sent in by Timotheus email: elpoeta at dmailman dot com During my time as a fundamentalist inerrantist christian, I subscribed to various apologetic newsletters, most of which I still continue to receive. Prior to the beginning of my journey to deconversion, I greatly enjoyed reading this material, and eagerly anticipated receiving and devouring each issue for the purpose of defending the faith. These collections of propaganda I have amassed include news journals from Koinonia House Ministries (Chuck Missler), Answers in Genesis (Ken Ham), Times Square Church Pulpit Series newsletters (David Wilkerson), and Harvest Ministries (Greg Laurie), to name a few. At the time, I was unaware of any criticism of the ideas expressed in these mailings, and had no reason to doubt the truthfulness and accuracy of them. I truly believed that the holy spirit was working through these men to help equip christians to "be prepared to give an answer for the hope you have...." (1 peter 3:15)...

Recently former Christian minister and author John W. Loftus contacted me and sent me a copy of his new book, “From Minister to Honest Doubter: Why I Changed My Mind.” Let me start off by stating categorically that this book is an absolute “must have” for anyone who has left the Christian faith or is having serious intellectual doubts about the Christian religion. While the book starts out explaining some of his experiential reasons for leaving Christianity, the 216-page volume goes far beyond a mere personal testimony and dives deeply into the elemental contradictions and concerns that weaken the underpinning of “the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” (Jude 1:3) Most readers will not find Loftus’ book one that can be adequately absorbed in an evening. Written in the style of a collegiate thesis, the plethora of scholarly works referenced in this publication places it amongst the better resources for the honest student. To do the volume justice one must be willing to ...

see all three episodes at Channel102.net This is a large file. If you have a broadband connection, no problem If you are on dial-up, I'd recommend passing it by. Right-click (PC) or Ctrl-click (Mac) to save file: download

provided by Edward T. Babinski 1) PROMINENT CHRISTIAN EVOLUTIONISTS 2) CHRISTIAN WEBSITES THAT DEFEND EVOLUTION 3) E-MAILS FROM PROFESSORS WHO ARE CHRISTIAN EVOLUTIONISTS 4) HUMAN EVOLUTION (CREATIONISTS MAKE ADMISSIONS) ~~~~~~~~~ 1) PROMINENT CHRISTIAN EVOLUTIONISTS DR. RICHARD G. COLLING Dr. Colling is a fundamentalist Christian and chair of Biology at a fundamentalist Christian college, and also author of Random Designer: Created From Chaos To Connect With Creator. According to Dr. Colling, "It pains me to suggest that my religious brothers are telling falsehoods" when they say evolutionary theory is "in crisis" and claim that there is widespread skepticism about it among scientists. "Such statements are blatantly untrue," he argues. "Evolution has stood the test of time and considerable scrutiny... What the designer designed is the random-design process," or Darwinian evolution, Colling says. "God devised these natural laws, and uses evo...

sent in by The Happy Humanist An excerpt from "Introduction to Psychology" 4th ed. by James W. Kalat: "Beginning with the Renaissance period in Europe, people began looking for scientific explanations for the phenomena they observed. One of the key points of this Scientific Revolution was a shift toward seeking the immediate causes of an event (what led to what) instead of the final causes (the ultimate purpose of the event in an overall plan). Scientists analyzed the motion of objects in terms of pushes and pulls, and other laws of nature. That is, they made an assumption that everything that happens has a cause, or determinant, in the observable world. Is the same true for human behavior? We are, after all, part of the physical world. Your brain and mine are made of chemical compounds subject to the same laws of nature as anything else. According to the determinist assumption for human behavior, everything we do has a cause. Clearly, at least some of those causes...

Recently an article was posted with a link to an audio "Does God Exist" debate...which really sucked (the Atheist was very ill-prepared, etc). So, I went searching for some better ones, and found a web site with tons of good stuff. The website URL is: http://www.rctr.org/ap5.htm In particular, there is a good "Does God Exist" debate located here (in four parts): 1) http://server.firefighters.org/fernandes/36004.mp3 2) http://server.firefighters.org/fernandes/36005.mp3 3) http://server.firefighters.org/fernandes/36006.mp3 4) http://server.firefighters.org/fernandes/36007.mp3 Just a little pre-info about the debate: The Atheist debater is Dan Barker, author of Losing Faith In Faith. This debate should be fun for all of us at Ex-Christian.net to listen to, that is, if you post either this message, or the information pertaining to the links contained in this message. Thanks, Bimmu

NCPC's Paul Manata debated Derek Sansone on the topic “Does The Christian God Exist?” on Friday April 22, 2005. The debate was hosted by North City and moderated by Gene Cook, Pastor of Covenant Baptist Church in San Diego. Recordings of this event are available for purchase ($2 for Audio CDs and $5 for DVD). See Shawn Dollar to request a copy. Derek Sansone was raised a Roman Catholic in Syracuse, New York. At age 29, in 2001, he “became a born again Christian” and was an ardent student of theology, church history, philosophy and apologetics. In the spring of 2004, Derek declared himself an atheist. He represents the philosophical position of strong atheism and has participated in many debates with Christians. Paul Manata is an ex-atheist who became a Christian in 1999. He has lived in California for 27 of his 29 years. He is a member of North City Presbyterian Church. Paul is a student of reformed theology, philosophy and apologetics. Paul takes classes at Bahnsen Theological Se...

from WKYC-TV Cleveland, OH JACKSON TOWNSHIP -- A Stark County man thinks he may have a miracle sitting in his garden. He says images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary mysteriously appeared on two of his garden rocks this week. It’s hard to miss the Hartman’s house in Jackson Township. It’s surrounded by a white picket fence. And it has a beautiful garden complete with a miniature train track. It was in the garden that Robert Hartman said he made a miraculous discovery. Hartman says he was “tinkering around” when he saw the image of Virgin Mary on a rock. Then another stone caught Hartman’s eye. He says it bears an image of Jesus. He says it’s a sign from god. The other thing that’s so interesting about these rocks is that one of them has a dark patch. It’s actually a film or oil-like substance. And it has a very distinctive smell. In fact, it smells like flowers. Hartman’s mother, Ethel, told Channel 3 News the night before the images appeared, a mysterious flash of light awakened her. “It ...

© 2005 Tim Simmons Contrary to what Christians claim, one can never reclaim the years the locusts have eaten. Time lost is time lost. There is no time machine. I often recall the times in my youth that I now consider to be wasted and wish I could somehow get back that time. Not all idle time was wasted but how many times did I hit the replay button on my Super Nintendo system? Most people don’t dwell on the past and I suppose that isn’t a bad thing but often it is a good thing to look back with the advantage of hindsight and see if you can piece together some truths that may help guide your future. The saying that those who forget the errors in history are bound to repeat them is true. Am I wasting time typing this? If I didn’t have an overall goal then it’s possible. Perhaps it falls under the category of therapy. If you can postpone the urge to yell “hypocrite” for a moment, I’d like to make my point. How much total time has been wasted in prayer since Christianity began? ...

Dave8 wrote: Well, thought I would look at some history and see what the predictions were for the Fundies about ten years ago... The U.S. Army War College published an article "How Vulnerable is the U.S." within the Strategic Studies Institute... So, ten years ago... http://nsi.org/Library/Terrorism/usterror.htm "The threat posed by fundamentalist religious groups of all faiths cannot be discounted. Not only Islamic extremists, but other "true believers" of a variety of faiths are likely to engage in terrorist acts against American targets. These groups might be supported or joined in their operations by domestic religious extremists. In addition, they might also seek alliances with a variety of cultists, survivalists, or neo-fascists who, for their own reasons, reject the existing social, economic, and political order and await their own versions of Armageddon." One could say hindsight is 20/20, but there are many sharp people who knew the threat, but l...

by George Carlin - Here’s my problem. Why are there 10 Commandments? You don’t need 10. The list of Commandments was deliberately and artificial inflated to get it up to 10. It’s a padded list. Here’s what they did: About 5000 years ago, a bunch of religious and political hustlers got together to try and figure out how to control people and how to keep them in line. They knew people were basically unintelligent and would believe whatever they were told. So they announced that God had given them some Commandments up on a mountain.........when nooooooo one was around. But why did they pick the number 10? Why not 9 or 11? I’ll tell you why - because 10 sounds official, 10 sounds important. They knew if it was 11, the people wouldn’t take them seriously. What, are you kidding me? The 11 Commandments? Get the F*&#K outta here! 10 is the basis for the decimal, it’s a decade, it’s a psychologically satisfying number. The 10 most wanted, the 10 best dressed. So having 10 Co...

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from Lark News : OTTAWA — The Rapture occurred March 31, 2005, at 9:43 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time and took both people on the planet whose theology was exactly correct. Dan Wilson of Ottawa, Canada, was snatched away while sleeping. "He spent years refining his eschatological scheme," says his wife. "Just last week he told me he had it all right, but I still disagreed with him on a minor point. I regret that now." Rejna Thanawalla of New Delhi, India, also experienced the Rapture, say friends. "She knew exactly what the books of Revelation and Daniel meant," they say. "Sadly, none of us listened to her." In a surprise, Tim LaHaye says he was "slightly wrong on the subject of the Beast," and was left behind. Other prophecy experts say they, too, botched minor points in their end times charts. "Looks like we'll have to stay and wait this out," said one disappointed pastor.

Thanks be to Khan for posting this! Consider: 1. During the 1988 election campaign, George Bush said that Christians should not be considered patriots or real American citizens. 2. Bill Clinton steadfastly refused to give any speeches at local churches. 3. Both major political parties are dominated by anti-Christians. The Republican party, for example, gave us such hard-core atheists as Pat Buchanan, Dan Quayle, Phyllis Schlafly and Ronald Reagan. And the Democrats have given us such personalities as the Rev. Martin Luther King and the Rev. Jesse Jackson-- both noted for their vicious attacks on all forms of Christianity. 4. Let's talk about the media. On Sunday mornings, nearly all major television channels broadcast pro-atheist shows; it is nearly impossible to find religious programming during that time period. Further, Madalyn Murray O'Hair has her own cable TV channel, while Pat Robertson has been unable to obtain one for himself. 5. Most major newspapers run a special we...

HEAVEN—The soul of Pope John Paul, which entered heaven last week following a long illness, expressed confusion and disappointment Saturday, upon learning that the Celestial Kingdom of God to which the departed faithful ascend in the afterlife is significantly less luxurious than the Vatican's Papal Palace, in which the pope spent the past 26 years of his earthly life. "Where are all the marble statues, sterling-silver chalices, and gem-encrusted scepters?" the visibly disappointed pope asked. "Where are the 60-foot-tall stained-glass windows and hand-painted cupolas? Where are the elaborately outfitted ranks of Swiss Guards? Why isn't every single surface gilded? This is my eternal reward?" Heaven, according to the New Testament, has "brilliance like a very costly stone... of pure gold, like clear glass..." with "twelve gates... each gate a single pearl." Yet the pope, who spoke from the afterlife, said heaven is nothing like the "...

sent in by Sarah My favorite bible story in the bible is Noah's Ark--What a demonstration of God's unconditional love and such a scientifically based logical story to say the least. The fact that two of every kind unclean animal and seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate were able to live in a boat for 40 days outside their natural habitat and survive. The fact that Noah, his family, and all the animals were able to live peacefully on the boat for 40 days and nights without having a serious waste contamination and water borne illnesses. And oh the unconditional love of God outpouring on his creation as he let it rain and rain and rain for forty days and nights, "To wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made." Genesis 7:4 What Grace and Compassion! That is the type of God I want to spend eternity with. But be careful everyone, he can strike you down at any moment, just because, he is, well... God. Don't question him. ...

sent in by Matt I will start now by saying that I have not had a bad experience with Christianity. It made me feel good and it gave me an answer for the inexplicable. I don't blame people for being Christians, nor do I hate them when they 'witness' to me. I was one of them, too. Some of my best friends are still Christian, and most of my family is Christian, with a significant portion of them Fundamentalist. My most intense Christian experience came when I just started High School. My youth pastor invited me to a Bible Camp. I happily agreed, and my life was suddenly changed. Looking back now, a whole week of nothing but the Bible is enough to brainwash a person, but at the time, the Truth was revealed to me. In my mind and heart, it was Jesus time all the time. And I felt complete. I felt like I was finally in on something great. Throughout high school and the beginning of college, I was the leader of anything Christian in my community and campus. I led missio...

sent in by Nathan This is not exactly a testimony. It's actually a short story, but has to do with issues of religion. Any feedback is greatly appreciated! “Joshua, coffee’s ready!” Anne called to him. It was six o’clock in the morning and Joshua still had some last minute preparations to make for his Sunday morning sermon. After drinking his coffee, the preacher knelt by his bed to offer his morning prayers. He could feel the presence of God stirring a holy message inside of him that he planned to share in just a few hours. Having finished his prayer, Joshua pulled back the pages of his Bible and immediately, the twenty-first verse of Matthew twenty-one grabbed hold of his spirit. “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done.” Joshua planned on using this verse for his sermon. He knew that the anointing of the spi...