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Goodbye Jesus

An Open Blog Invitation


lungfish

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Hello everyone,

 

Many of you have read my testimony on the home page (if you have not and are interested http://new.exchristian.net/2013/07/how-i-lost-my-faith-reflections-of-gods.html) and many of you have visited my website ( www.askanexchristian.wordpress.com ). I've gotten so many kind and beautifully written comments on the story that I wanted to explain my goals for this website and extend an open invitation to anyone who might want to contribute.

 

My goal for this website is to take advantage of the "Ask a _________" fad on the internet so that doubting Christians can easily find a resource that clearly states its intentions. With this I want to reach that Christian who is maybe lying awake late at night, feeling horrible because of the doubt that might be tormenting him/her. That Christian who suddenly considers that his/her religion might not be true and, on a whim, pulls out his phone or laptop to do a quick internet search on de-conversion or on ex-Christians. These whims often do not last very long so, when he/she acts, I want him/her to find a website where he/she does not have to sift through mountains of information or forum posts to find something that he/she can relate to. I want him/her to find a website with the simplest and quickest possible navigation to 5 important topics:

  1. How I Lost My Faith (de-conversion stories)
  2. Why I Can Never Go Back to My Faith
  3. How Atheism Changed Me (on miscellaneous topics)
  4. Letters of Encouragement
  5. Other Resources (with links and descriptions of other resources and how they helped you in your de-conversion)

I want these topics to be answered by people from every possible background and with varying opinions and approaches. There would be only three rules: be honest, be sincere, and be loving. And, if willing, it would be amazing if each post held the email contact information of its author so that a Christian, who is having doubts, could ask the author any questions in a private setting (but this would be optional).

 

The website has already gotten many hits from various internet searches and I have already received a few emails from people with questions - even though the website has only been up for a couple months. If anyone is interested in contributing a post on any or all of these topics, send me an email: lungfish.blog@outlook.com. The post would be owned by the author, could be posted or already have been posted on any other websites, and I would respect any decision to edit it or take it down in the future. Future plans include a “Ask an Ex-Christian” podcast that addresses topics on the website with interviews of contributing authors on their posts - but this is likely a year down the road when the website becomes large enough.

 

I really think this could be a gateway to the disburdening of many people.

 

- lungfish

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I haven't had a chance to go there yet, but I think it's a wonderful idea.

 

Might I suggest (and feel free to disagree) that instead of "How I Lost My Faith", you entitle that section something like "How I Became Aware of the Truth"? I can see the advantages of both kinds of titles. In realizing that faith in Christianity is faith in nothing, you havent really lost anything, you've gained; however, "lost my faith" or "losing my faith" may be the search term that would get someone to the site.

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Thanks for this tip. Most of the hits I get from search engines (which I assume are from doubting Christians looking for answers) are because of that title. The main reason I wanted to start this website is to provide a resource that is as easy to find as possible. I was thinking about changes the title of "How Atheism Changed me" though.

 

When I was searching for resources for doubting Christians, the only positive sites I could find were forums such as this one, but the mass amounts of information was overwhelming and I turned away. So a big goal of the site is to be as simple and as easy to navigate as possible. That is the reason for the limit topics that I want addressed. The resource reviews will then act as a gateway to forums that hold much more information - such as exchristian.net - when the person is ready.

 

I also recently did a search on face book using the key word "ex-christian", "de-converted", and "atheist" and I only found two pages that were not filled with sarcasm and ridicule towards Christian beliefs - ExChristian.net and Atheist Jesus. I do believe that sarcastic pages have their place - JT Eberhard claims that anger caused in a reader will often cause that person to do research on a topic that they might not otherwise have done and that research might bring them to the truth. Unfortunately, these mocking types of pages are the vast majority. There needs to be many more pages that refuse to mock religions because, when that person begins to have doubts and wants to reach out to someone who can answer their questions, they probably won't reach out to the admins of these sarcastic pages. They will be looking for more of a loving and understanding person to talk to. I want this website to be a resource to guide doubting people out of their harmful fundamentalism with a private, one-on-one dialog that will make them feel comfortable and loved.

 

Also, thank you to everyone who has sent me emails already. I"m slowly replying to each with time. The mother-in-law is coming tomorrow and apparently that means I have to clean the house tongue.png .

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Lungfish,

 

This is just my observation, NOT any form of policy from the 'back room". 

 

Ex-Christian dot net does all that you seem to be promoting. Nothing here would cause you to rethink your activities netwise.  ExC is here, established, has a foundation that seems to continue working.

 

Good fortune working with the myriad quantities of persons and problems that you'll find ready to be attracted to your spot.

A very good source of practical info for this work is Brother Jeff. Our member of some great length has experience and tons of time invested in something such as you are doing.

 

Welcome to ExC, best of fortune in your world,

 

kevinL

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My goals are very different than ExC . net. ExC is a public forum filled with group dialog which caters very well to the normal person. My goals are to cater to the psychology of extremely abused individuals - a psychology I know very well from both experience and academic research. ExC, although an extremely excellent site, does not cater to this psychology. A person abused to such an extent does not always want to see a group dialog between healed exchristians or healed exchristians and questioning christians. This person may not even come across this site because he or she often does not consciencely seek doubt. Instead, this person, on a particularly bad night, might do a search on a whim hoping to find comfort on a small site which he/she can navigate to an answer to a question in as short a time as possible. This person wants to find a story that he or she can relate to without having the irrational feeling that he or she is surrounded by a community of people who may judge him/her. This person wants to read the story over and over until he/she builds the courage to send a private message in complete secret to the writer of that story. And when that person begins to get comfortable with his or her doubt,the gateway will open for participation in forums such as ExC where a community can then accept this peraon. My target audience may be small, but to help them, I need faces from a wide variety of backgrounds that can provide a wide variety of content. This is what I ask of anyone reading with the time to provide such content.

 

Regardless, I'm not here to do anything new. I'm not here to debate theology or philosophy or the lack of existence of anything or anyone. Much of what needs to be said on these topics have already been said. All one needs to do is search for it. What I am here to do is provide for just one more resource for thst person who needs to be shown that life is indeed better on the other side. Because the more resources that exist, the easier one is to find.

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