Tuesday, December 7, 2010
an unimaginative god
The creative abilities of the God that we've been told made the universe seem to be limited. Why do so many animals have similar physical systems: respiratory, alimentary, circulatory, skeletal, and muscular. Many of us eat, breathe, reproduce, and move about in similar manner. I think that if we humans were created we should have been made to stand out from all the rest with some obvious exceptionalism. Take a look at the similarities of these skeletons. What do you think?
It seems to me that the design of these animals speaks to the amazing creative evolutionary development of life on this planet through natural selection.
Friday, December 3, 2010
de-conversion story
Here is a video series which explains point by point the de-conversion process of a young Christian man. Each of the points he discusses I too have spent much time thinking about in recent years. His conclusions were very similar to mine.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
awesome cosmos
The awe that pondering the universe causes inside me is greater than any awe that I was ever able to concoct when thinking about the Christian God. Maybe that is partially due to the fact that I never allowed myself to look at the cosmos in any detail previously. Science just wasn't all that important to me when I was a Christian. The idea of a creator in the garden only diminishes the amazing reality of my existence now, an amazing yet simple piece of stardust. How awesome is that?
Thursday, November 18, 2010
godless clergy
Daniel Dennett interviewed on NPR about his study regarding godless clergy(click link).
The original article regarding this study can be found HERE if you're interested in some reading material.
The original article regarding this study can be found HERE if you're interested in some reading material.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
systematically leaving faith
Why do people walk away from their faith? What processes occur for this to happen? How did I do it?
Some people say that anger and rebellion must be involved. I've read emails addressed to my husband along these lines supposing that something bad must have happened in order for us to walk away from our faith. Something bad did happen, but it served more as a catalyst rather than a reason to walk away. The bad happening caused me to search sincerely for a better relationship with God. After about two years, I realized I would never find what I was looking for. Outright anger and rebellion weren’t emotions which I experienced. Instead, my emotional responses tended more towards loss, sorrow, pain, and the type of anger that initially accompanies grief.
Any attempt to argue me back into faith probably won‘t work. I spent over two years evaluating and reasoning different avenues of my faith. At some point towards the end of that time I realized my worldview had changed considerably. The change had come systematically and deliberately.
People may suppose that I never was a Christian to begin with. They can do that if they like in order to ease their own consciences, but I know better. I was very sincere during most of my “walk with Jesus”. It was only towards the end (maybe the last 10 years or so) that I realized “maturity in Christ” didn’t necessarily insure a better, happier, more stable life. Life is difficult for everyone no matter what a person believes.
Studying the origins of the Bible helped me accept it for what it was, an ancient religious text written somewhere between 1,700 and 2,500 years ago by men who lived in a very superstitious world and were certainly influenced by religions which existed prior to theirs.
Dr. Ruth Tucker listed reasons why people leave their faith in a speech given some years ago:
1) the study of science & philosophy
2) the sense of absence of any caring God
3) the critical examination of the scriptures
4) disappointment in God
5) the hypocrisy of Christians
6) the perception of a dogmatic anti-feminist and anti-homosexual stance of fundamentalist Christianity
In my case, I’d list in order of effect #2, #5, and #3. Once I put the Bible into proper perspective, #1 opened up to me and I realized that my faith was already behind me. It wasn’t something I set out to do. I was simply trying to make sense of life.
Some people say that anger and rebellion must be involved. I've read emails addressed to my husband along these lines supposing that something bad must have happened in order for us to walk away from our faith. Something bad did happen, but it served more as a catalyst rather than a reason to walk away. The bad happening caused me to search sincerely for a better relationship with God. After about two years, I realized I would never find what I was looking for. Outright anger and rebellion weren’t emotions which I experienced. Instead, my emotional responses tended more towards loss, sorrow, pain, and the type of anger that initially accompanies grief.
Any attempt to argue me back into faith probably won‘t work. I spent over two years evaluating and reasoning different avenues of my faith. At some point towards the end of that time I realized my worldview had changed considerably. The change had come systematically and deliberately.
People may suppose that I never was a Christian to begin with. They can do that if they like in order to ease their own consciences, but I know better. I was very sincere during most of my “walk with Jesus”. It was only towards the end (maybe the last 10 years or so) that I realized “maturity in Christ” didn’t necessarily insure a better, happier, more stable life. Life is difficult for everyone no matter what a person believes.
Studying the origins of the Bible helped me accept it for what it was, an ancient religious text written somewhere between 1,700 and 2,500 years ago by men who lived in a very superstitious world and were certainly influenced by religions which existed prior to theirs.
Dr. Ruth Tucker listed reasons why people leave their faith in a speech given some years ago:
1) the study of science & philosophy
2) the sense of absence of any caring God
3) the critical examination of the scriptures
4) disappointment in God
5) the hypocrisy of Christians
6) the perception of a dogmatic anti-feminist and anti-homosexual stance of fundamentalist Christianity
In my case, I’d list in order of effect #2, #5, and #3. Once I put the Bible into proper perspective, #1 opened up to me and I realized that my faith was already behind me. It wasn’t something I set out to do. I was simply trying to make sense of life.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)