Recommendations From Opposite Sides of the Spectrum
I have been on three theological/philosophical reading quests in my life. The first one was when I decided to become a Christian apologist under Dr. James D. Strauss while in Seminary. That began in 1979 and lasted through my studies under Dr. William Lane Craig, at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, until I left Marquette University for the full time ministry at the end of 1988. I probably read nearly one book per week and many weeks I read up to three books, plus many journal articles. I was a bookworm.
The second quest for knowledge came around 1992 and probably lasted through 1997. It began as the result of a serious challenge to my faith starting with the quest to see if I could reconcile the creation accounts in Genesis with the findings of science as to the age of the universe, and what that entailed for the rest of what I believed about the Bible. This second quest was not as intense as the first one because I was no longer a student and had other things to do. During this quest I lost my Christian faith. At that point I didn't see anything that would change my mind, nor any reason to bother to read more on the topic. I would've described myself as a Deistic existentialist in my beliefs, and that was where I had ended my religious quest, or so I thought. Then I practically stopped this kind of reading when compared to the amount of reading I had done before. Sure, I read a book every two or three months, after that, but nothing by comparison to my previous years. This break from my theological and philosophical reading basically lasted until about 2003.
When Mel Gibson's movie “The Passion of the Christ" came out, I wrote a letter to the local newspaper asking some hard questions about why Jesus had to suffer and die, and that was what started me writing about what I believed. By that time my doubt had solidified to the point where I didn't think much about it, that is, until Gibson's movie shocked me out of complacency. It caused me to desire to explain to the local people where I lived why I no longer believed. After all, they knew me as a Senior Minister at one of the biggest churches in town, and I had served as the President of the Ministerial Association. I initially compiled several essays, some from class handouts, and put them in a spiral bound notebook to be sold at the local bookstore. When I couldn't keep up with the small demand for this, I self-published a book with these essays in it. At that point I was done with such things, or so I thought. That's as far as I thought ahead. "Place them in a book and get on with life," I thought to myself.
Then I started doing searches on the internet. I hadn't been on the web before, except for exchanging a few emails with people. I noticed Ed Babinski's website and we traded books. He encouraged me. He noticed something I had not bothered with before. He saw that my former professor was Dr. Craig, and made me believe that maybe I was special because of this [Actually it does not, and it should not matter to either side. My arguments either stand up to scrutiny or they don’t]. So I began arguing on the internet, and I began reading again, which is my third quest for theological/philosophical knowledge. I revised my book, re-named it, revised it again, and again. And with each time I revised it I included some stuff I had just learned from my reading. And during this process I became an atheist.
Ed also encouraged me to start a blog, so in January of 2006 I did, this one, and I've been arguing here since. But I never anticipated doing what I’m doing when I started out. As far as I was concerned my first edition of my self-published book was the final period in my religious quest. I was moving on. But here I am today, blogging. I guess I'm still doing so because I think what I'm doing is important, even though there are days when I no longer want to bother.
But then I get an email from Daniel C. Dennett today saying he's recommending my book to inquirers, and telling me it’s "good stuff." I had already heard from Norman Geisler, that he is recommending my book to his Seminary students. That's quite a range of people recommending my book--from opposite sides of the spectrum. How is that possible? This comes in an era when atheist books are selling well. Geisler thinks it will confirm his student’s faith. Dennett probably thinks otherwise. I never intended any of this. I was supposed to get on with my life, and I still want to. Really, I do. Why bother with the time I’m spending here? But here I am. What a roller coaster ride it is. Where will it end? Will it ever end? I don’t know. I just do what interests me, and this interests me to no end, especially when I get emails like the following one:
The second quest for knowledge came around 1992 and probably lasted through 1997. It began as the result of a serious challenge to my faith starting with the quest to see if I could reconcile the creation accounts in Genesis with the findings of science as to the age of the universe, and what that entailed for the rest of what I believed about the Bible. This second quest was not as intense as the first one because I was no longer a student and had other things to do. During this quest I lost my Christian faith. At that point I didn't see anything that would change my mind, nor any reason to bother to read more on the topic. I would've described myself as a Deistic existentialist in my beliefs, and that was where I had ended my religious quest, or so I thought. Then I practically stopped this kind of reading when compared to the amount of reading I had done before. Sure, I read a book every two or three months, after that, but nothing by comparison to my previous years. This break from my theological and philosophical reading basically lasted until about 2003.
When Mel Gibson's movie “The Passion of the Christ" came out, I wrote a letter to the local newspaper asking some hard questions about why Jesus had to suffer and die, and that was what started me writing about what I believed. By that time my doubt had solidified to the point where I didn't think much about it, that is, until Gibson's movie shocked me out of complacency. It caused me to desire to explain to the local people where I lived why I no longer believed. After all, they knew me as a Senior Minister at one of the biggest churches in town, and I had served as the President of the Ministerial Association. I initially compiled several essays, some from class handouts, and put them in a spiral bound notebook to be sold at the local bookstore. When I couldn't keep up with the small demand for this, I self-published a book with these essays in it. At that point I was done with such things, or so I thought. That's as far as I thought ahead. "Place them in a book and get on with life," I thought to myself.
Then I started doing searches on the internet. I hadn't been on the web before, except for exchanging a few emails with people. I noticed Ed Babinski's website and we traded books. He encouraged me. He noticed something I had not bothered with before. He saw that my former professor was Dr. Craig, and made me believe that maybe I was special because of this [Actually it does not, and it should not matter to either side. My arguments either stand up to scrutiny or they don’t]. So I began arguing on the internet, and I began reading again, which is my third quest for theological/philosophical knowledge. I revised my book, re-named it, revised it again, and again. And with each time I revised it I included some stuff I had just learned from my reading. And during this process I became an atheist.
Ed also encouraged me to start a blog, so in January of 2006 I did, this one, and I've been arguing here since. But I never anticipated doing what I’m doing when I started out. As far as I was concerned my first edition of my self-published book was the final period in my religious quest. I was moving on. But here I am today, blogging. I guess I'm still doing so because I think what I'm doing is important, even though there are days when I no longer want to bother.
But then I get an email from Daniel C. Dennett today saying he's recommending my book to inquirers, and telling me it’s "good stuff." I had already heard from Norman Geisler, that he is recommending my book to his Seminary students. That's quite a range of people recommending my book--from opposite sides of the spectrum. How is that possible? This comes in an era when atheist books are selling well. Geisler thinks it will confirm his student’s faith. Dennett probably thinks otherwise. I never intended any of this. I was supposed to get on with my life, and I still want to. Really, I do. Why bother with the time I’m spending here? But here I am. What a roller coaster ride it is. Where will it end? Will it ever end? I don’t know. I just do what interests me, and this interests me to no end, especially when I get emails like the following one:
Dear Mr. Loftus,
My name is Greg and I just purchased and read (and re-read) your book, Why I Rejected Christianity. Thanks for the great book! I have read numerous publications on this topic, but I don't believe I've ever seen as many great reasons to reject religion in one place. The chapter on unanswered prayer had me nearly cheering in my chair. Brilliant stuff!
Your arguments are numerous and rock-solid. Thank you again, Sir, for the wonderful reading. I would be honored to meet you some day. Please continue your great writing and thank you for your willingness to think logically in a superstitious world.
Respectfully,
Greg
11 comments:
On Mark 9:38-40
In the time of Jesus many people believed in demons. Everyone believed that both mental and physical illness was caused by malign influence of these evil spirits. Now there was one very common way to exorcise them. If one could get to know the name of a still more powerful spirit and command the evil demon in that name to come out of a person, the demon was supposed to be powerless to resist. It could not stand against the might of the more powerful name. This is the kind of picture we have here. John had seen a man using the all-powerful name of Jesus to defeat demons and he had tried to stop him, because he was not of the intimate band of the disciples. But Jesus declared that no one could do a mighty work in his nme and be altogether his enemy. Then Jesus laid down the great principle that 'Whosoever is not against us is for us'.
Here is a lesson in tolerance, and it is a lesson that nearly everyone needs to learn.
1) We all have the right to our own thoughts. We all have the right to think things out and to think them through until we come to our own conclusions and our own beleifs. And that is a right we should respect. We are often toapt to condemn what we do not understand.
There are tow things we must remember.
(a) There is far more than one way to God. The world is round, and tow people can get to precisely the same destination by starting out in precisely opposite directions. All roads, if we pursue them long enough and far enough, lead to God. It is a fearful thing for any individual or any church to claim a monopoly on salvation.
(b) It is necessary to remember that truth is always bigger than any individual's grasp of it. No one can possibly grasp all truth. The basis of tolerance is not a lazy acceptance of anything. It is not the feeling that there cannot be assurance anywhere. The basis of tolerance is simply the realization of the magnitude of truth itself. Intolerance is a sign of both arroagance and ignorance, for it is a sign that people beleive that there is no truth beyond the truth they see.
2) Not only must we conced the right of each one of us to do our own thinking, we must also concede the right to do our own speaking. Of all democratic rights, the dearest is that of liberty of speech. There are, of course, limits. If people are spreading doctrines calcualted to destroy morality and to remove the foundations from all civilized and Christian society, they must be combated. But the way to combat them is certainly not to eliminate them by force but to prove them wrong.
3) We must remember that any doctrine or belif must finally be judged by the kind of people it produces. The question must always ultimately be, not, 'How is a Church governed?' but, 'What kind of people does a Church produce?'The matter is to be proved by life. No one can entirely condemn beleifs which make people good. If we remember that, we may be less tolerant.
4) We may hate a person's beliefs, but we must never hate the person. We may wish to eliminate the teaching, vut we must never wish to eliminate the teacher.
John,
Of course, it is up to you to continue writing or to stop writing. Either way, just know that your work is definitely appreciated, whether you write for one more week or one more decade.
Visiting this site has been a staple in my daily life for several months now. The posts here have helped me shake off my Christian beliefs (and more importantly, the fear that came along with those beliefs).
I appreciate your work here (and the work of all the other writers), so I'd just like to say thanks. And I'm sure I'm not the only one that your work has a profound effect on.
Definitely keep writing. You know I loved your book, and I too love the follow-ups on this site. Why stop? As long as you have something to say, say it. The worst that will happen is that no-one will listen. When you realize that, then stop. Right now you have a lot of listeners, so keep up the good work.
And tell Dan I said hi. :)
John, I can't help but wonder if, at the moment, the energy you pour into this site IS getting on with your life.
I'm still in the process of shaking off the fear of Christianity. It's almost gone, but still comes back to haunt me in dribs and drabs. Losing faith has been hard, but this site has been invaluable in helping me through this difficult time in my life.
Thank you for your kind comments. Sometimes all I can focus on are the criticisms in the heat of debate. It's good to know what I'm doing does help some people, even if I've sort of known that all along.
Hello Johnny,
I am a Christian and I must say that I think some Christians use your blog as a helpful testing ground for talking and thinking through ideas and also to learn what is new in the world of debunking. Though I am still faithful, I do say that I have grown in my understanding of the Bible as a consequence of you and yours. I say this with the utmost respect. It is good that you are no longer a minister, for you would be just another false teacher. The Christian commmunity has too many of them. At least you have the courage to be honest.
Good point!
If Lofuts had stayed, he would have been just another false teacher deceiving the congregation.
Obviously, there are too many of them and it has put us in our present situation.
Better to have people like him out in the open.
John,
Two business-related ideas, just my $0.02, ignore them entirely if you wish.
You may want to consider converting your book into an e-book. It's really easy. Take the Word format (or whatever you used) and convert it to a .pdf file. Lulu and other self-publishers will distribute the book for a small percentage. Or, you can ask people to use PayPal to buy the .pdf from you directly, cutting out the middle man.
Also, this is counter-intuitive, but you may increase the sales of your book if you place that .pdf file here on this site for free download. Most people don't want to buy a book without a "hook", and most also refuse to print out a 300 page .pdf file, but they will scan through it. The free .pdf would give them the ability to scan through your book and see your arguments, which would "hook" them, and then they'd want to read the whole thing, and have a hard copy, and 90% or more of them would rather buy it than print it off.
Or, at least place a few sample chapters here on the site.
Best,
D
Thanks D, I'll look into it. As far as posting whole chapters goes, I still think my book is one single argument and as such needs to be evaluated as a whole.
I just ordered your book! I'll look forward to reading it.
John,
If you want to make a .pdf of the whole book, send me the .doc format and I'll convert it for you for free, and send you the .pdf file.
You can decide on your own what you want to do with it -- whether to post it or not. Either way, you can set up a link to PayPal for people to buy the .pdf directly from you. Send it to me if you want. If not, no worries.
PS: This is D Morgan
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