You're Kidding Me... Right?

[wonderer]

You are not the droids we're looking for. You are not exhibiting traits that we want to emulate. Rather, you personify many damaging behaviours and beliefs that we've already discarded.

You forgot: "You are free to go." Or stay and actually engage in a reasonable exchange of views.

[L.B.]

"The (m)ASS has ended; go in peace."

 

Thanks be to... oh, wait. Never mind.

 

Astreja, kudos. I think there's something VERY scary to the average xtian about a person with the courage of their convictions.

 

In fact... I might post about it myself. Hmmm...

[Astreja]

Astreja, kudos. I think there's something VERY scary to the average xtian about a person with the courage of their convictions. In fact... I might post about it myself. Hmmm...

Go for it! It's delightfully therapeutic.

[Jincks013]

Wouldn't claiming a relationship with the mythical sadist be like claiming there is a relationship between ken and barbie? I'm having flashbacks to the wierd science video from the 80's...

[Ravenwing]

Wow, that's intense. If ever there was an upacking of what 'talk to the hand' means, THAT would be it. Lol. Except you wouldn't even want your hand exposed to that kind of risk of infection.

 

Love the rant... got lost on the bit about bananas though

[Astreja]

Love the rant... got lost on the bit about bananas though

That's a reference to Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, two particularly idiotic apologists who think that the banana is "The Atheist's Worst Nightmare".

[Auracle]

Love the rant... got lost on the bit about bananas though

That's a reference to Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort, two particularly idiotic apologists who think that the banana is "The Atheist's Worst Nightmare".

 

LOL...and why, pray tell, is that?

 

*gets curious and looks it up and finds a YouTube video..*

 

Erm, I'm sorry I asked...lol...o.O

 

Just adds to my thoughts of bananas being phallic though...tsk tsk me and my dirty mind...

 

*sniggers about the "perfect shape for the human mouth and ease of entry"*

[Deanna]

I know everyone basically said it in other words, but..

 

This post is genius.

[Sexton Blake]

The Great Plague of London in 1665 was particularly horrible where people came out in big black sores before they died a painful death. Yet it is said that some infected people went around spreading it to healthy people deliberately because they thought they would want it. I think christianity is the same. Maybe just misery loves company.

[PandaPirate]

Wow! That's awesome.

 

I remember after joining ExC about a year ago I went back to Church and thought it was my MISSION to save all of you!!!! By golly, I was ordained by God to SAVE!!!!

 

*throws up*

 

Thankfully, you nice folks at ExC talked me out of my nonsense. It's like I was about to commit suicide and you guys talked me down!!!

[Vomit Comet]

Just got around to reading this finally.

 

Fuck yeah! Wooooooooooo!!!!! Tell them fuckers what's up!!!!

[Ixchel]

I love it!

 

[Pandora Moon]

I agree with what everyone else in that it was a great post. and by the way I liked the Monty Python refference you stuck in there

[dB-Paradox]

Well, as I've said in other threads, I'd still consider myself Christian. In reading the first post in this thread, I could identify my former self in it. I was once the Christian who thought that my story could convince you that I must be right! The evidence to support a literal six day creation was going to make your jaw drop and repent of your sins! I was going to convert everyone I spoke with, or else they were just too stupid to get it!

 

And then there's me today...

 

I hope that I am a respected member of this forum (okay, so I've only made, what...16 posts?). I'm not going to even TRY to convince anyone I'm right, because honestly, I don't think I'M convinced! In fact, I'm going to respect what you believe, and leave it at that. Yeah...that's right! Leave it at that! Of course, I'll still engage in formal (or possibly not so formal) debate, but mostly for the purpose of learning and growing. I mean let's face it...we all still need to keep growing in what we believe or do not believe in.

 

Now, having said all that, I hate haters. I hate when people have to attack Christianity with such force, it tears flesh from bone. I do hate when people judge God by God's people. BUT....I also hate when Christians hate, too. Yes, it happens quite often! Christians are just as guilty, if not more, of hating. I used to be one of them! And looking back, I can't understand why I did it. My father-in-law once told me, "The reason we push so hard is because we have the truth to offer" (paraphrased). But now, I just see a lot of what he says as hate. He HATES evolutionists. He HATES science. He scoffs when an evolutionist can't answer a creationist. That's just more HATE! And I, for one, HATE it!

 

So anyway, if all those who are not Christian can respect me, I can respect you. In my first post here, I promised not to be the annoying judging Christian, and I won't be! I still promise! I hope I still have a respectable place here.

[Guest ephymeris]

I finally just got around to reading this post. It's perfection I wish I had a t-shirt with this perfectly executed rant!!

[★ Citsonga ★]

(Oh, and by the way, it's a ree-lay-shun-ship, not a religion).

 

The next time you hear this sort of silly argument, point out this passage:

 

James 1

[26] If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.

[27] Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

[NonXNonExX]

First of all, i apologize for coming so late to this thread. My only excuse is that there is so much good stuff on the Web that it's hard to keep up with all of it. And this was very good as a concise summary of why it's idiotic to be Xtian.

 

For Doubting Christian: Personally i don't have to judge God by what his believers do. There's plenty of horrible stuff written in his name to conclude that the God of the OT and NT is not someone i'd like to meet in a dark alley. Or did you have some other criteria with which to judge him (her)?

 

BTW, did anyone else feel a little thrill when they read that serious opposition is growing to the decision to engrave "In God We Trust" somewhere inside the new Capital Visitor's Center? Non-believers have been a large, but silent and ignored, minority for too long!

[greenhunter]

it's sad that i used to be one of these people. it's like an initiation for a "new christian" to come on to an ex christian or an atheist site and tell "they're all going to burn in the firery furnace of hell" or that, in my case, "i haven't been a strong member of the club". this one is my favorite, "a fool says there is no god", everyone seems to know that verse so it's kinds the first response i used towards an atheist. the thing is i know all the cliched christian sayings, i know the methods inside and out, as most of you do since it hasn't changed at all. funny that they use the same you're going to burn to other "christians", those are great times (sarcasm).

[monkeygirl]

So I told my mom who is pentecostal that I don't really believe any of this stuff anymore. That I've read a lot about it and it doesn't add up and that despite me seeking god for 22 years, I have no personal experiences that make me a believer. She handled it decently well until yesterday.

 

My mom and I were shopping and she kind of attacked me. She has been inserting silly little stories as proof of god for some time now, like how her and my dad were almost in a car accident and she called Jesus' name and he kept them from hitting the other car. So yesterday she was telling me another silly story (which i listen to and just nod) and then she reminded me of a time when i was 15 years old and we were driving somewhere and a car coming the other direction was in our lane, he swerved in time back into his lane avoiding a head on collision. My mother then with a rude tone says, "angels picked up our car and moved it, there's your experiences!" I tried to avoid the conversation but she kept pushing, i kept my cool and told her, I saw no angels, I saw nothing supernatural, the guy likely turned his steering wheel and simply got out of our lane, had I seen angels and knew it was a supernatural experience I would have written a book about it." She again kept pushing and got more confrontational.

 

Its really sad that she thinks this is good proof of Jesus. I can't believe something so lame and weak is causing confrontation.

[SairB]

It invariably comes as a bit of a shock to our Christian visitors when their words of wisdom are accorded a less-than-civil reception.

 

Sometimes a zealous teenager swings by to warn us that we'd better straighten up and fly right, lest we be seized by demons and dragged off to an eternal all-expenses-paid vacation in a Very Hot Place.

 

Or we're set upon by a gushy but seemingly well-meaning woman who assures us that we just practiced the wrong *version* of Christianity, and please keep looking for the True Churchâ„¢ (Oh, and by the way, it's a ree-lay-shun-ship, not a religion).

 

Another fairly common theme is the man who sees "miracles" in everything, and honestly believes that his unverifiable personal testimony is sufficient to convince total strangers over the Internet.

 

And then there are folks who:

• Think that wars, earthquakes and other common calamities are proof of "End Times";
  
• Can't or won't imagine a non-supernatural explanation for Life, the Universe and Everything;
  
• Classify all non-believers with a handful of the many 20th Century tyrants but distance themselves from the likes of Constantine, Torquemada, various not-so-Innocent popes, Charlemagne, Olaf Tryggvason, Columbus, the Puritans, Cromwell, Catherine de Medici, John Calvin, Richard the Lion-Hearted... Pinochet, Franco, Charles Taylor, Jim Jones... and the countless co-religionists who enabled their barbarism;
  
• Don't know what the word "theory" actually means in a scientific context, but insist that an ancient book contains The Truth;
  
• Insist that the spilling of one particular individual's blood somehow "purifies" people, but only if those people agree that the spilt blood is a wonderful gift that they don't actually deserve;
  
• Or are obsessed with bananas.
  

Okay, listen up, all of you.

 

We. Do. Not. Want. To. Be. Like. You.

 

You are not the droids we're looking for. You are not exhibiting traits that we want to emulate. Rather, you personify many damaging behaviours and beliefs that we've already discarded.

 

We are EX-Christians. Any faith we may have once possessed is not merely tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk... It is bereft of life, and pushing up the daisies. Yea verily, what part of "EX" dost thou not understand?

 

http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2008/03...g-me-right.html

 

One of the things I love about ex-Christians is the tendency towards eloquence. I suspect this is one of the things that happens when the brain is actually permitted to engage with the mouth, or in this case, the keyboard...

 

I love the fact that everyone whose posts I've read so far on this forum has really thought about their position, and learned how to sift the rational wheat from the chaff of faith.

[Shyone]

It invariably comes as a bit of a shock to our Christian visitors when their words of wisdom are accorded a less-than-civil reception.

 

Sometimes a zealous teenager swings by to warn us that we'd better straighten up and fly right, lest we be seized by demons and dragged off to an eternal all-expenses-paid vacation in a Very Hot Place.

 

Or we're set upon by a gushy but seemingly well-meaning woman who assures us that we just practiced the wrong *version* of Christianity, and please keep looking for the True Churchâ„¢ (Oh, and by the way, it's a ree-lay-shun-ship, not a religion).

 

Another fairly common theme is the man who sees "miracles" in everything, and honestly believes that his unverifiable personal testimony is sufficient to convince total strangers over the Internet.

 

And then there are folks who:

• Think that wars, earthquakes and other common calamities are proof of "End Times";
  
• Can't or won't imagine a non-supernatural explanation for Life, the Universe and Everything;
  
• Classify all non-believers with a handful of the many 20th Century tyrants but distance themselves from the likes of Constantine, Torquemada, various not-so-Innocent popes, Charlemagne, Olaf Tryggvason, Columbus, the Puritans, Cromwell, Catherine de Medici, John Calvin, Richard the Lion-Hearted... Pinochet, Franco, Charles Taylor, Jim Jones... and the countless co-religionists who enabled their barbarism;
  
• Don't know what the word "theory" actually means in a scientific context, but insist that an ancient book contains The Truth;
  
• Insist that the spilling of one particular individual's blood somehow "purifies" people, but only if those people agree that the spilt blood is a wonderful gift that they don't actually deserve;
  
• Or are obsessed with bananas.
  

Okay, listen up, all of you.

 

We. Do. Not. Want. To. Be. Like. You.

 

You are not the droids we're looking for. You are not exhibiting traits that we want to emulate. Rather, you personify many damaging behaviours and beliefs that we've already discarded.

 

We are EX-Christians. Any faith we may have once possessed is not merely tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk... It is bereft of life, and pushing up the daisies. Yea verily, what part of "EX" dost thou not understand?

 

http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2008/03...g-me-right.html

 

One of the things I love about ex-Christians is the tendency towards eloquence. I suspect this is one of the things that happens when the brain is actually permitted to engage with the mouth, or in this case, the keyboard...

 

I love the fact that everyone whose posts I've read so far on this forum has really thought about their position, and learned how to sift the rational wheat from the chaff of faith.

It is probably inaccurate to generalize about ex-christians or other groups, and I'm sure after a while you'll see the differences that divide ex-christians, but to get to this point usually requires considerable thought and reflection. I have seen thoughtful Cristian posts as well, but knowing what they are experiencing and seeing what they write makes me respect them a little less. It's like talking with a child that hasn't been told the Santa isn't real, when their whole life they have known that Santa is real.

 

There are a lot of forums, and I'm sure you'll find one or more that are interesting. Welcome.

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

For Doubting Christian: Personally i don't have to judge God by what his believers do. There's plenty of horrible stuff written in his name to conclude that the God of the OT and NT is not someone i'd like to meet in a dark alley. Or did you have some other criteria with which to judge him (her)?

His "divine order" for the mass genocide of the canaanites, the killing of people in Egypt that could of been avoided if he didnt "harden pharoah that didn't exists heart" and so on. Proof he wanted them to commit the genocide extends to the fact that he punished Saul for not wanting to kill every amalekite (I think thats what they were). The list can go on and on. That god is like an abusive spouse gone evil dictator.

[lighteclectic]

"a fool says there is no god"

 

There are times I am sorely tempted (that would be by my own mischievousness and not teh made up Xtian debil) to reply to this with "and a poorly educated idiotic brain damaged bigot says there is one."

 

/sigh

[lighteclectic]

I hate when people have to attack Christianity with such force, it tears flesh from bone. I do hate when people judge God by God's people. BUT....I also hate when Christians hate, too. Yes, it happens quite often! Christians are just as guilty, if not more, of hating. I used to be one of them! And looking back, I can't understand why I did it. My father-in-law once told me, "The reason we push so hard is because we have the truth to offer" (paraphrased). But now, I just see a lot of what he says as hate. He HATES evolutionists. He HATES science. He scoffs when an evolutionist can't answer a creationist. That's just more HATE! And I, for one, HATE it!

 

Here is where Xtians will always be tripped up --belief is an emotion, and when you disrupt the emotional self it reacts. It does not think. It doesn't reason. It responds in a reflexive way as perception dictates, i.e., generally depending on how closely their sense of self (identity) parallels their need for belief. For example, if a devout Xtian has established the entirety of his/her identity on the level of their commitment to their faith, questioning the object of same is equivalent to calling them out as a flawed individual, or a "bad" person, which, according to their dogma, means that they are "fallen" and in league with satan. Anger is generally to be expected as reaction. Generally a climate of victimization is upheld in Xtian cliques (i.e. churches) because they feel that the entire non-believing world is attacking the sincerity of their belief.

 

Eventually you have a polarization between people who see themselves as victims and those who aren't even playing in the same ballfield. We non-believers are trying to engage in rational conversation with an emotionally stunted societal group (sometimes sub-group) who don't have the capacity to interact or even the basic understanding of what a rational conversation could be.

 

Hate is ultimately a ridiculous emotion. To see "hate" among individuals who are ripping through the ancient web of emotional baggage and trickery is to put yourself in the role of victim. No one is trying to hurt you. We are not engaging you on the playing field of the emotions.

 

Of course there are going to be individuals on this site who need to vent. I am one of them, and I have been away from the church since 1986, but the damage done to me is evident and effective to this day. I may never fully heal from those scars. Will you read my occasional bursts of anger as hate? If so, that is your projection and has nothing to do with me.

[RachelSkates]

You hate when people rip up Xers theologies?!!!

 

OMFG can I stop laughing now?

 

I hate that Xers burned each other at the stakes. I hate that Xers literally ripped people apart on torture wheels. I hate that Xer priests have sex with little kids and cover it up. I hate that Xers are the reason some gays have been ripped and torn and dragged to their deaths.

 

You hate that we slam you verbally?

 

HAVE YOU NOT READ WHAT YOUR PEOPLE HAVE DONE TO ONE ANOTHER AND TO "NON BELIEVERS?"

 

I think we deserve a little venting.