Controversy is nothing new to this site. Much of what appears on ExChristian.Net creates an emotional response in the visitors. This is to be expected when one considers the nature of the content and the mindset of those who would be inclined to stay more than a few moments. I’ve stated on more than one occasion that I started this site initially as a place to post my testimony documenting my exit from Christianity. It began as a personal place to rant and sort out my own thoughts. In the two years since its inception, the site has grown to include articles written by myself and many others about specific points of interest to persons questioning their faith. Later, I added interactivity including the forums. The interactive portions of the site have grown in popularity and participation. I never really viewed the site as evangelical in nature, or as an attempt to undermine the faith of others. I think anyone who honestly reads the Bible, the development of theological thought, and th...

Why did Jesus suffer? We are told that he suffered and died for our sins, but I find the whole concept confusing. First of all, what is so efficacious about suffering? Is there some secret ingredient to being in agony or privation that is somehow superior to feeling good? Is there a secret power that tends to make physical suffering moral while warning us that physical pleasure is immoral? Perhaps pleasure makes the soul weak while pain makes it strong? I fail to understand how discomfort in another person has any impact on me whatsoever, other than eliciting pity from me towards the unfortunate victim. To imagine that someone else’s pain, such as that supposedly experienced while Jesus was being whipped and gruesomely murdered, benefits me in some way is a bizarre concept. This whole idea about the benefits of suffering is vaguely reminiscent of childhood confrontations with foul tasting medicine that was said to be good for me while mouth watering sweets were castigated as bad for m...

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I have heard it so many times that it is indelibly etched into the very fabric of my subconscious. Usually the rhetoric goes something like this: "God's love is not like human love. There are conditions placed on the fragile affections between people, but God's love is greater than that. He loves us just as we are and accepts us unconditionally." Is Bible-God's love really unconditional? There is at least one Christian who understands that God's Love is not in any way, shape or form "unconditional" . Let me quote a small part of this Christian author's perspective on the issue: "A Critical Review of a Pop Religious Truism Scripture clearly teaches that God's love (phileo, agape, aheb, ahabah, etc.) is unfailing, undeserved, and unilateral (completely one-sided in initiation). But is God's love without condition--I.E.: UN-conditional? On this we should consider three things. 1) Where did this idea come from? 2) Is it consistent with S...

Thinking about the demonstrated spelling abilities of some of the more emotional detractors who have posted lately, I wonder how long it took before anyone at this convention even noticed a problem? It seems to me that someone who does not even make the effort to check their own spelling, probably does not make much effort with many things. That would especially come across if the person were trying to show why it is a good idea to be a Christian. If they gloss over simple English usage, they are quite likely guilty of glossing over a whole lot more. The sign would be funny, if it weren't so sad. What do you think about people who are too lazy to even attempt to spell things correctly?

Is about to get a little more interesting. It's been two thousand years, and somehow things have gone from bad to worse... God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies. Nahum 1:2 It's time for the Good Lord to do a bit of house cleaning. With the Almighty Power of God, along with a 21st century arsenal, you - Jesus Christ - are sent back to earth to kick some ass and take names (resulting in a list that St. Peter would likely kill to get his hands on). They've ignored Your warnings since the beginning of time. They've forsaken You, twisted Your message, rejected Your gifts and turned away from Your church at every opportunity. No more chances. No more excuses. The End is at hand. Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire. Isaiah 9:19 If this sounds like a joke, it's not. I emaile...

This is one of my favorite Christo-speakese phrases. It demonstrates yet another example of the ignorance Christians have about their own rule book, the Bible, as well as an attempt by modern believers to make their God nicer than he really is. A quick search on GOOGLE will reveal that this phrase, or a variation of it, is found in numerous online sermons. I know that I myself heard that quaint concept repeated uncountable times in the many churches I frequented during my long tenure as a true believer. On the face if it, the phrase seems like a nice idea. Basically I take this to be an admonition to be nice to everyone, regardless of ideology, but lovingly stand against their non-Christian lifestyles, behaviors, etc. I would agree with the "be nice to everyone" attitude, and commend those who try to adopt the policy. To debate the value of this simple philosophy is not my issue here, but to demonstrate that although such thinking may be a nice fluffy Evangelical ideal, it ...

by Mark Twain from Europe and Elsewhere & A Pen Warmed Up In Hell Religion had its share in the changes of civilization and national character, of course. What share? The lion's. In the history of the human race this has always been the case, will always be the case, to the end of time, no doubt; or at least until man by the slow processes of evolution shall develop into something really fine and high -- some billions of years hence, say. The Christian Bible is a drug store. Its contents remain the same; but the medical practice changes. For eighteen hundred years these changes were slight -- scarcely noticeable. The practice was allopathic -- allopathic in its rudest and crudest form. The dull and ignorant physician day and night, and all the days and all the nights, drenched his patient with vast and hideous doses of the most repulsive drugs to be found in the store's stock; he bled him, cupped him, purged him, puked him, salivated him, never gave his system a chance to ...

I would never want to be a member of a group whose symbol was a guy nailed to two pieces of wood. [George Carlin, from the album "A Place For My Stuff"] We created god in our own image and likeness! [George Carlin] I credit that eight years of grammar school with nourishing me in a direction where I could trust myself and trust my instincts. They gave me the tools to reject my faith. They taught me to question and think for myself and to believe in my instincts to such an extent that I just said, 'This is a wonderful fairy tale they have going here, but it's not for me.' [George Carlin, in the _New York Times_ 20 August 1995, pg. 17. He attended Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx, but left during his sophomore year in 1952 and never went back to school. Before that he attended a Catholic grammar school, Corpus Christi, which he called an experimental school.] If churches want to play the game of politics, let them pay admission like everyone else [George Carl...

Those of you who have read some of my personal site know that I spent a good portion of my life as a musician, both in the service of the US Military as well as in the service of various church groups. I understand the power of music, and I understand that some of the best music is written when motivated by strong emotion. There are some Christian hymns that still stir my soul. I no longer believe the message of the songs, but when a song is good, it is good, regardless of the message. One of those that has come to my attention again recently is "It is Well with my Soul" by Horatio Spafford. For those not familiar with the old song, or who may have forgotten it, I uploaded a windows media audio file which can be heard here: Mr. Spafford wrote his song inspired by tragedy. Born in New York State on October 30, 1828, Horatio G. Spafford became a lawyer, practicing law and teaching jurisprudence in Chicago. By the time he was in his early 40s he was quite successful and invest...

by Ben Cartwright Many times in my recent years, I have been classified as a “non-Christian.” At first, I objected to this on the grounds that this did not describe anything about me. But nowadays, I’ve gotten used to it, and I would like to tell you a few other things about myself. First of all, a few basic things. My race is non-black. I have non-red hair, and my height is non-five foot six. My favorite sport is non-soccer. My favorite food is non-green beans. In case you’d like to know more about me, I live in a non-house, I speak non-Japanese, I majored in non-mathematics in college, and I love non-classical music. I like long walks on the non-pavement, I enjoy traveling by non-train, I prefer non-Baroque art, and my favorite thing to read is the non-newspaper. I’m sure Christians also won’t mind my applying the same technique when I talk about them, so instead of calling them “Christians” from now on, I’m going to call them “non-Muslims.” read more of Ben's Writing

by Ben Cartwright Does anyone who supports the idea that the Bible is infallible honestly expect me to believe that… …God created the world, knowing full well that most of us would end up burning in eternal hell? …he created it teeming with all sorts of amazing plant and animal life, including dinosaurs, and then shortly thereafter flooded it all and destroyed a devastating amount of them? …by flooding the world in the way he did, he created a fossil record which clearly seems to indicate that the world is extremely old, yet doesn’t want us to believe this? …God also created the stars so that light from them would appear to be millions of years old, deceiving us once again? …he wrote a book which is very similar to all other creation and religious mythology, yet expects us to separate this book from the others and see it as perfect and holy? And if we don’t see that, we go to hell? …Jesus came and died on a cross so that people wouldn’t have to go to hell, yet people keep going? Swi...

submitted by Zachary Moore As much effort is expended to explain and justify the accuracy and validity of the Bible, Christianity is a religion firmly grounded on faith. Faith in the existence of God, faith in the divine sacrifice of Jesus, and faith that acceptance of that sacrifice will bring salvation through grace. Among other things, I’m an outdoorsman; since I was small, I’ve loved exploring the hidden confines of America’s wilderness. I’ve learned to feel at home in the complex simplicity of nature, and I’ve found that sometimes the most important lessons can be found perched in a tree on top of a hill. At night, I can see points of light burning in the darkness all around me; campfires lit by other adventurers in the forest. It occurs to me that faith is like fire. It provides light to see, warms us in the frigid night, and protects us from the unknown. Faith and fire entered the human consciousness at the same time in prehistory, when humanity first put a bright, flickering w...

I recently came across a Christian pamphlet that suggested science was nothing but another religion requiring faith to accept its lofty claims. The basic idea of the tract was that science was so much guesswork resulting in an inferior and false belief system when compared to the time tested truths of Bible. The article attempted to support its premise by pointing out that science had been forced to adjust its claims repeatedly over the years, whereas the Bible had remained steadfast, yesterday, today, and forever. The writer of the essay wanted to offer the Bible as something you could count on because of its unchanging reliability. In contrast, the ever shifting sand of scientific knowledge was presented as an undependable foundation for understanding reality and life. Those who cherish this line of reasoning are correct. It does take a certain amount of faith when it comes to most of us accepting complicated scientific axioms, hypotheses and theories. For example, I learned the basi...

CINCINNATI (EAP) - A Cincinnati teenager was killed yesterday when her plastic Jesus dashboard figure was driven into her chest by her car's airbag which inflated during an accident involving two other vehicles. 17-year-old Darlene Fulps of Cincinnati was apparently holding her Jesus figure close to her chest when she ran through a red light and collided with two other vehicles in a busy intersection. "The air bag inflated and pushed the head of Jesus straight through her heart," said Tom Young, medical examiner at the scene of the accident. "If it wasn't for the plastic Jesus, Ms. Fulps would still be alive today." "Air bags have saved thousands of lives, but in this case it actually took a life, thanks to Jesus," said police officer Graham Pryor, first officer at the scene. Robert Fulps, Darlene's father and devout Christian man said "It was just our daughter's time to go, and we can't question the actions of God. My daughter lov...

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Someone who calls himself Ikhyun wrote this: “Hey Dave wake up! I'm only 20 years old but sorryyour lack of maturity someone your age scares me. It's you that need God. God doesn't need you; if you've abandoned Christianity and you've got your valid reasons, that's that. However the way you've displayed pictures of obscene pictures of Jesus engaged in sexual acts shows that you are still just an infant crying out for attention. Let me prophesy; although you're probably three times my age I can say this to you; if you live your life for yourself rather than for Christ, you will one day be at the end of your journey and look back on your life and see that all that you have done in this world were for your own selfish motives, and you will pass into oblivion knowing that it could have been so much more. Your ex-brother until you come back to Christ. Really; I hope you see you in heaven Dave.” I want to use this interesting post as a jumping off point for th...

Exodus 32:27, 28. "He said to them, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man and his brother, and every man and his companion, and every man and his neighbor. (28) And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." Hosea 13:16. "Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up." Judges 21:10. "And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest and commanded them, saying, God and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. (11) And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man." 1 Samuel 15:3. "Now go...