Jump to content
Goodbye Jesus

Ministry Work


Victory2011

Recommended Posts

I have been on this site for a little while. I have been reading the testimonies about people, and have not commented a lot.

 

I feel called to do ministry, but I wanted to hear some people's suggestions who have had trouble with their former pastors.

 

What do you wish your pastor did differently?

 

I am not a money hungry person, nor am I on a power trip.

 

There is an openning at a ministry I want to work for (volunteer work)

 

I want to help people, maybe even people who have stopped believing.

 

What do you wish your pastor did differently?

 

I want to learn from other people's mistakes and do things better.

 

Feel free to comment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My pastor was a really great guy. He was a nice guy, a hard worker, intelligent, funny- a damn good role model for me as a kid. It's a shame he ended up in that line of work. My only complaint is that he talked about jesus and god and shit like that every Sunday and Wednesday. So maybe that's something you could work on.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Your question is perplexing. Some pastors are great as people, leaders, scholars, teachers or what have you. Others are lousy in some or all of their roles. Most are somewhere in between.

 

But being an ex-christian is about discovering the truth about Christianity - which is that it's not true. It's a myth with a lot of economic, social and manipulative power behind it. Even the best of pastors are cogs in a machine based on false premises.

 

The best thing a pastor could have done for me over 30 years ago is to quit the ministry entirely - long before I ever placed my faith in the myth of the Christ person.

 

So, while there are things you can do to be more effective in your role, your very role as a pastor would be a sham. And keeping doubters in the fold is the worst thing anyone could tell you how to do.

 

So, my feedback would be for you to do the human race a big service and don't become a pastor to begin with. Concentrate on helping humanity without all the mythology of a 6 day creation, flood story, exodus story, virgin birth, resurrection, etc. Don't pretend to be able to say what god will do. Then you will be the best pastor of all - a human without a myth-based agenda who actually does real good for people.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My priest was my best friend, until I became a humanist, then she started acting crazy and then stopped speaking to me. She was extremely angry in part because I was a lay minister and could no longer believe. She wouldn't even let her children talk to my sons anymore and her husband, also a priest and usually easy going, didn't say a word. He just let the two of us fight it out. Funny how gay ministers and women ministers are OK with the Episcopal Church, but anyone, including and esp ministers, who loses faith in faith stop believing and all hell breaks out. She did everything short of charging me with heresy, despite my views being heretical, as she said it, and having me excommunicated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been reading the testimonies about people,

 

What do you wish your pastor did differently?

 

For one, work on reading comprehension skills. That your questions imply people left because of bad experiences with church tells me you either lied about reading the testimonials or your preconceived notions rendered you unable to comprehend why people on this site have lost their faith.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I want to help people, maybe even people who have stopped believing.

Then feed them and clothe them and help them with real-life problems, without asking for anything in return. If you must use the Bible, use it as allegory rather than literal truth.

 

And never, ever play the "Accept Jesus or go to Hell" card on anyone on the face of this Earth.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Moderator

I have been on this site for a little while. I have been reading the testimonies about people, and have not commented a lot.

 

I feel called to do ministry.

II want to help people, maybe even people who have stopped believing.

Feel free to comment.

 

Welcome Victory! Start your ministry right here Vic!

You say you have read a lot of the testimonies? You know how heartbroken most of us were, when we made the discovery that the bible is NOT the word of god. We've discovered that 'the word of god' is bit and pieces and fragments of ancient people....... their stories about who they thought god was. So start your ministry here. Convince me god is true......show me evidence and don't use the bible to do it.

 

Don't tell me about any of the scriptures, (I already know the bible better than you) don't tell me about the Garden of Eden and how Adam and Eve' fell' and sinned before god, don't tell me about silly Satan, don't tell me about the angry tribal god in the old testament ......how he had to allow himself to come to earth as a 'fleshly' person, who called himself Jesus and then killed himself for our sins. Don't tell me any of this story. Don't use any of the ancient books that were written by people.

 

 

I am looking forward to your response. Thanks for any help in leading me back to believe in god because if you've really read the testimonies, you'll see that I felt as if someone ripped my heart out the day I stopped really believing....You'll see how I really miss believing in god............

 

P.S Most of the pastors I had were great guys...probably like you!! :grin:

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Super Moderator

My pastor was a really great guy. He was a nice guy, a hard worker, intelligent, funny- a damn good role model for me as a kid. It's a shame he ended up in that line of work. My only complaint is that he talked about jesus and god and shit like that every Sunday and Wednesday. So maybe that's something you could work on.

Ditto.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Super Moderator

 

It was never about the ministers. Leaving christianity was the direct result of reading the entire bible from an objective point of view, paying close attention to those often ignored not-so-nice bits; studying the origins of the bible, christianity, and other ancient religions; and learning about the history and formation of christianity and the church.

 

So my advice is for you to do the same -- Read, Study, Learn -- then get out of the insane scam called christianity. You don't need religion to do good.

 

 

 

However, if you stay with christianity, I second Astreja's comment above.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Super Moderator

Just try to get a real job and contribute something useful to society. Perpetuating ancient mythology to gullible people for money is no way to live.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

While your heart my be in the right place your mind is not. If you would spend more time reading information on the Bible outside of the Christian bias zone you'd realize it was all a sham. Maybe then you'd do something more productive like helping people who are leaving or left Christianity rather than trying to lure them back in.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't touch the little boys.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Super Moderator
Don't touch the little boys.

 

....or the little girls.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Preachers I have met lie through their teeth concerning miracles they've 'witnessed' and the 'healing power of the Holy Spirit.' So, instead of exaggerating every claim into a miraculous work (of lying works and wonders) why not start off telling people the truth about Christianity and how it perverts human nature in order to make the religious doctrine appear logical. Humans do what they do because they are human. Your god made us that way. If he doesn't like the sexual orientation he gave us then let him go to another planet and start over because he isn't doing anything to improve the human condition on this planet. You could also find evidence and prove a talking snake ever gave the girl a piece of magical fruit and this action lead to the ministry of Jesus. If the snake is not true, neither are the claims made by Paul about Jesus. Then prove Jesus lived, or Moses. Then come clean about how Christians rewrote their bible to do away with the names of mythological creatures in order to prove they do not worship mythological stories and characters. Christianity runs by means of deception. Telling the truth would be a novel approach for a minister.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Any critic of those who leave religion should pay very close attention to these responses. I find it very telling that many ex-Christians on this site have no problem whatsoever giving clear cut answers as to what it would take to make us believe. On the other hand, ask a believer what evidence you could show them that would lead them to abandon their beliefs and they'll tell you nothing will change their mind. It really shows you who's open minded and who's not.

 

Regarding the original question, I'll restate what's already been said, show me evidence outside the bible which supports the idea that a god even exists, and further that he is the god of Christianity. Said evidence must also show how all other religions are false. I could come up with more but that would be a great start.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never did state what caused me to lose the delusion or what it would take to make me a believer again. All I insinuated was for a minister to not be hateful of the disbeliever and/or not be a conditional friend. Her friendship was conditional, which is sad and not a true friend at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been on this site for a little while. I have been reading the testimonies about people, and have not commented a lot.

 

He that hath an ear, let him hear. Reread them and listen carefully this time.

 

I feel called to do ministry, but I wanted to hear some people's suggestions who have had trouble with their former pastors.

 

What do you wish your pastor did differently?

 

Huh? :twitch: You're either dense or the hook is deep within your mind. This site of Ex-Christians was created by the Big Book of Fiction and the organization that enthroned it.

 

I want to help people, maybe even people who have stopped believing.

 

I want to learn from other people's mistakes and do things better.

 

Then deconvert and join the Peace Corps.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do you wish your pastor did differently?

 

This idea has already been expressed in this thread repeatedly, but it is worth repeating in my words. What I wish my pastor had done differently:

 

I wish he would not have spread lies by saying that there was a god when the god actually did not exist.

 

But then, I guess, he would not have been a pastor.

 

I further wish that he would not have developed this premise about a god in ways that were harmful to me, his flock, and society at large: e.g., discouraging critical thought while employing fallacy to promote his message, selling an us vs. them mentality which facilitates bigotry and condemnation of others and makes the world a less good place (under the guise of a binary reality, where outsiders are sinners that need saved from utter depravity and bask in the Ultimate TruthTM[/TM] like they do), encouraging his flock, and by extension society to become more dysfunctional by fostering a belief that they are utterly depraved and innately sinful, using fear based tactics and threats of eternal damnation in a made up hell to keep people in line, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ultimate TruthTM[/TM]

 

Typo: that should be Ultimate TruthTM. Can we not edit our posts anymore?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ultimate TruthTM[/TM]

 

Typo: that should be Ultimate TruthTM. Can we not edit our posts anymore?

 

AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHH! Can I no longer muster superscripts at all any more?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the USA a lot of service to the community is off-loaded from the secular government onto churches: food banks, counseling type of services, homeless shelters, etc. This is in part because churches are tax-free entities so they have lower overhead than a legit outfit that is truly pulling its own weight.

 

So this sets up an infrastructure that those of us who want to do good pretty much have to work within.

 

Maybe this is what you really want to do - help people. Yet often the only ways you can do so are through some sort of religious organization. Is that indeed the case?

 

If you are more into the emotional/spiritual/inspirational part of what you are thinking ministry does for people, you could be a counselor, social worker, or, the most important job of all probably, a teacher.

 

Good luck to you. Put your talents to work in the most effective way, without all the hocus-pocus. I have several friends who are ex-ministers and they regret the time they lost, and the fake utterances that came from their mouths. I think they can be too hard on themselves: often the culture they grew up in (ex America's Bible Belt) and indoctrination from an early age set them up for the whole charade.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

 

You know how heartbroken most of us were, when we made the discovery that the bible is NOT the word of god.

 

 

 

 

 

"Heartbroken" describes the feeling perfectly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do you wish your pastor did differently?

He could have been more open to science and reality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't touch the little boys.

....or the little girls.

Or hookers.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

What do you wish your pastor did differently?

 

I want to learn from other people's mistakes and do things better.

 

Feel free to comment.

 

Your question is difficult to answer because what you are asking is how could you be better at convincing people that Christianity is true and then, once having convinced them, to deal with them in a truly Christian way.

 

Asking that of an ExChristian is similar in some ways to the commandant of the Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp asking the Jews there in 1943 how could he be a better commandant. Their answer would be to abandon what you are doing and see to it that no more of us are killed. But the problem from a logical standpoint is that the question was not how could the commandant be a better person, but how could he be a better commandant of a Nazi concentration camp. That question would be better asked of the SS high command than of the Jewish victims because part and parcel of being the commandant is the systematic destruction of the Jews (and others there).

 

So the answer to your question is: there is nothing you can do to be a better pastor. However, if you want to hear what I have to say about being a better human being, then abandon the religion and stop trying to entrap people into its lies.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.