Death for me over the years has rarely been difficult to process and move on. I've buried quite a few, only mourned a couple. The two I mourn are now memories I guard so earnestly a mother bear could not rival my ferocity. These two people immediately bring on the wet eyes and short tight breaths when I just so much as think on their lives, their influence, and my loss.
This past January I experienced a third loss of someone very important in my life. It's hit me very hard, and I am surprise
Many times as an atheist, I enjoy the quick synopsis of horrible Bible stories that are available online via other atheist groups or secular networks. You read about all kinds of outlandish tales like that of haunted vaginas, girls seducing their father with alcohol, or an entire town wanting to rape angels.
Some of the stories want to make you laugh or cringe, while others make you want to cry and rage at the horror they share. Then there are the ones that you thought you already knew the s
Jesus didn't approve homosexuality. Jesus Saves! WWJD? Jesus take the wheel. Jesus is Lord! Y'all need Jesus!
Then?
Jesus on stationery. Jesus on itty bitty gold crosses dangling from your mom's neck. Jesus on billboards. Jesus in politics. Jesus on South Park. Jesus on toast.
Jesus fucking Christ! I get it already.
Every time I hear someone tell another,"I'm praying for your healing." Saying this while standing next to a friend, bedridden with cancer. Every time someone lets me
I have a month of time to decide whether I choose to have dental surgery.
First of all I'll mention that I'm going to discuss this at length at least once with my great, very experienced dentist before the date comes that my decision for this autumn must be finished. So that puts my mind at ease somewhat. But before that, I'm weighing the pros and cons.
My bite is thankfully not catastrophic. There are many things wrong with it, but it could be a lot worse. I can choose to just have a de
I said it out loud in the breakfast table this morning: "Thinking you're in guidance makes you do random things". It's a truth about how I used to be, a very sad truth that made me waste so much time and make some very stupid decisions. Well, as it's random, I did make some very good decisions too, but didn't take much of the responsibility for them either - I decided they were me fulfilling someone else's plan.
There was only my boyfriend listening, I'm still not "out" as ex-Christian to my
I’ve taken my time the past week to read through and watch transcripts, videos, and podcasts, regarding the Planned Parenthood defunding campaign where claims have been made the organization is selling fetal tissue for a profit. As many might already know, proven heavily edited videos have hit the airwaves depicting top Planned Parenthood clinic leaders as discussing negotiations for “procuring” fetal tissue. This procurement is being purported as the sale of fetal body parts, not just donation.
I am going through a restless period that has lasted the better part of a few months now. There are so many things that I want to be doing with my time and yet more often than not I find myself staring idly at a computer screen, occupying my time with pointless videos or video games that feel like little more than busy work. Another day passes, I go to bed and tell myself that I'm going to do better tomorrow, but the same things happens and the weeks pass.
To be fair, I have started a new jo
I normally make an effort to go out of my way to avoid any news stories coming out of FOX news. I also do what I can to not bother responding to any discussion panels either. There is one draw that will get my attention, and keep it, in a FOX news article. Pastors, politics, and biblical scripture. The discussion in question today had all three, and I just need to totally go there.
I imagine there are a number of people who draw a complete blank stare when the name Pastor Robert Jeffress is
Charles Bradlaugh was an English atheist of the 19th century. In fact he could perhaps be considered THE English atheist of his time. He stormed across the UK, a giant of the free thought movement. Clever, brave with a large heart and a mind as strong as steel, he caused despair and worry among the faithful.
His knowledge of the Bible was deep and profound. He had the ability to show just how error riddled it was and would debate those claiming to follow it in front of very large and spell b
For some reason, I always see a brotherly connection between Jesus and Lucifer in the biblical stories I read of them. So, I'm starting a Luc and Jes (Lucifer and Jesus) meme collection. These are some of the first ones, thus far, and I'll post more every week. They're just...fun... I guess.
See all five here at http://thebluegrassskeptic.com/2015/07/12/luc-and-jes-shenanigans-of-heaven/
As many of you may know I met a Young Earth creationist last week, I wrote about it here: http://www.ex-christian.net/topic/68545-i-met-a-young-earth-creationist-today/
There was something in the conversation I had with him that really struck me as one of the big reasons why Christianity was not right for me, and why it might feel a little more right for some people.
Before I'd told him a thing about where I grew up, he said, "Remember when you were small, and you did something wrong des
I’ve heard this all week in one form or another. On Facebook rants, in hundreds of posts howling in protest against the Supreme Courts findings about same-sex marriage, and in general conversation on the street. My kind is apparently responsible for all of this. We are also referred to as “your ilk”, “godless sinners”, “radical liberals”, or my favorite “leftists”. My support for the rights of all to receive the recognition of marriage under national law has earned me all types of nasty stares,
Come with me, to visit the rambling past of an irrelevant human female....
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As a teenager, I had a tough time fitting in. I was quiet and withdrawn. I had issues being around boys due to being sexually abused for years by neighborhood boys as a child. In grade 8, my mom made me join a youth group at a church near our new home. They kids there weren't bad but I just didn't fit in. I slept next to the girl's youth director and her two little girls when we went on trips bec
Just back from a week in Poland. 90+% catholic population - I observed several times, as I wandered around in tourist mode, people kneeling in the aisles of churches, crossing themselves or dipping their fingers in a receptacle of (presumably and supposedly holy) water in order to give themselves a little wash in the general shape of a cross.
That aside, it's a friendly and seemingly quite prosperous country, with some remarkable scenery (we stayed in the Tatra mountain region in the south)
Unless you count my mother who went in and out of faith in Jesus/UFOs/conspiracies/whatever, the first Ex-Christian I knew of was the third oldest child in a Pentecostal family. She had six siblings and her parents were very active in more than one of the churches in the area.
I was a teenager, she was a few years older than me. I had recently converted to Pentecostalism. I was convinced that my life was going to be much more fulfilling, fruitful, happy, meaningful, miraculous and whatever
You know, I love mug shots where the perps have big grins on their faces. Specifically, the cat ate the canary kind of look. This week’s headlines managed to present one that couldn’t be missed, and dare I say, I think there are even twinkles in the eyes of these men. In the mug shot, you see three of six men who took it upon themselves to heckle Joel Osteen, pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. All seven were eventually escorted out of the church and booked on misdemeanor charges of
Anyone ever had that feeling of walking on ice or on egg shells, even when there's no reason to be feeling like that?
I've come to the conclusion that my brain is possibly wired to deal with crisis every second of every day....
The majority of my life has been extremely stressful and not all that pleasant, the last two weeks I've had a rather calm life minus my kids running away and my other (real) mum being really fucking sick .. All of that I can deal with.. Apparently what I struggle
America has an addiction to guns. So much so, we have the largest gun lobby in the world- the NRA -with members serving in our government. This heavily skews gun rights advocacy and regulation, often stunting bipartisan ties during critical legislation opportunities. How did our constitutional right to be armed if our government needs us, or oppresses us, turn into such a polarizing issue?
Why, our second biggest addiction, of course. Fear.
In case you didn’t realize it, America loves it
June 17th, after about an hour of service, Dylan Storm Roof slaughtered nine unsuspecting church members at Emanual A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina. There were not any obvious signs of his intentions, nor any reason to suspect him of ill will. The 21 year-old simply decided to kill members of this church for what now appears to be racially motivated reasons. Seeing how he was just captured, there aren’t any new answers to his methodology or reasoning as of yet. But there is plenty of
My chest pain is now completely in control now with good pain meds, and there's no inflammation at this point (anymore?), just irritation of the rib cartilages. I also have one more doctor appointment booked in August now to figure out the amenorrhea. Heh, I don't think I've ever seen doctors as many times in a month as I will then, unless you count my week-long hospital stay when I was ten.
I had my teeth professionally cleaned today. That was many different kinds of awesome that I didn'
It’s been a rough goddamned week. At least, I imagine if there were such thing as a deity, this week would have been totally damned to the outskirts of non existence. The fact I work for the postal service is reason number one to obliterate this past week from the memory flavored proteins of my brain. Add on to that the ever increasing humidity of the Ohio Valley I am so “blessed” to be alive in. It’s like sucking on a wet towel every time I have to breathe outdoors. The on and off again reminde
Goddamnit, this is like a some kind of illness blog. I really didn't mean it to turn out that way. I wanted this to be an interesting and thoughtful blog. It just seems that this ripe age of 30 didn't come alone and I need to make notes of when these things happen.
Now on top of all else, I'm amenorrhic, with a couple other symptoms that seem related. After getting smaller and smaller all spring, my last period didn't happen at all. I really hope this would go away on its own, but I'm afrai
"The devil inside, the devil inside
Every single one of us the devil inside
The devil inside, the devil inside
Every single one of us the devil inside
Here come the world, with the look in its eye
Future uncertain, but certainly slight
Look at the faces, listen to the bells
It's hard to believe we need a place called hell, place called hell" -- lyrics from "Devil Inside" by INXS
True. So true. Evil exists in all of us. Doing the right things in life is sometimes a punishment. That'
I recently attended a freethinker meet up in my area. I was looking forward to the meeting since we were all bringing food to donate to a local food bank called the Freestore Foodbank. This is a cause I’m always up and ready to contribute my time to since I know pretty often what it’s like to live on a scrap food budget. My cupboard is chock full of discounted food like scratch and dent can goods, re taped dry good boxes, and tons of dollar bags of beans and rice. Yes, I appreciate all too well
