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Goodbye Jesus

Lurker Guests: Welcome!


Llwellyn

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One of the things I've noticed about this forum is that the lurkers usually outnumber the members with logins -- the ratio is sometimes 4x1, and sometimes as much as 10x1.  I remember that I spent a couple of years reading discussions on this forum before I created a login.  No doubt there are a lot of "True Believer Christians" who run across this forum by accident as Google Searchers.  

 

For example, this thread will be a result for any TBC who does a google search for one of the terms:  pre-lapsarian, Semi-Pelagianism, predestination, Arminian.  They'll run into this thread and then wonder:  What the fuck is an ex-Christian?  I can say that running across surprising Google search results was one of the things that set the ball rolling to my eventual deconversion.  This is just another example of how the internet is the religion-slayer.

 

So, to all of those guests who just wanted to run a google search to find out:  "Why does god allow evil?"  Know this:  there is an alternative to believing in a God.  The world is happening by chance.  Values exist by grace of the doings and sufferings of the continuous human community in which we are a link.  Thus the way is cleared for our great task.  Let us put our hearts, our minds, and our combined strength — everything we've got — into making that better world a reality. 

 

Internet-religion-tombstone-2.jpeg

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Great post, Llwellyn! I've noticed too that there are usually far more lurkers than members here. I've seen it as high as fifty some guests and six or so members.

 

I just hope people that stop by to read us don't mind all of the bickering and mudslinging we do here sometimes over politics and stuff. 

 

I can't remember how I found these forums. I was already an ex-Christian, and I imagine it was an internet search for something or other Christian related. So I agree with you, welcome and hello to all of our unseen readers and lurkers.  

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Almost all believers have a LOT of questions about the faith that we were all taught to put on a mental shelf and ignore. They are legitimate questions, but the church doesn't like to hear them, so they tell you that you need to have more faith, or that the devil is trying to trick you, or that god has a better plan and who are YOU to question, etc.

 

Jesus had been a comfort to me in the midst of my childhood fears. I devoured the scriptures and learned all I could. Add to that the warm welcome that I received from church people, and I was hooked on this "new view" of reality, and consumed with my new relationship with Jesus. But along the way, things wouldn't make sense, and I was always told to trust in the love that I had run into so far. And I would shelve my questions and continue to trust. 30 years later I encountered an issue that had to have an answer. That issue will differ for each person. I eventually discovered that the silence I received in answer to my recent prayers was because my mind wasn't going to play god anymore and regurgitate scriptures I'd read a thousand times. I needed a real answer to a legitimate question and got nothing but silence, despite prayer and fasting. I had several questions that tumbled down from the mental shelf and I began questioning more and more directly. Still, I got silence. I went searching for those who may have the answers, "ex-christians", those who knew the scriptures and had followed whole-heartedly, and found this site.

 

I found the answer to all of the questions was that I had been duped into believing a pleasant sounding lie about reality, and based on a childish fear I had at the time. The god I thought was in charge of everything had never been real, and the stories I had devoured for years as actual history were nothing but fables. The irritable god of the Old Testament who seemed intent on slaughtering people suddenly made sense in the light of the actual history of the Middle Eastern cultures. Once I realized that I had been fooled (an embarrassing thing to admit to myself), the years of invisible "spiritual warfare" went silent. My mind no longer had to play the parts that otherwise would have always been silent. I finally found peace within.

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LLwellyn, thanks so much for posting this.  I've pinned it so it won't get lost in our very long list of Rants.  

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

To all the anonymous lurkers -- welcome!  Most people lurk for quite a while before signing up here, so don't worry about that.  But my one little bit of advice is if you don't want to get too riled up yet, you might want to avoid the Totally Off Topic sub-forum, at least until you get your sea-legs. On the other hand, if you dig controversial topics, highly-charged comments and reactions -- go for it!  Seriously though, if you read the descriptor for each sub-forum, you'll be fine.  I don't think you could find a more intelligent, compassionate and supportive online group of people than you'll find here at Ex-C dot net.

 

 

Like all "families", we have quite a wide range of personalities here.  And we love 'em all -- to varying degrees -- just like RL.   GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif  

 

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I lurked for about a year before I joined here.  There is so much information on this site, and generally the discussions are intelligent and well-thought-out.  When people are being funny, they're usually just being silly and it's a lot of fun.  After lurking for the year, I was happy that there wasn't a lot of fighting or bickering, mainly just intelligent conversation and some fun.

 

This is the only internet forum I've ever joined, and I've never regretted it.

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I think part of this may be due to the fact that some people (like me!) don't log in every time they visit the site. I'll often browse by and see what's going on without logging in. I pretty much only log in if I'm going to post. I'll often just stop by to read what others are writing (especially if I'm on mobile).

 

Having said that, I'm sure that there are still many more lurkers than members at any given time. I'll just echo what others have said: lurkers, welcome! Most of us lurked for a while before we joined. If ever you see a conversation that you want to join, then please do! But in the meantime, I hope you're enjoying what you find here. This is a very accepting and diverse community, and there are lots of people on here with wisdom to share. I've learned many new things through these forums, both from lurking and participating. I can only hope that many other people can say the same.

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