freedomfollower Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Does anyone stay in contact with their ex-pastor? What is the conversation like? I have been anonymously emailing my ex-pastor for the last 5 months and it has been quite an interesting conversation to say the least. I have recently learned that he is stepping down as the head pastor and plans on returning to school to take apologetics!! Over the course of the last few months the emails have progressed into something of a debate. I relentlessly ask him the tough questions and quickly tear apart his pathetic answers. I can't help but assume that I have had some influence in his dramatic decision! Just wondering if anyone has had similar experiences? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadedAtheist Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I'm in contact with my ex-pastor on occasion. We ended our debate after he said that if I wasn't going to come to reason then he'd have to church discipline me. I use to respect him but after this and other incidents I don't go out of my way to speak with him. Last I heard was he was finishing up his PhD on prayer. What a waste of a doctorate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelticWhisper Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I'm in contact with my ex-pastor on occasion. We ended our debate after he said that if I wasn't going to come to reason then he'd have to church discipline me. I use to respect him but after this and other incidents I don't go out of my way to speak with him. Last I heard was he was finishing up his PhD on prayer. What a waste of a doctorate. "Church discipline?" Seriously? I hope you replied with "Try it. I fucking dare you. My lawyers are standing by." If you don't mind my asking, were you a Mormon before deconverting? I know they're really big on church "discipline" and other disguise terms for public harassment of their followers. Or was this that fundy shit where they commit blatant slander in front of the rest of the herd? (Aside: I almost typed "rest of the Hurd" there. I've been working in IT for way too long.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrotherJosh Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Last I heard was he was finishing up his PhD on prayer. Hahahahahaha that's the most hilarious thing I've heard of in quite some time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator buffettphan Posted May 2, 2011 Super Moderator Share Posted May 2, 2011 Last I heard was he was finishing up his PhD on prayer. They actually give doctorates for that!?! Sheesh I wonder if those studies that show the ineffectiveness/detrimental effects of prayer were ever mentioned. Somehow I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Xtech Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 Ha! I have a few good buddies who are ex-ministers - now atheist or agnostic. We have some great conversations :-) and I love them for their honesty. Let's see, two ex-Mehtodist, one ex-Presbyterian ... what else ... some people are pretty quiet about their pastoral past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadedAtheist Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 "Church discipline?" Seriously? I hope you replied with "Try it. I fucking dare you. My lawyers are standing by." If you don't mind my asking, were you a Mormon before deconverting? I know they're really big on church "discipline" and other disguise terms for public harassment of their followers. Or was this that fundy shit where they commit blatant slander in front of the rest of the herd? (Aside: I almost typed "rest of the Hurd" there. I've been working in IT for way too long.) He backed down, I did mention that I could take him to court if I wanted to but I'd only be as pathetic as him if I did. I'm not sure if that prompted him "out of the goodness of his heart" to change his mind. I wasn't a Mormon but my old church was big on discipline (if any of you are familiar with the book: 9 marks of a healthy church by Mark Dever, that's why the former pastor was big on it, he adored that guy). After he promised he would do church discipline, he did go ahead and make a public announcement of my apostasy and began reading excepts from my blog and told people to avoid me and so on. He just did this without making it a formal call to discipline. I haven't bothered on calling him on it but I am seriously considering putting up a blog post entitled "Fuck You Asshole" and put a picture of him up with the church info as well as the reason why I put the post up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostman42 Posted May 2, 2011 Share Posted May 2, 2011 I never really had a relationship with my churches pastor but my old youth pastor is my guitar teacher and we have lots of great conversations, those conversations rarely have anything to do with religion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ Fuego ♦ Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 When I saw the title of the post, I thought it was people talking with pastors that had deconverted. I'd love to talk to some more of those, there are a few on the main blog. Talk about a life change! I haven't seen my last pastor for about a year. I deconverted about 2.5 years ago and didn't let on the last time I saw him, but didn't really talk god either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freedomfollower Posted May 3, 2011 Author Share Posted May 3, 2011 All very interesting. I would recommend to anyone confident enough in their deconversion to set up an anonymous email account and get back in touch with their ex-pastors. It was great therapy for me, especially since after 5 months, absolutely nothing he had to say was even remotely convincing enough to argue me back to theology in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CelticWhisper Posted May 3, 2011 Share Posted May 3, 2011 "Church discipline?" Seriously? I hope you replied with "Try it. I fucking dare you. My lawyers are standing by." If you don't mind my asking, were you a Mormon before deconverting? I know they're really big on church "discipline" and other disguise terms for public harassment of their followers. Or was this that fundy shit where they commit blatant slander in front of the rest of the herd? (Aside: I almost typed "rest of the Hurd" there. I've been working in IT for way too long.) He backed down, I did mention that I could take him to court if I wanted to but I'd only be as pathetic as him if I did. I'm not sure if that prompted him "out of the goodness of his heart" to change his mind. I wasn't a Mormon but my old church was big on discipline (if any of you are familiar with the book: 9 marks of a healthy church by Mark Dever, that's why the former pastor was big on it, he adored that guy). After he promised he would do church discipline, he did go ahead and make a public announcement of my apostasy and began reading excepts from my blog and told people to avoid me and so on. He just did this without making it a formal call to discipline. I haven't bothered on calling him on it but I am seriously considering putting up a blog post entitled "Fuck You Asshole" and put a picture of him up with the church info as well as the reason why I put the post up. Wow. Dude, if I were in that position, I'd be going absolutely apeshit on that guy. Reading blog posts isn't that big a deal since they're already public, but telling people to avoid you? You could probably nail him on some kind of harassment tort for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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