By John Image by Brent Nelson via Flickr I was a Christian for a dozen years. The following is my attempt to summarize in a nutshell what I read in the Bible: God creates the universe. Billions of years later, he tells humans that he did it in six days: first the earth, then light, and then the sun and stars to serve as calendar. God forbids the knowledge of right and wrong to Adam and Eve . Then, he blames them for their wrong choice, and condemns them and all their offspring to death. Ever since Adam and Eve’s fall, God hides himself from most of mankind. But he blames anyone doubting his existence. God drowns all living creatures in a flood, including koalas, giraffes, kids and grannies, minus the eight members of Noah ’s family and couples of every species. Later, he provides the commandment “You shall not kill.” Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son at God’s command, and God praises his faith. Later, Jesus blames believers for blindly observing God’s commandments, sa...

By Valerie Tarico Image by Toni_Chacheres via Flickr W hile Doctors without Borders was struggling to get anesthetics for amputations into Haiti, an Albuquerque group queued up aid of their own sort: 600 solar powered talking Bibles. Eve now, food, water, and medicine are having trouble reaching Haitians because of damaged transportation facilities and supply lines, but the missionary group says some of their Bibles are on the way. I first read about the solar powered Bibles after a friend forwarded an article from an Australian news source--the point being that half way around the world people found the story controversial enough to be newsworthy. Why? Because it is morally troubling, even for most Christians. According to the gospel writer, Jesus says "I was hungry and you gave me bread," not "I was hungry and you gave me Bibles." How can anyone see pictures of crushed buildings, blood covered children, and people begging for food, and think of it as an...

By the Avangelism Project Image by United Nations Development Programme via Flickr I was thinking about how I might have addressed the tragedy in Haiti as a pastor and this prayer is what I came up with. Scary how easy it is to come up with pious sounding words that simultaneously play on guilt and pride when you know the jargon. Dear Holy Father God in heaven, We look at the devastation in Haiti with horror and confess to sinfully wondering why and how you would allow this to happen. Yet we know that indeed your ways are higher than our ways and your thoughts higher than our thoughts. Forgive us, merciful father, for our presumptuous questioning of your divine and perfect ways. We confess it is that very sinful desire to be as God hatched in that first Adam’s heart that wrought sin and death and despair into this world. And we rejoice that second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, has conquered the very sin and death that horrifies us this day. We delight, Father than in Ch...

By Valerie Tarico T his morning, when I thought I had better things to do, I spent an hour cleaning gutters and sweeping tree droppings off of our back porch roof. I could have been writing the definitive article that would spread across the net and free humanity from religious fundamentalism —-or--ok, emptying the dishwasher. I would have put it off, the tree duty I mean, but I was up against a deadline. Getting onto the porch roof means I have to wiggle on my belly out a window that only raises part way, and any year now I know that I’m going to get stuck with my top half on the outside and my butt half on the inside, waiting for my kids to come home from school and yank me out. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to clean up after this tree if I thought like I used to? Normally another day or two wouldn’t increase the risk much, but tonight is Chocolate for Choice, an annual fund-raiser at which all of the best chocolatiers in Seattle – restaurant dessert chefs, bakers, and boutiq...

By Ted Gresham Image by gainesp2003 via Flickr T here's a poster on my bedroom door of the Triangulum Galaxy . I bought it at the VLA Radio Telescope in Socorro, NM. I love that place! Sometimes I pass by the poster, point at a spot, and say, “I want to go there!” A few years back I was digging around in Hubble photos and discovered the Deep Field Survey. When I read about that picture and understood the magnitude of what it represented the little bit of belief in a creator within me that still existed began to flame out. The news lately has been carrying new stories about an updated Deep Field called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field : “Astronomers announced in a series of papers over the fall and in a news conference last week that Hubble had recorded images of the earliest and most distant galaxies ever seen, blurry specks of light that burned brightly only 600 million to 800 million years after the Big Bang.” NYT, 1.12.10 It's not so much the view into history that...

By ExFundie Image by Nimbuzz via Flickr H aving lived as an ex-Christian for awhile now one of the things I have found fascinating is being able to see Christianity from the other side. Christians have a hard time understanding why the opinions most non-Christians have of them range from amusement to downright anger. Looking at it from the other side I can now understand it. It's been rather amazing. Perhaps the most interesting part of this observation though is to see the different ways that christians have learned to rationalize the fact that those outside the church most often state that christians are the reason they have no desire to become one. I had a discussion with a Christian friend not too long ago about this very topic. He told me that the "I don't like christians" excuse is little more than a red herring . Even though I was thoroughly indoctrinated into that school of thought at one time I asked him to explain what he meant. Below is a recou...

By WizenedSage Image by Sacred Destinations via Flickr C hristians are fond of defending the claim of Jesus’ divinity by pointing out the “fulfilled” prophesies of the Bible. However, if they paid attention to the whole Bible, then they would see that they are obviously guilty of the confirmation bias ; that is, they count the apparent hits and ignore the misses. Below are a number of passages from the Bible where Jesus or one of his minions (on Jesus’ behalf) prophesies that the end of the world will be soon. That was 2,000 years ago. Now, for those who might be tempted to suggest that a couple thousand years could be like a couple days to a god, please be aware that that is irrelevant. The Bible was written for the instruction of humans and no human would interpret 2,000 years as ‘soon.’ Please observe: Matt 10:23: [Jesus said to his disciples] 'When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Is...

By John Loftus of Debunking Christianity A s a bit of sarcasm that Voltaire would appreciate let's all praise God for the disaster in Haiti. God is sovereign. He knows what he's doing. In fact this has been long overdue. If this is a punishment sent by God then God's punishments are good, aren't they? We're all sinners so we deserve to die, right? People deserve what happens to them because Adam and Eve sinned, or because our parents sinned, or because of original sin (whatever that can possibly mean in this context for the children). God's goodness and glory are displayed in the sufferings and deaths of the victims along with the grieving surviving family members. In any case, it's disasters like these that God sends to draw people to him, sort of like beating your wife in order to get her to love you, right? God is perfectly good. Glory be to God! He always does that which is perfectly good. So this is not a tragedy, not a disaster, not an "ev...

by Bruce Gerencser of Restless Wanderings T hey all use the same Bible. They all believe the same Bible. They all worship the same God. They all believe the same about Jesus. They all believe the same about man’s need of redemption. They all believe in heaven and hell. Whether they call themselves Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant or Baptist they believe the same. Whether they are a part of a denomination or independent they believe the same. Whether they are liberal, charismatic, conservative, or fundamentalist they believe the same. Regardless of the name over the door every Christian Church essentially believe the same. The cardinal doctrines are settled. God is God. Jesus is Jesus.The Bible is truth.   Yes, they differ in matters of eschatology, worship styles, music. social rules, government and politics BUT these matters are peripheral to the central truth of the Christian Church, Jesus the Christ crucified and raised from the dead. Yet, a funny thing ha...

by Gray I f you really want to stump a Christian, ask one which doctrine of salvation is the correct doctrine, according to the Bible. And by that question, I am not asking what the Biblical steps to salvation are. I think all Protestant Christians would agree that the definition of salvation is basically, repentance and acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior. Rather, I am talking about which of the competing theological doctrines of salvation, like predestination , Arminianism and “ eternal security ” is the one true doctrine of salvation. In other words, how is salvation achieved? Is it through predestination? Or is it through the Arminian belief in a synergistic interplay between God’s calling and man’s choice to believe? Or, is salvation up to man alone and guaranteed forever, once chosen? The fact that the Bible contains conflicting statements about the path to salvation is very telling. Salvation is the central theme of Christianity, yet the responsibility for and ...

by Valerie Tarico I t appears that televangelist Pat Robertson is in the thrall of Satan, according to spiritual warriors, Drs. Valerie Tarico and Marlene Winell . "It's the only possible explanation," said Tarico. "How else can we make sense of his repeated attempts to humiliate both God and Christianity in the wake of recent natural disasters." Tarico spotted what she saw as a suspicious pattern after Robertson's recent remarks about Haiti . As people lay dying in the rubble of Tuesday's tragic earthquake and nations around the world scrambled disaster experts, Robertson spoke to the Christian Broadcasting Network 's " The 700 Club :" "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," "They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III , or whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the Devil. They said, we will serve you if you'll get us free from ...

by Carl S Image by Fiver13 via Flickr O ne summer, about three years ago, my wife’s brother, his wife, and a couple they knew with their son and daughter, came up to stay at our place for their vacation. The parents, all in their 60’s, and the kids, son 30’s, daughter 20’s, were all fundies. On the first full day, the women tuned into one of those Christian TV stations, and for the next two hours watched Nazi rally type praise and sermons, during which time I thought I’d lose my mind, even though I couldn’t make out the words, only the emotional intensity that came out loud like that of an attacking mob coming at you. They were totally involved. In the morning, I would arise and find my brother-in—law reading his bible. One time I told him that what he read about the lord commanding the Israelites to cut open the women, take out their babies and kill them, was not “inspired,” and that anyone who claimed so should be questioned as to his motives. Furthermore, I said that on that ba...

A Short Story by Neal Stone I woke up one day to find myself living in the future. How I got there is a mystery. I woke to find myself in a room surrounded by people. They all seemed real friendly and happy to see me and welcomed me to their world. We sat and chatted and they shared with me their beliefs and their ways. They seemed to feel I belonged. After a while of chatting I decided to explore this place I was in. It seemed to be some tall building and I was curious as to what else it had to offer. Some of what they told me I did not like and gently voiced that as I walked towards the door. I just wasn't too fond of some of their ideals nor did I like being told I had to follow them to fit in. I walked to the door and gave it a push. The door remained closed and I heard a loud buzzer followed my a mechanical voice say “Invalid!” I tried the door again and got the same response. My new friends grew concerned and their attitude towards me changed. They walked ...