ExChristian.Net's LiveJournal

[http://exchristian.net/testimonies/2009/12/removing-veneer.html]
by Anonymous

I grew up attending fundy churches. Once upon a time I would have told
you that I made a choice to follow Jesus at 8 years old. Looking back
I'm not sure that is true. I was indoctrinated. I was never made to
feel there was any other alternative. At least no alternative that
didn't involve becoming a reprobate piece of trash worthy only of
burning forever in hell.

I was part of that culture for over 30 years. I have walked away from
it the last few years. It was a slow process. Every small change was a
struggle. The tendrils of my former religion cling tightly.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/doubting-jesus-resurrection.html]

Image via Wikipedia
By Kris Komarnitsky, author of Doubting Jesus' Resurrection: What
Happened in the Black Box? (also available in the UK and as an ebook).
According to well-known proponent of Jesus’ resurrection Dr. N.T.
Wright, “The empty tomb and the ‘meetings’ with Jesus, when combined,
present us with not only a sufficient condition for the rise of early
Christian belief, but also, it seems, a necessary one. Nothing else
historians have been able to come up with has the power to explain the
phenomena before us.”1 This view – which is really the idea that Jesus’
resurrection is the only plausible explanation for the Christian
origins evidence before us – has been popularized by lay authors like
JP Holding (The Impossible Faith) and Lee Strobel: “I had seen
defendants carted off to the death chamber on much less convincing
proof!”2 It has also filtered down to the lay blogosphere: “The
evidence is simply overwhelming. If you believe in gravity, you have to
believe that Christianity is also true.”


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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/yelling-hell-fire-in-crowd.html]
by Fatalotti

Have you ever heard of someone who's yelled fire in a crowded room in
which there was no fire, needlessly causing extreme levels of panic?
These people are generally arrested for disturbing the peace. If
someone were to get injured during the ensuing chaos, the charges
levied against the perpetrator could be even greater, including
reckless endangerment, and should someone be killed, it could extend to
manslaughter. It goes without saying that the law considers this to be
a serious offense because of the great damage it can cause.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/power-of-god.html]
by Neal Stone


Image by . SantiMB . via Flickr
According to the Bible and Christians, God created the earth and
universe in just six days. Let us take a good look at this.

Let's assume that this god did indeed create the universe. Then he
would have to have extremely advanced knowledge and skill in physics,
mathematics, engineering and so on. On top of that he would require an
immense power source beyond imagination.

So we are talking about someone with incredible power, knowledge and
skill.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/point-of-view.html]
by WizenedSage


Image by arti47 via Flickr
For those believers and fence-sitters who occasionally visit this site,
I offer the following for your consideration.

The following passage is the very foundation statement of Christianity,
so what it means is very, very important.
John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.”

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[http://exchristian.net/letters/2009/11/god-hates-you-hate-him-back.html]
Says Controversial Author in A New Book That Pokes Fun At The Holy
Scriptures

With people like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens leading the
way, more and more books discrediting the idea that a single sentient
being created everything around us are being devoured by atheists tired
of being labeled as un-godly and silenced legally, socially and
culturally by the prevalent creationist systems lying behind the
world’s most powerful (and arguably most violent) governments.

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[http://exchristian.net/testimonies/2009/11/de-converted-but-still-spiritual.html]
by Luna


Image by Stephen Poff via Flickr
My story might be different from others on this site. It hasn't ended
in atheism, or even agnosticism, though maybe that to a degree. I'm
always willing to learn, anyway. I am now a rather confirmed
mystic/pagan type, but my experience with Christianity was a rough one,
and I thought I'd share, however it may be received.

(Click here for more...)

[http://exchristian.net/testimonies/2009/11/long-journey-of-my-de-conversion.html]
by Rita D'Alvarez


Image by HORIZON via Flickr
Beliefs, personal truths and comprehending the world around us is a
life long journey. Where we start may not have any relation to where we
finish, and as long as we live the journey continues. I think there are
signaling events that trigger decisions which are in turn influenced by
countless factors. Am I allowed go where my thoughts lead me? Can I say
what I really think? What will those important to me think? Will I be
accepted? Am I the only one? How will this effect everything else?
Where will this lead to?

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/humanist-thanksgiving-proclamation.html]
by Robert Green Ingersoll (1833–1899), from The Works of Robert Green
Ingersoll Vol IV



When I became convinced that the universe is natural — that all the
ghosts and gods are myths, there entered into my brain, into my soul,
into every drop of my blood, the sense, the feeling, the joy of freedom.

The walls of my prison crumbled and fell, the dungeon was flooded with
light and all the bolts and bars and manacles became dust. I was no
longer a servant, a serf or a slave. There was for me no master in all
the world — not even infinite space.


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[http://exchristian.net/testimonies/2009/11/addict-in-recovery.html]
by Lauren

I have been reading stories on this website for about the last month or
so and have found immense comfort in the words of people with similar
experiences. I have a story to share:

I have spent the last year and a half in the worst depression of my
life because of my spontaneous loss of faith. I was raised in a church
and joined a pretty liberal one in Seattle -- a church with a strong
commitment to social justice and no focus on judgment and sin. I felt
like I was in a pretty good place, but even there I'd had ups and downs
of not "feeling" god, or having doubts. Fortunately, I wasn't
brainwashed in any of the crazy fundamentalist communities I know
exist, but I was encouraged to embrace questions, and in a post-modern
fashion, critically evaluate Christianity.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/it-is-not-strongest-of-species-that.html]
by Valerie Tarico

It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most
intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. – Charles Darwin
Last week, as I was driving a carload of middle-schoolers to a movie,
the kids started talking about their teachers. I couldn’t help
overhearing, “ . . . He’s a great science teacher, but he doesn’t
believe in evolution.” Two days later, a friend reported that her
15-year-old daughter had just returned from at a junior government
retreat. “They argued the pros and cons of teaching intelligent design
in schools, and she said there were some very compelling arguments on
the pro side.” When I repeated the story at the dinner table later, my
own daughter mentioned a school mate who feels conflicted about his
biology curriculum because his family doesn’t believe in evolution.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/you-can-be-healed.html]
by David J



Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty
"You Can Be Healed: How to Believe God for Your Healing" is a book by
Billy Joe Daughtery, founder of Victory Christian Center (VCC), Victory
Christian School (VCS), and Victory Bible Institute (VBI). Daughtery
was also the interim president at Oral Roberts University (ORU) of
which he and I are both alumni. In addition to being a graduate of VBI
and ORU, I am also a founding member of VCC and a former student of
VCS. In VBI, we had a class that was so important to him that he taught
it himself. It was on healing. To summerize a semester in a few words,
the premise was that Christ died for our sins and also our healing. Not
only is salvation a free gift for all who accept it, healing is also a
free gift for anyone who believes. I won't claim to know who wrote the
various parts of the bible or why, but a plain text reading of several
of the authors would lead to this interpretation.

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[http://exchristian.net/2/2009/11/pastor-under-fire-following-revelation.html]

The congregation at First 6th Street Baptist Church in Port Arthur got
a surprise last Sunday, Nov. 15. Near the end of a sermon on
forgiveness, their new pastor - the Rev. Donald R.A. Toussaint Sr. -
said he had something he needed to tell them.

According to church members who were at the service, Toussaint waved
some unspecified documents and disclosed that 28 years ago he was
accused of robbery and murder. He added that he had nothing to do with
those crimes and said he was forced into this admission
because "someone had spent $19.95 to dig up old records" in the case.
Toussaint said the matter was closed and did not need to be brought up
again.

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[http://exchristian.net/2/2009/11/pastor-jailed-on-church-theft-charges.html]
A former pastor at the Live Oak Community Church in Oakley was jailed
Monday on charges he supported a lavish lifestyle by incurring debt in
the church's name, including a $111,000 mortgage loan obtained by
falsifying documents.

Arcadio "Larry" Pineda, 65, was charged Friday with three felonies —
grand theft and two counts of filing false documents. Investigators
with the District Attorney's Office arrested him at his Oakley home
Monday and booked him into Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez on
$110,000 bail.

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[http://exchristian.net/2/2009/11/police-help-us-find-gaston-county.html]
Police are searching for a Gaston County pastor charged with raping and
molesting a teen girl.

Robert Lee Adams, 46, began sexually abusing the girl when she was
younger than 13 and got her pregnant about three years later, according
to the Gaston County Police Department. Authorities have been searching
for Adams for nine months.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/uncluttering.html]
by Carl S


Image by bondidwhat via Flickr
First off, for any Christian reading this, what do the words “Lead us
not into temptation” mean? I know that’s from the Lord’s Prayer, the
Perfect prayer, of which there are two versions. It means that, out of
all those fruits in Eden, the lord deliberately pointed out that you
shouldn’t eat those of that particular tree he deliberately planted
there, according to your beliefs. It also means that the hands placed
so close to certain organs are not allowed to touch and play with them.
In fact, there are many examples of the lord’s tempting. You can blame
Eve and the serpent all you want, but guess who put the boiling pot of
water just where the child would tip it over onto himself?

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/by-dr.html]
by Dr. Marlene Winell


Image by Te55 via Flickr
Recently I had a very short, but encouraging little dream right before
waking up. I had been feeling burdened by all the problems in the
world. In my dream I got the message that “the butterflies are working
to lift our spirits.” I woke up surprised and delighted. Later I shared
it with a couple friends who also liked it, amused by the image.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/why-dont-my-words-register-with-them.html]
by summerbreeze



It's nice to be "courted," isn't it? But, not when you are asked to
return to something that caused you so much unhappiness to begin with.

Amongst other bible studies, I was enrolled in Community Bible Study
(CBS) when I was a Christian. I jumped ship after I realized that
Christianity was a lie, and it made me feel so beat-down.

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[http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2009/11/things-you-learn-in-sunday-school-part.html]

Image by Adrianne Lacy via Flickr
by MtlRedAtheist.

The Holy Bible tells a story of how Elisha cursed some children to be
destroyed by wild bears, because they mocked his bald head. Apparently
killing children is not immoral when you do it by evoking God's
supernatural powers.

Why are we allowing our children to be taught this stuff?

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