Glad you are here. I hope your time at this blog can help you work things out. I hope you will feel free to continue question everything, and that you will finally arrive at a worldview you are comfortable with.

…although as much as I often wish I could leave my Christian faith, I was conditioned into believing that I will end up in Hell if I do.

Yes, this can be a hard one to get past. Where I started is that I could not reconcile a god that is totally benevolent with a god that would send any of his creations to eternal torment. One or the other of those ideas had to give. (For me, both of them did. Once I decided that hell was something invented by christianity to scare people into obedience, it was easy to stop being afraid of it.)

I very much like your list of double standards. If you read some of the other posts on this blog, you will probably find quite a few more to add to it.

In some ways, the problem is that the Bible contradicts itself so much that hypocritical actions become easy to justify. You just need to choose carefully which verses you are following under which circumstances.

The problem is not always taking verses outside of their original context, but realizing that the verses- in context- can disagree with each other completely.

Heres something to put a smile on your face

What is the definition of rejection? You go to masturbate and your hand falls asleep.

1. It’s okay for a married couple to have sex for pleasure, but it isn’t okay for a teenager or single adult to masturbate.
2. Masturbation is preached against despite the acknowledgment by Christians that it isn’t mentioned anywhere in the Bible, but these same Christians won’t admit that they are taking the Bible out of context.
3. Christian parents don’t want to confuse their children by filling their heads with stories about Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, but they turn around and make them believe that masturbation is wrong without offering any real evidence backing up their claim, despite evidence proving that their claims are false.
4. Christian parents punish their children for lying, then turn around and lie to them.
5. The Christian church preaches against lying, deceiving, and taking the Bible out of context, then turns around and mentions certain things that aren’t true.
6. It is okay for a conservative Christian to talk bad about a liberal Democrat, but it isn’t okay for anyone to talk bad about a conservative Republican.
7. It is okay for a Christian to be skeptical about world viewpoints, but it isn’t okay for this same Christian to question his or her own faith.
8. It is okay for us Christians to deny a homosexual their basic human rights just because of the sinful nature of their lifestyle, but we tend to cry foul when we are stripped of our basic human right to practice our faith in public.
9. Abortion is murder (which I agree), and so is euthanasia and surgical sterilization (both of which I support), but it’s okay to own guns and kill Death Row inmates.
10. Divorce is wrong, and so is adultery, but the divorce rate among Christian couples is high, and some Christian pastors commit adultery or engage themselves in homosexuality and pornography. And some spouses file for divorce so that they can marry someone else.

This list can go on, and any one of you are more than welcome to add to it if you like, but you probably get the picture. The bottom line is this, though: Practice what you preach, don’t lie or make us believe things that have never been proven to be true, and don’t preach against taking the Bible out of context unless you really mean it, or more of us Christians are going to leave our faith, and more of the so-called “lost souls” will continue to reject our faith.

Many Christians have come in here and railed, condemned, judged, spewed, and generally been total jerks. Thankfully such don’t last long.

Ah yes, the “drive-by preaching” technique: Inflict as many nasty accusations and way-off assumptions as possible, finish up with a devastating taste of Pascal’s Wager and sign off with a flourish: “I’ll be PRAYING FOR YOU!”

What good they think this does, I’ll never know. Except that “the holy spirit never goes out void” – the old teaching about how no matter how badly you present the gospel it will supernaturally hit its the mark where god intends it to (rolling my eyes).

Conversely though, a small group have come in here and consistently shown respect, decorum, humility, and a willingness to listen. And they’ve stuck around.

I agree, their respectfulness and willingness to listen is admirable and I add my thanks as well.

“but trust me, I’ll get around to it and get in touch when I find something.”

Not a problem. Take your time! I’m looking forward to it…

I want to compliment Brad, Justin, Mike, DeeZone (and pardon me for not recalling others who belong in the list just now).

Many Christians have come in here and railed, condemned, judged, spewed, and generally been total jerks. Thankfully such don’t last long.

Conversely though, a small group have come in here and consistently shown respect, decorum, humility, and a willingness to listen. And they’ve stuck around.

While we de-converts may never return to the faith, I think I can speak for many of us in saying that those I’ve mentioned above (and others I missed) have conducted themselves “as Christians ought” and have at least earned respect and appreciation.

Kudos to each of you.

I love it. Very tangible. Have one in mind? Maybe an experimental thesis-response post across both our blogs? That could be really cool…

I’ll see what I can dig up for a perfect example. For now I have offered a dialogue to Randy (from the “Is He Live…” discussion) so I will concentrate on that first, but trust me, I’ll get around to it and get in touch when I find something.

You said:
“Faith has become a great many things, but it perpetually appears to be belief without doubt before anything else. Doubt has been and continues to be viewed as a poison to many.”

I sure hope not – I doubt many things – I have even doubted God. Life is too hard and He is sometimes too quiet for my liking. Going through the ‘dark night of the soul’ is deceptively real – but I don’t want to lose faith in God – I keep praying, Lord, I believe, help my unbelief…