Setting Limits on Truth

The largest deception propagated by proponents of most successful religions is the appeal to the intuition that truth must map to our desires. Once this is accepted, the seeker will not admit evidence to the contrary. I’ve heard one apologist argue that if there is no God, there is no morality, then stop there as if there was a legitimate conclusion to be inferred.

What happened to this site?

While this site is no longer the active community it once was (back in the 2007-2009), it still remains a great resource for skeptical, de-converting or former believers (mainly Christians).  As such, I just did some house cleaning fixing broken links (I lost the original domain), deleting spam from the comments, etc.

I am sure there will continuously be a new group of de-converts who are interested in these topics but many of the original contributors have moved on from these types of discussions.  Maybe someday, this site will have a born again experience.

Over time, I will try to migrate some of the content to facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/deconversion.org ) to maybe reach a new audience.

– the de-Convert

 

 

Sufficient Reasons to Consider Leaving Christianity

The title of this post is the title of a new book that de-converts might find valuable in encouraging their families and friends to rethink Christianity. The PDF book and companion website include 50 substantial arguments that may stimulate a reassessment of faith among those you care for. Check it out.

[ Sufficientreasons.Com ] …

Choose your own deity

One of my biggest surprises in the time since I’ve deconverted is the number of people who have more or less told me they have invented their own god, and can’t understand why I won’t do the same and call myself a believer.

The first person to amaze me in this manner was my mother. I was trying to tell her of some of the difficulties I was having with the Bible, as a starting point from which I hoped to progress to talking about my difficulties with the concept of God. I mentioned one atrocity in the Old Testement in particular. I can’t remember which one, exactly. It was one of the times God commanded His people to commit genocide.

She interrupted me to ask, “You don’t really believe God did that, do you? The God I believe in wouldn’t do that.”

That’s what she said, and it stopped me right in my tracks. “The God I believe in wouldn’t do that” …

Religious, but not Spiritual

For some people, not having to participate in ritual is one of the benefits of deconversion. This was not true for me.

True, rituals tend to be silly when looked at objectively. Lighting candles on a birthday cake just to blow them out a minute later while everyone sings at you is a practice I expect some anthropologist has spent a fun day with. But for me, rituals are a helpful tool for building community and celebrating what (and who) I value.

I’ve been asked why I don’t keep the trappings of my old faith, continuing to go to the churches I know. I can’t do this. I’ve tried. Those rituals are tied too tightly to feelings of loss and anger for me to take up lightly. And the stories told, if not true, are not ones I consider moral. So I tried joining other communities who might gather for joint ritual and song, and work together to make themselves and the world a little better. I missed that….

If Christ truly rose from the dead, would I follow him?

Several years ago, I began receiving private messages on our now-defunct forum from a xian with the handle “Rocky”. He sent me some generic questions that were not directly preachy and I answered in ways that briefly made my position clear without directly challenging his faith. Until one day he asked a rather more pointed question, to which I drafted a detailed answer:

Rocky, sorry this has been so long in coming. You asked a question which I know touches on a subject near and dear to your heart. So far I have tried to stay away from direct challenges to your faith. But to give you an honest answer to this question, I must directly address just those issues. So if you have had a bad day, or are feeling particularly touchy just now, I recommend you put this answer aside and read it later.

Take a deep breath, here we go.

You asked: “I have a question for you, if you found out tomorrow that Christ truly rose from the dead would you submit to and follow Him? I am really interested in your answer.”

The short answer, which may surprise you, is NO…..