fad - movement? Wouldn't you want to experience just one of those moments that in current parlance,  “changed your life forever”? Well, drugs have brought many to experience the “spiritual,” the  “transcendental,” and  opened the doors of sensory perception to a hyper-reality. ( Henry James , in  his book, “ The Varieties of Religious Experience ,” cites alcoholic beverages as also causing them.) we  hear of ordinary people describing some experiences as “surreal.” You don't need admittance to an  American Indian peyote-included, reli...

By undercover agnostic ~ L ately, I’ve been reflecting on the key stories and experiences from my childhood that had shaped and solidified my belief in God/Jesus for several decades, until my recent deconversion. One event in particular had a profound impact on my spiritual development, and convinced me that Christianity was real. As I look at the story with fresh eyes and without my faith goggles, however, I can clearly see that my experiences were largely the product of manipulation and brainwashing, but at the time, I was sure they were supernatural. This is the story of going to summer Bible Camp and getting “Baptized in the Holy Spirit.” Every summer I went to Bible Camp in Bellevue Idaho, situated just minutes from the famous Sun Valley ski resort and Ketchum, the resting place of Ernest Hemingway . The documentary, JESUS CAMP , paints a vivid portrait of what my experiences were like.  We started our day with devotions in our cabin led by our camp counselor, followed b...

By Amethyst7 ~ F rom my very earliest memories, I had a very strong sense of a Something there watching out for me and caring about my well-being. I called it God. This was true even though I was raised by Milquetoast Methodist parents who had me baptized and then took me to church a couple of times a year, being essentially agnostics. One day during Sunday School (I was 5), I posed my first theological question when the teacher told us to pray for good weather for an upcoming church picnic. “What it there is a farmer who is praying for rain for his crops on the same day?” I asked. The teacher thought my question was cute. In middle school, our neighborhood had a lot of (reform) Jewish families. My best friend Bekka came from a large family that had emigrated from Israel a few years before. She and I were inseparable, and her father was a Cantor, so I spent many nights at the Synagogue and many other nights at Shabbats, mesmerized by the prayers over the candles: Barukh atah...