Ex-christian Exodus

[BrotherJosh]

Wait, someone with his head up his ass (and proudly displays it in his icon) is accusing others of not being serious and giving any good arguments?

 

 

Interesting.

 

I believe one of the mod's awarded him with the distinction of having his head up his ass. Though, the avatar is rather fitting...I'm still waiting for him to demonstrate something intelligent. So far his command of the English language is lacking...

 

 

 

[Galien]

Actually I did leave christianity for a lot of the reasons mentioned. Not ever having been good at being a sheep I don't jump on the science or logic bandwagon either.

 

I loved god for emotional reasons, I left because i was sick and tired of being surrounded by shallow cunts who had no fucking idea why they were even in church in the first place.

 

This is what I have learned from my fifty years of living and my thirty six years as a christian. Human beings fucking suck and it doesn't matter whether you put them in politics, church, soccer club whatever. Some people are born decent and some aren't. Doesn't matter what you SAY you believe, its how you live it that matters.

 

I am sick of being surrounded by shallowness generally, but one of the reasons I enjoy this forum is that the people here think mostly for themselves. Okay so i do hear a lot of what Mr Dawkins thinks or how great Mr Sagan is but personally I am sick and tired of other people's ideas, christian or otherwise. They are just other people with marketable ideas, no better, worse or right than the rest of us. I don't need some hero to tell me what to think, christianity cured me of that forever.

 

If there is a god, and I don't believe we can really know that in this life, he is doing a shithouse job.

[SoulofSilver]

I believe one of the mod's awarded him with the distinction of having his head up his ass. Though, the avatar is rather fitting...I'm still waiting for him to demonstrate something intelligent. So far his command of the English language is lacking..

It's what I figured. But still, he did earn it, so he's proudly displaying it!

[Thackerie]

legion

 

I was really serious about this discussion.

But I guess some are are not..

The bible has a phrase

 

^{Matthew 7:6 (New International Version, ©2010)}

 

 

^{6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.}

 

^{I think this applies in this case} .

unless you can convince me otherwise, what's the point.

None of you given me even an idea to think about.

Where are the free thinkers that are supposed to be here? No just theories but substance with real world possibilities.

 

That's an awfully shiny mirror you're looking into. I believe that why you fail to think about the ideas presented here is because you're rather "slow on the uptake." Just look at how long it took you to notice that icon showing what impression of yourself you have inspired.

 

 

BTW, didn't you say you wouldn't be posting here again, a few posts ago? Oh well, it seems that leading people on with false promises is a common characteristic of certain christians, as well as the "god" they pretend to worship.

[♦ ficino ♦]

You seem to be claiming you are not a refugee from the land I described.

 

I used to think that the thunder of the "arena" (a metaphor for the loud, bombastic approaches to modern church) was drowning out the voice of God. But what I learned, is that the arena is really all there is. Spoomonkey

 

Very well put.

[Geezer]

American Christianity is reaping the whirlwind of superficiality. Either mass media gives a false impression, or there actually is a growing number of Ex-Christians. And the Christian counter-culture and marketing machine of church-on-every-corner America is producing them.

 

.........Worse, churches large and small, rural and urban, are influenced by this marketing machine that passes for Christianity. So the person in the pew with no direct access to big-city Christian ammenities still absorb the mentality.

 

.........What is responsible for this mentality? In brief, an anti-intellectual, touchy-feely spirituality that has been growing since the end of World War II, culminating in various charismatic movements, "name it claim it" Word of Faith churches, and mega-churches.

 

 

Kevin H

 

What you posted has some merit IMO, but I think the dwindling number of Christians may have a lot to do with education. That’s why I left. I found sufficient evidence to convince me that my beliefs were based on false and inaccurate information.

 

With the advent of the internet a massive amount of free and easily accessible information became available to the masses. That has made indoctrination considerably more difficult.

[mcdaddy]

American Christianity is reaping the whirlwind of superficiality. Either mass media gives a false impression, or there actually is a growing number of Ex-Christians. And the Christian counter-culture and marketing machine of church-on-every-corner America is producing them.

 

.........Worse, churches large and small, rural and urban, are influenced by this marketing machine that passes for Christianity. So the person in the pew with no direct access to big-city Christian ammenities still absorb the mentality.

 

.........What is responsible for this mentality? In brief, an anti-intellectual, touchy-feely spirituality that has been growing since the end of World War II, culminating in various charismatic movements, "name it claim it" Word of Faith churches, and mega-churches.

 

 

Kevin H

 

What you posted has some merit IMO, but I think the dwindling number of Christians may have a lot to do with education. That’s why I left. I found sufficient evidence to convince me that my beliefs were based on false and inaccurate information.

 

With the advent of the internet a massive amount of free and easily accessible information became available to the masses. That has made indoctrination considerably more difficult.

 

Yep.

[Ravenstar]

I think it's hilarious that the religious use the internet, which wouldn't exist if not for science and knowledge, to try to refute science and knowledge.

 

oxymoron in action

[Guest GcodeTramplee]

Ravenstar,

I think it's hilarious that the religious use the internet, which wouldn't exist if not for science and knowledge, to try to refute science and knowledge.

oxymoron in action

 

I, for one, Love my computer; and my internet service provider, and my A.C. power provider, and...  ::: Do You think You could create such Works of RelationshippinglyMagik?

 

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=Tim+Rappl&oq=Tim+Rappl&gs_l=hp.3..44i39i27j0l2j0i10.1092.2434.0.2974.9.6.0.0.0.0.841.2614.0j1j2j1j6-2.6.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.W8IX6_X6OkA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41524429,d.aWM&fp=86adb78287de6c61&biw=1280&bih=691

 

http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/npbgrp/group.html

 

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Tim+Rappl&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C6&as_sdtp=

 

Edit in: L.O.f'c'k'n'+L.!!!  =x="escargot?: my car go, one-sixty - swiftly"-Notorious B.I.G.

[Guest GcodeTramplee]

Ravenstar,

I think it's hilarious that the religious use the internet, which wouldn't exist if not for science and knowledge, to try to refute science and knowledge.

 

oxymoron in action

 

I, for one, Love my computer; and my internet service provider, and my A.C. power provider, and...  ::: Do You think You could create such Works of RelationshippinglyMagik?

 

https://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=Tim+Rappl&oq=Tim+Rappl&gs_l=hp.3..44i39i27j0l2j0i10.1092.2434.0.2974.9.6.0.0.0.0.841.2614.0j1j2j1j6-2.6.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.W8IX6_X6OkA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41524429,d.aWM&fp=86adb78287de6c61&biw=1280&bih=691

 

http://www.cchem.berkeley.edu/npbgrp/group.html

 

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Tim+Rappl&btnG=&as_sdt=1%2C6&as_sdtp=

 

Edit in: L.O.f'c'k'n'+L.!!!  =x="escargot?: my car go, one-sixty - swiftly"-Notorious B.I.G.

 

"Alli Davis - One in a million":

 

 

$) "2Pac - Thugz Mansion ft. Nas, J. Phoenix - YouTube":

 

 

Dr. T`Ra.

[RipVanWinkle]

You call your take on the bible logical? If it says something that even you recognize doesn't make sense as it reads you just magically change the meaning of rhe words and tell us that it doesn't mean what it says, but rather, it means what you say it means. The donkey, for instance.You say this was a theophany-a manifestation of God? So it your understanding that it is God

who says to Balaam: "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" And again: "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day?"  So, was it God just kidding around with Balaam by pretending to be a donkey or was the donkey given the ability by God to speak its own mind? Come on, Kevin. This is so clearly myth that I would think even a Xtian would concede it. And that it my error.

Kevin, I gave just one example because I don't feel like making this a long project for nothing. I know that you will never concede that you are wrong. No one who is brainwashed ever does. I have heard this kind of bullshit almost all of my life. A Xtian, such as you, changes the plain meaning of tough bible verses so that he can interpret the language to say what it must say for it to be perfectly consistent and true. Anybody can make any book say what he/she wants it to by using this tricky method. But of course anything is permissible in the service of god, isn't it?

 

You rightly complain about the superficiality of much of current Xtianity. How do you epect a superficial religion to be anything different?                 bill

[DrGuitar]

Well in the DC area (Maryland) the culture is pretty secular...but when traveling through the Bible Belt I do see a ton of Jesus culture all over the place..I love the South but the Jesus mentality is a real negative...

 

However, from an overall demographic-sociological perspective, evangelical Christianity IS declining in the US...      not sure about Catholicism given the Hispanic immigration flood.. the Pope has got to be happy!, but James Dobsonites are definitely on the wane in the US....a friend and pastor tells me the church is becoming increasingly irrelevant to young people and that most born again kids quit the faith in secular college when they realize all their wonderful new friends, BFFs or whatever are destined for "Hay-yell" under their old theology...this causes severe cognitive dissonance..and guess what?? Jesus loses to Jenny or Johnny!!  They would rather give up some bearded guy from Palestine before they will trade in their new BFF...are you surprised? Im not...the BFF meets their needs...the Jesus figure is irrelevant and distant and connected with authoritarian parents and school officials who told them all their sexual longings of adolescenece were of the Day-vil...

 

 

I tell others not to obsess about Christians from their past..but when I reflect back on the clowns I knew  while in the cult..I truly feel sick and repulsed...I wonder if some left the faith before me and look back on me that way...rut-roe...I *was* pretty dedicated:  a Calvinist, seminary textbook reading, retreat ettending (Lord I played some sappy Jesus camp songs! retch ) Bible teaching, praying, iron sharpening iron brother in the Lord myself for many years!  Heck I even gave up the Beatles and rock and roll for several years (and Ive played guitar since 1971.

 

) Thank god (oops)  I didnt lose my chops and that Im now playing out again!   BTW ...anyone ever heard "Wind-up" by Jethro Tull?? Ian Anderson should be on the forum!