we want to believe in a God...

What man can represent a God, or any God? Funny how people can claim they're called by God to preach? Yet they are very willing to accept money for their services.

If i were to be called by supposedly the most powerful being in the universe, it would be such a great honor for some God to have picked me, of all people in the world he could have chosen, that no monetary reward would ever sufice the great feeling of singlearity, from whom picked me to represent a God almighty. Why would a God call anyone to represent for God?

Also funny how God can call people to scam them out of their money, but cant help a 11 year old girl from being raped and killed in Florida, while her kidnapping was being video taped and recorded by humans.

Funny how come God just calls certain people for his own agenda. Why do we let these scoundrels fool us into believing them? Could it be that we want to believe in a God and a heaven so much that we are willing to give up our common sense in order to believe in the unbelievable.

It's the fear of the unknown, we fear death. It's the unnecessary fear of the unknown of after death that created all religions. We need a savior to help us through the journey of death, we need comfort, a reward, a feel good feeling to comfort us.

Church also comforts us, and the like minded members support us in our insanity of believing the unbelievable. God exists only in the minds of people, after death there is no more thinking. No more thinking of God and religion. After death there is no more
of anything.

Larry James

Wow,

Not sure what to think about this one.

Here I am, surfing the web, checking out blogs and boom - ExChristian.net. And what do you know - I am a Christian.

I have read a lot of the articles on your site. Some of which raise some valid questions and some of which are filled with as much nonsense as you claim Christianity contains. I think you would freely admit that. Anyway, I have read your entire testimony and wanted to comment. You mentioned that Christians blame your rejection of Christ on the poor treatment and bad example of other believers. I agree with you that such an assessment misses the mark.

I think the reason you became frustrated and felt a need to step away in the first place was that not one of the "churches" you described seemed to be a true church. I am not saying that everyone in those churches were faking it (though you might say the must have been if it is all really a lie). I am saying that the things you experienced from those churches were abhorrent. It was either a false religion based on emotionalism and feeling, or legalistic nonsense calling itself Reformed. I don't doubt your knowledge and have read many of the same authors. I also believe that if I am going to call something truth that I should be able to defend it not only with my heart but also with my mind.

That said, I think it is important to read and study the other viewpoints that exist and really investigate the claims of those views. In the added comments, it is obvious that you have further made up your mind that Christianity is bunk. That doesn't negate the fact of what you experienced during the time you were involved in the church. I do not know your heart. But I also believe that we can look at each other’s lives and make statements based on what we see.

So here are a few things I wonder about your journey: When you accepted Christ at that movie, did you really understand that you were a sinner in need of a savior, or was it the fear of hell of the emotion of the movie that truly griped you? When the leaders and Pastors around you could not answer your questions, did you look harder for those who could? You mentioned you have read Sproul. I don't think there is a question you could asked him (when you were still looking for answers) that he could not answer not only with the Scriptures, but philosophically and logically as well.

I know the questions you mentioned - I would never receive the response you received if I asked my pastor. Shame of those people. How do you think the people of the churches you were in could really teach you truth and answer your questions when they were living like they didn't believe it themselves? Did you ever really come to the point of finding true worth in God? I don't mean the emotional high of "being on fire" for him, but really coming to grips with who God is, why he deserves our lives to bring him Glory, and that we can truly be satisfied in that.

What did you do with the sexual frustrations you felt? I have a feeling that this area became a struggle for you and had a lot to do with where you are now at. I have been there too. In fact, your "nude art" was tempting to look at. Why, because God has made me a sexual being and I have used that in the wrong ways in the past. He has taught to really be "Freethinking" in that area though. Just like the fish is only free in the sea, for when it desires to be "free” from the water it will die; we are free when we live within the bounds that God has created for us as man and women. One of those bounds is how I satisfy that sexual desire within.

It has been hard, but God has taught me and shown me that I can have an amazing, free, open and intimate relationship with my wife and it will be full of true satisfaction. It really comes down to what is best. Does masturbation or sex outside of marriage feel good? No need to answer. But those ways of meeting that desire are only inferior to what God really wants us to know and experience. And that comes to the point of what makes one sin and not the other.

I should trust that what God says is best is best and be willing to wait for it. When I do that it brings Him glory. If I show that I don't trust Him by finding other ways than His was to meet that desire - it doesn't bring him glory and it is sin. So when I'm tempted to look at your "art", I have a decision to make - is what God offers better? It what God has commanded me to do worth ignoring the photos and waiting for the opportunity to have an open, intimate time with my wife? Absolutely! Sorry for that rant, but I want you to know that I am not here as some pious fool who thinks he knows everything and has it all together.

I really believe that you and I have experienced some of the same sad examples of the church and personal struggles. That doesn't mean that it is all bunk. You know that for every unbelieving "freethinker" out there, that there are just as many believing thinkers that can defend the truth of Christianity against any argument. Funny how the way we choose to believe is the side we are on - is it worth risking eternity on it?

The questions beg an answer. I hope you will....

Jon

Ex-Christians are as fanatic ...

Ex-Christians are as fanatic and as dangerous as the Christian fundamentalists. They are are the two sides of the same ultra selfish coin. They have no love, no consideration, no respect, no mercy for the other person's faith or delusion.

They are ready to kill (mentally, emotionally) whosoever disagrees with their beliefs.

You can publish this letter on your site if you dare.

Maria Seferou

Hey guy, nice web page!

I applaud anything that spreads reason in the world.

I don't know how common my own experience is, but I'm a lifelong atheist. My parents were forced to go to church when they were kids, but blew it off when they became adults.

My father is a scientist, and simply always dismissed religion with a wave of his hand and a terse "bunch of garbage". :) I am forever indebted to them for not brainwashing me. People aren't allowed to vote until 18, I think being exposed to brainwashing before adulthood should be illegal as well.

I am fortunate to be Pure in the sense that I have never once attended any church for the purpose of spiritual guidance or religious curiousity. Just weddings, and a friend's confirmation here and there, just to be social. And yet, somehow, I am an ethical person, to the point that I have had Christian friends remark that I act more "Christian" in daily life than they do.

Like anyone I have been occasionally accosted by believers of various stripes, and have read up on the topic sufficiently to engage in debates to amuse myself. I may pop into your chat rooms to see what's doing, but in any case, highly entertaining site and a very worthwhile cause. Keep up the good work!

The Pure One
ThePure_One at hotmail.com

ExChristian.net has been so helpful to me.

Since the age of 8, I never believed the bull in the Bible. When I began my college career in 1980, I chose the closest university, which happened to be a Wesleyan Methodist College in my own town. Now at age 41, I am attending it again working on my Bachelor's. Only because I already had 65 credit hours from 1980. It takes everything I have to keep my mouth shut in class.

I always knew the Bible was garbage but couldn't realy stand by it with evidence. Now, that I've been introduced to exCristian .net I have sturred up a few of my classmates. They say it's always good to ask questions; so I gave it to them right in the eye. The students who dared to challenge me, were always left stuttering with their tongues tied. The professors (most of them) act as though they didn't understand the question or they avoid it completely.

It's quite entertaining.

I can now quote scriptures that support my proof, and I throw them right back in their faces. Especially the scripture where Jesus says you should hate and abandon your family. Most don't believe it's in their little Bible; but I show it to them in black and white. And would you believe that they still try to explain it away or change the complete meaning altogether. Their last ditch effort is to say that one must study the Bible in Greek (which they themselves don't know) or in detail to understand the TRUE meaning of the scriptures. It's all a hilarious joke.

Thanks for Listening.

Marianne

I would like to thank you

First and foremost, I would like to thank you for creating and supporting
such a wonderful collection of resources of the ex-Christian side of the
spectrum. I have read almost everything on your site over the past few weeks
and unlike the Christian-bashing that goes one in a lot of similar sites, I
have found yours quite different and truly refreshing. I am of a roman
catholic background and though I have jettisoned my "faith" in Christ a long
time ago, I suppose I read this sort of material to embrace freedom from the
claustrophobic world of religious dogma.

Anyway, I will make myself scarce and only annotate the fact that along with
this short message, I am including an article I have recently found which I
thought might be of interest to you and the readers of your website. Chances
are that you have already read the included text, but since I cannot be sure
it wont hurt to try.

And on this note I shall conclude, wish you good luck in your ventures and
reinforce the hope of seeing the world wake up from its religious dream
[nightmare?]. Thank you for your work and dedication to the matter at hand.
May the force be with you : )

Kind regards,
Jakub

I just joined this forum and wanted to share my story

Hello:

I grew up in a home where we attended a mainline Protestant church. Religion, though significant, was not all consuming.

I went to college as a rather insecure kid. In my freshman year I was approached by a Campus Crusade member. I read the Four Laws and a few days later accepted Christ. My life immediately changed. I spent tons of time reading the Bible. I was deeply involved in Campus Crusade, and appreciated having a group of close friends who shared my newfound faith.

After college I got a job, moved to another state and became very active in an evangelical Baptist church. I attended Sunday School, AM service and PM service each Sunday, Wednesday night service, and Bible studies. (Any of this sound familiar to you?) I attended Promise Keeper rallies, went on overseas mission trips, served on boards, and fretted about those who were lost.

My big change started a few years ago. I was feeling dissatisfied about some aspects of my Christian life and rather than searching the Scriptures for answers, decided to search the web. I came across sites similar to this one. At first I was defensive about what some said about their loss of faith. However, these former believers were intelligent and sincere, and I was intrigued by what they said.

I bought Babinski's "Leaving the Fold." I could relate to some of the testimonies in that book. I started to read the writings of authors such as Ingersoll, Thomas Paine and Marlene Winell. I came to the point where I no longer believed fundamentalist doctrine.

The first serious conflict I had as a Christian was back in college, a few months after accepting Christ. I was at a retreat and a speaker brought up one of the passages about wives submitting to their husbands. I had this wild idea that marriage should be an equal partnership, but that's not what the Bible seemed to say. I think at one level I was willing to accept the idea of marriage roles, since "God said so," but never really believed it. When you're a fundamentalist, there are things you condition yourself to accept, crazy as they seem.

I don't know what label to place on me, other than spiritually I'm a work in progress. I'm not a fundamentalist, but still consider myself a Christian. I no longer believe something just because "the Bible says so." I find it amazing that people like Jerry Falwell have such an impact on politics in this country. On the other hand, there are Christians who seem to have a saner world view (Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis come to mind) so I don't discount what I call the positive aspects of faith.

I could go on and on but think I've said enough. Thank you for letting me share my experiences and feelings!

unsigned

There is no such thing as an ex-Christian

There are many valid statements in many of your testimonies relating to the ridiculousness of "Christians" in society. There are a lot of people and groups and churches and holy wars and etc, etc who call themself Christians but which does not necessarily mean they are in fact Christians. When Christ calls a man, it is until the end so as no credit or boasting may be done by the individual (1 Corinthians). God is our Creator and man is the only creature that has laughed in the face of Him. For this, we are a depraved creature, guilty of punishement and banishment. It is not all about logic or reason or evidence or sense.

It would not be faith if all the evidence were there or if all the archeaological evidence were found or if all the teaching made perfectly logical sense.
Man has turned their back on God and I plead with you, brothers, understand that what you may have been exposed to was not what Christianity is all about. Let the Word speak for itself and I ask you to read through it and let it speak for it is the Spirit of God through the Word that saves you not you yourselves. It it were up to man to save himself, he would fail every time.

You were never truly converted because God makes it clear that He will be faithful to complete the work He began in you. There is a God and He is not Silent (Schaeffer). We are meant to be cursed because of our depravity. Christ became a curse for us - and God's wrath killed Him because of His love for us and because of His promise to make His name known.

Jason Freeman
jasonpatrickfreeman@hotmail.com

You have much learning to do my friend...

The letter you wrote to christians only proved your own insecurity. If you don't want anything to do with christianity, then why do you keep portraying a misrepresentation of the actual religion? Your reasoning is preposterous and seemingly showed an infantile conception of the bible. You have no grasp on what christianity stands for, thats why you are trying to break it down. I doubt you have studied any of the greek or hebrew language, and I also doubt you ever studied the bible. You proved your ignorance of knowledge in the bible throughout the whole essay. You claim that christianity is full of ignorance. Yet, in your self proclaimed vision of christianity, you took everything out of context and presented a child like version or notion of what christianity is. You have a simplistic way of looking at things. You even tried using "natural science," and tried to coorelate that with faith. That is an illogical argument in itself. Also, who says that evolution and the big bang are science? It isn't science, it is theory. It isn't fact, although it may be tought as fact in the public education system, that does not make it fact. Science means knowledge. Theory does not equate to knowledge. You have much learning to do my friend...

FORTHETRUTH
superlovedoctor@yahoo.com

Help

by Chris Ballmer

WebMaster: I'm a recent deconverter, from a small fundamentalist cult in Santa Barbara, CA under a man named George Geftakys, The Assemblies. I enjoy the site and hope to post a testimony soon. Can you recommend a good book on Christian history which chronicles the misinformation and the putting together the doctrines of the early church. I'm especially interested in how doctrines formed (Trinity, etc)... and the politics of writing and choosing the gospels to include in 'the book'. Any help is much appreciated.

I just don't want any body to go to hell

Hello, my name is Mark, I'm from Alberta, Canada. I just wanted to ask for your home address or a box number where I can send the money you freely asked me for. Can I ask one thing, What are you going to do when the anti-christ arrives on the seen and the false prophet says to the world to make an image of the beast and worship it, and the image could kill those who do not worship it. I really believe you know all what the bible has to say so you must know the endtimes stuff. You consider yourselves to be an athiest and athiests don't believe in any god, so you will never worship the beast then, right? So if the beast says for example 'worship me and live, or die for the name, and word of Jesus" (Revelation 20:4). What will an athiest do at that time (there is only two choices). He will save his butt because he "received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:" 2 Thess.2:10,11. That's the only way an athiest could go in that situation unless they repent now before the end, and do receive the love of the truth, because as soon as the end is come they can be sured that they will believe "a lie" because they "DID NOT RECIEVE THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH". I have an older brother who doesn't like to talk about the whole issue (God, Jesus, Christianity). I feel the same way towards you as I feel towards my brother, I just don't want any body to go to hell. I ask God sometimes if He could leave me behind so I could help my brother through the end times and show him everything that's happening and will happen. One day I believe my prayer will be answered and I will look for you too. I love you and all who just can't begin to believe who God really is. I really hope to hear from you. Goodnite and may you look towards God again. Your friend Mark.

hescomingsoon@praize.com

You Know...You're Right

I would merely like to respond to the whole of the deconversion stories I've read, especially those who have been royally crapped upon by Christians.

I am not surprised, as many others who have commented on this site, that people would actually make such bold and brandish statements about hating church, God, Jesus, the Bible, and anything else "Religious." Christians today--in far too numerous occasions--are ignorant, shallow, hypocritical, rude, boisterous in their own stupidity, closed-off, ego-centric, wrong, selfish, whorish, idol-worshipers, slanderers, back-biters, and on and on and on.

We (Christians) are the scourge of the earth. Supposed handlers of truth, we have botched every good thing that the Bible or Christ ever stood for. Our collective "church body" in America particularly, is a brutish disgrace. To all you "CHristians" who come to this website thinking you have something to say--SAVE IT. Read every deconversion story you can before you want to throw-up, hate yourself, and completely change the way you live your life. Take a long, sober look.

These are the lives you destroy every day that you live for yourself and deny the truths you've let slip through your fingers. These are the people you think you are better than. These are the people who just want to be accepted, but you look at them funny because they don't look like you. These are the people that you wouldn't allow inside your church, so they have to sit outside on the curb and smoke a cigarette with Jesus Himself--yeah, you won't let Him in either.

To all you who have been disillusioned by my terrible bothers and sister, all I can say is, don't blame God for the failure of His stupid sheep. It's their fault, "let the blood be upon us and our children's children." We are sorry (as in sad). We are pathetic. And we need websites like this to wake us up. Thank you and my deepest regards.

joshua brindle

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