This is a transcript of the podcast that is available by clicking here . Hello, you're listening to the ex-Christian Monologues, a podcast from ExChristian.Net for April 30, 2006. When Christians show up on this site, it is usually to argue. Rather than present positive evidence for their beliefs, they choose instead to throw out what I call side arguments on a variety of topics. These side arguments are not necessarily meant to show that Christianity is true, but they are meant to show that non-belief is an untenable worldview. Instead of presenting any positive evidence for the existence of a God, a Jesus, angels, devils, etc., they'll attack from different angles. The following is not meant as a comprehensive covering of all the possible apologetic directions Christians are in the habit of taking, but just a few of my favorite. For instance: Hitler was supposedly an atheist. Well, actually, the evidence shows he was a Catholic. Hitler makes reference to God over 70 times i...

By Lorena When I was "saved" they told me that I could not lose my salvation. If I really received Jesus in my heart, then I was as good as in heaven already. However, they said, "faith without works is dead" (book of James); therefore, I had to show changes in my life to prove that I actually believed in Jesus. So I set on a journey to be a "new creature." Along the way, I often noticed that some devout Christians went back to their sinful lives. I was particularly concerned about the substance-addicted ones. Alcohol and drugs are habits very hard to kick, and many fall away and go back to their sad lives, thinking that they have failed God and that there is no place for them in the church. On the other hand, many who came from good homes had no problem following the rules and regulations. They became the pastors and the leaders. They were the examples for everyone to follow. Now a Canadian, I grew up in Latin America and in a dysfunctional home. I wasn’t...

This article is a transcript of the podcast available by clicking here . Hello, you’re listening to the Ex-Christian Monologues, a podcast from ExChristian.Net. I’m Dave, and today’s date is April 24, 2006. Today I want to talk a little bit about Christianity’s historic relationship with witchcraft. This is part one of a three-part podcast. Part One draws heavily on the History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff and the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge . Schaff’s classic work is in the public domain and freely available on the Internet. Most primitive cultures attributed witches with the power to supernaturally injure crops, animals, health, and possessions. Many ancient cultures created laws to punish the offense. As in other cultures, the ancient Hebrews condemned witchcraft, as expressed in the Mosaic Law ( Deut 18:10 & Exodus 22:18 ). Following in Judaism's footsteps, the early Christian Church believed in and condemned witchcraft Acts 19:19 ,...

by UberGeek I’ve been having a rather interesting discussion via email with one of the Christians who began posting here not too long ago. In my latest response, I began addressing the issue of good and evil and what is God’s relationship to these things, along with further arguments about free will and the Garden of Eden. What follows is an introductory essay that begins to address the first proposition, is God good or evil? At first, the argument could be proposed that since God created everything, including Satan, the embodiment of evil, then God is the author of evil. The Christian could easily respond to this first proposition by simply replying that Satan was created good, but chose evil. You could say that all of God’s sentient creations have the capability for good or evil, and the free will to choose either. Therefore, God did not create evil. We’ll discuss free will later. The Christian could further respond that God did not “create” evil in the sense that evil is not a...

By MICHAEL LAWS It is only fitting that in the week celebrating Christianity's most important festival, the Court of Appeal should order a retrial for an exorcist. Korean pastor Yong Bum Lee, otherwise known as Luke, strangled one of his parishioners to death. He was seeking to rid Joanna Lee (no relation) of her demons, but instead took the direct route. He sent Joanna to heaven rather than dally with temporal deliverance. As a consequence, Luke was found guilty of manslaughter, imprisoned, paroled, then repatriated to South Korea. Only after all these events did our Appeal Court offer him a retrial. And on the strangest of grounds. Apparently the original trial judge denied Luke the defence of consent - that Joanna had consented to grievous harm as part of her exorcism ritual. Which rather proved she was possessed -letting Luke climb on her chest and throttle her would hardly be the actions of an expunged entity. This madness was not some private sadomasochistic ritual between a ...

By Lorena Rodriguez I believe that my years of christianity severely damaged me emotionally. The religion points to Jesus as a solution to each and every problem a person may have. When one expresses pain, disappointment, fear, or anger, the verses are thrown on one’s face: "Don’t let the sun go down on your anger," "Rejoice in the Lord always," "I will fear no evil for you are with me." The idea is to suppress one's feelings and "take every thought captive to the Lord." What are the psychological consequences of suppressing one’s emotions year after year in "The name of the Lord?" Are we all to experience the world in the same manner and apply the bible verses to our lives indistinctly? Are we to erase our individuality to feel the way the bible says we should feel? According to Dr. Elaine N. Aron, writer of The Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), one of five humans (20%) experience the world in a unique way. HSPs, she maintains, have ...

Yesterday, the public learned about the discovery of a document dating from the early days of Jesus worship, the Gospel of Judas . This manuscript raises a host of fascinating questions for those who care about the origins of the Christian faith. Almost all Americans, about ninety percent, either were raised in or currently practice some form of Christianity that is rooted in Catholic orthodoxy. (Protestants draw their core doctrines from the orthodox Catholic tradition.) Steeped in these teachings, it is easy to see the Judas manuscript as a curious outsider and to ask how it compares to the true histories recorded in the more familiar gospels named after Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. This question misunderstands history, and so it is a false question. During the first centuries of Christianity, the cult or worship of Jesus took many forms. Some groups taught that Jesus only appeared to be human, others that he was one of many divine intermediaries between God and humanity. Some ...

The following is a transcription of the podcast made available HERE . Welcome to the ex-Christian monologues, a podcast from the webmaster of exchristian.net. I’m Dave, the webmaster, and it’s March 26, 2006. Here’s a comment someone posted on ExChristian.Net just this morning: “May I ask you a question?” writes the poster. “How are you so sure that there is no god. I think I understand well the position of agnostics. But I am curious about your conviction of no god. Anybody tell me?” It is both frustrating and fascinating the number of times I’ve seen this question. The people asking are usually sincere, or appear sincere – they believe they are asking a pretty good question, one the requires a pretty good answer. Some people think that by simply asking that question, or some variation of it, that they’ve made a good point, or proven something. Another version of the “how can you be sure there is no god” question, would be: “what is your evidence that there is no god?” Okay, let’s con...

by Valerie T In light of this week's massacre of apparent children. Lesson II: Child-ness A good Evangelical must be able to recognize children on sight. This is because God loves children and every one is precious in his sight. He watches over them and protects them from harm, just like an all-powerful shepherd watching over his lambs. The Bible says so. Although this may not seem obvious in the world around us, when you understand the difference between a child and not-a-child everything becomes clear. You know who to take care of and how to keep from getting distracted by child-like creatures that don't merit your attention. It also becomes obvious who God wants you to vote for - politicians who prioritize children over not-children. After studying the following series of photos, you will be able to differentiate between children and not-children almost as well as God himself — though not quite, because, as the photos illustrate, God is infinitely wise and you are not. The b...

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by Deamond ORDINARY THEIST oh, look, there's the King! AGNOSTIC Is... is he... is he wearing skin-colloured clothes or something? ATHEIST Oh, god, he's naked. SCIENTIST "Pardon us, your majesty, may we feel your sleeve for a moment?" "Why, certainly." (Whispers to coleague) "He's naked" NONPRACTICEING THEIST I'm bored, I'm going home HEATHEN your King is naked, not like our King. PHILOSOPHER Maybe the clothes are there and the King isn't. CULTIST (Streaks in front of parade, gets arrested, no one gets the irony) CREATION SCIENTIST Well, obviously you can't feel it, either. FANATIC (Actually sees clothes) LUCIFERIAN Wooo! Shake it! TELEVANGEALIST We'll send you the bill for the robes, your majesty.

By Wayne O Gen.1 [1] In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. [2] And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. [3] And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. [4] And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. [5] And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. …. [14] And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: [15] And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. [16] And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. [17] And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, [18] A...

© 2006 Tim Simmons Most people know that a light year is not a measurement of time but a measurement of distance. It is the distance light would travel if it was allowed to travel unabated for a year. Even grade school children learn these types of things by the sixth grade but apparently science wasn’t one of Johnny Hart’s favorite subjects in school. In a recent cartoon, he exposes his complete ignorance (and apparent disdain) for science by having a flower pop up from the ground and ask a rock, “Hi! How many light-years old are you?” Then he goes on to belittle the scientific community and its desire to explore the universe in which we find ourselves. Much like any other Christian writer, he writes things so as to misrepresent the “opponent’s” stance and thereby attacks merely a strawman. He has a preacher in the cartoon ask a doctor why scientists are always looking for life elsewhere in the universe. Then, in classic Christian fashion, he puts words in the scientist’s mouth ...

Here's a video that was produced to promote Creationism, but I thought it interesting, and sad. The players? Mike Shermer & Kent Hovind. The location? The Physical Sciences Lecture Hall on the campus of the University of California, Irvine. The date? April 29, 2004. Over 500 people jammed into a 400-seat venue. Shermer was there at the behest of Pastor Jason, of the OMC Youth, a campus Christian organization For those who don't know, Mike Shermer is the chief editor of Skeptic Magazine (website: www.skeptic.com ) and Kent Hovind is a Christian Apologist (website: www.drdino.com ). Disclaimer: Be warned, there is a big fundie salvation pitch at the end of the video. For Shermer's comments following this debate, click here: LINK

by Mike This is a challenge to any christians reading this. Lots of you think that the ex-christians on this site are either running from God or have given up because they want to be 'in the world' in order to sin. You just can't get your heads round the fact that the Bible is full of holes, and that we haven't 'chosen' to disbelieve. Instead we disbelieve because once you read the Bible you realise that it is full of holes. I have three types of problems with the Bible, and I challenge the Christians to explain them, without resorting to personal attacks such as "If you were a real christian, you wouldn't need to ask these questions". Problem 1: There are many, many passages that clearly contradict each other. E.g. how many men were healed in the region of the Genesarenes, where the pigs hurtled down the bank into the water? How many angels were present at the empty tomb? Was the stone rolled away before anyone came to the tomb or while some were ...