From Wycliffe Bible Translator to Freethinker
I'd like to thank Ed Babinski and John Loftus for encouraging me to join this blog. You can read my blow-by-blow story on the Secular Web, but I'll provide a condensed version here.
My parents met and married as evangelical/fundamentalist missionaries in Ethiopia, my birthplace. My parents' missionary career also took us to Liberia and Nigeria, where we remained until I was 16. It was during my ninth grade year at boarding school in Nigeria that I entered into what I considered a personal relationship with Jesus, pouring out my heart to God with earnestness and reading his word (the Bible) daily.
After returning to the U.S., I went on to earn a B.S. in computer science at LeTourneau University, a non-denominational Christian college in east Texas. From there I went on to gain a one-year graduate certificate of biblical studies at Columbia Biblical Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina. Shortly after that I met a young lady who shared my goal of becoming a missionary Bible translator for a language group that did not yet have a translation of the Bible. We married in 1992 and joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1993. After the required linguistic training and support-raising, we set off to Europe for French learning before heading to a predominantly Muslim West African country to learn a minority language and translate the Bible into it.
We were still in the language learning process in 2000 when doubts that I had entertained during my college years began to re-surface. I had difficulties with many of the passages in the Old Testament, so I went online in search of apologetic materials to answer my questions. As it turns out, instead of finding anything to help me, I found the opposite: Robert M. Price's online book Beyond Born Again. This sent my faith into a tailspin from which I recovered twice before I finally threw in the towel about nine months after my March 2000 crisis. We left the mission field in the summer of 2000 so I could work through my doubts, but due to my waffling, the mission board requested our resignation in October 2000 (a painful but appropriate decision, in retrospect).
I remained a firm believer in God for about a year after my deconversion from Christianity, considering myself a deist, but gradually moved toward an atheist-leaning agnosticism. For all practical purposes, I am today an atheist, though I suppose I haven't yet grown fully comfortable with the term, preferring labels like freethinker or humanist.
Though my wife of 16 years remains a committed evangelical Christian, we have a relatively strong marriage with no intention of parting ways. We have three children, 13, 11 and 9 who attend church with my wife. At least the older two show some signs of independent thinking. Only time will tell where they end up.
So that's my journey in a nutshell. I do encourage you to read my full story on the Secular Web if you'd like to know more about what brought me down this path. I look forward to engaging with believers and former believers alike. I'm especially interested in knowing what leads some of us to desert the faith and others to remain in it. What is it that makes the difference?
My parents met and married as evangelical/fundamentalist missionaries in Ethiopia, my birthplace. My parents' missionary career also took us to Liberia and Nigeria, where we remained until I was 16. It was during my ninth grade year at boarding school in Nigeria that I entered into what I considered a personal relationship with Jesus, pouring out my heart to God with earnestness and reading his word (the Bible) daily.
After returning to the U.S., I went on to earn a B.S. in computer science at LeTourneau University, a non-denominational Christian college in east Texas. From there I went on to gain a one-year graduate certificate of biblical studies at Columbia Biblical Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina. Shortly after that I met a young lady who shared my goal of becoming a missionary Bible translator for a language group that did not yet have a translation of the Bible. We married in 1992 and joined Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1993. After the required linguistic training and support-raising, we set off to Europe for French learning before heading to a predominantly Muslim West African country to learn a minority language and translate the Bible into it.
We were still in the language learning process in 2000 when doubts that I had entertained during my college years began to re-surface. I had difficulties with many of the passages in the Old Testament, so I went online in search of apologetic materials to answer my questions. As it turns out, instead of finding anything to help me, I found the opposite: Robert M. Price's online book Beyond Born Again. This sent my faith into a tailspin from which I recovered twice before I finally threw in the towel about nine months after my March 2000 crisis. We left the mission field in the summer of 2000 so I could work through my doubts, but due to my waffling, the mission board requested our resignation in October 2000 (a painful but appropriate decision, in retrospect).
I remained a firm believer in God for about a year after my deconversion from Christianity, considering myself a deist, but gradually moved toward an atheist-leaning agnosticism. For all practical purposes, I am today an atheist, though I suppose I haven't yet grown fully comfortable with the term, preferring labels like freethinker or humanist.
Though my wife of 16 years remains a committed evangelical Christian, we have a relatively strong marriage with no intention of parting ways. We have three children, 13, 11 and 9 who attend church with my wife. At least the older two show some signs of independent thinking. Only time will tell where they end up.
So that's my journey in a nutshell. I do encourage you to read my full story on the Secular Web if you'd like to know more about what brought me down this path. I look forward to engaging with believers and former believers alike. I'm especially interested in knowing what leads some of us to desert the faith and others to remain in it. What is it that makes the difference?
27 comments:
Congrats on joining a fine group of thinkers.
Great to welcome you on board Ken!
I served a president of the S.C. Academy of Religion which met several times at Columbia Bible College / Columbia International University. William Larkin and John Harvey often attended when we met in the Columbia area (University of S.C., Columbia College and the Lutheran Southern Seminary). They would often bring their students, some of which would read a paper in the student section of the meeting. I found Larkin more conservative at the time then Harvey who was still working on his PhD under Richard Longnecker at Toronto. Larkin would usually avoid direct engagement with the more liberal members of the Academy such as the faculty from U.S.C. or Clemson. I often felt that Larkin and Harvey brought their students to expose them to how the liberal scholars “attacked” the Bible and to show them what they should avoid.
Harvey and I had some great conversation on the Bible, as I recall his specialty was the Pauline corpus. He often attended by himself such as at the meeting in Myrtle Beach at Coastal Carolina University and I do believe he was the only professor to be elected to serve as president of the Academy from Columbia International University.
The last time we met there (at Columbia International University) I read a paper and gave a slide presentation on the five remaining Mormon sects (of the 15 each claiming to be the true and restored Prophets at Smith’s death), comparing their Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrines and Covenants and their views of each other and Joseph Smith.
We are a mixed lot, but have one thing in common, Debunking Christianity.
Ken wrote:
"I look forward to engaging with believers and former believers alike. I'm especially interested in knowing what leads some of us to desert the faith and others to remain in it. What is it that makes the difference?"
If I had to take a stab at it, I'd say education, guts, and humility.
-Education as to the actual contents of the Bible (which involves taking the time to read the thing). Education about the origins and history of the religion. And a knowlege about other contemporary mythologies from which Judaism and Christianity borrowed, in order to construct their creeds and dogmas.
-Guts to shake off the threats of the religion (eg. the threat of Hellfire). Guts to accept our own mortality and admit to ourselves that we won't live forever in some idylic never-never land. And the guts to withstand the disapproval of our still religious friends or family.
-Humility to admit to ourselves that we were mistaken to be taken in by all the mumbo jumbo that goes with being a 'true believer'.
Humility to recognise that we humans are not the crowning glory of the universe, and that the universe was not created with us in mind. Humility to admit that there is no celestial super-man who created the universe and who desperately wants to be our friend and look out for us.
I'd like to add one more thing to the list if I may, and that's Honesty.
The honesty to objectively examine the evidence for religious claims, and to follow that evidence to it's logical conclusion.
Congratulations, and welcome to the real world Ken. I hope things go well for you and your family.
What made me desert the God of the Bible?
It started by comming here and trying to defend it against the arguments of others. I couldn't defend it. Then I realzed that the Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga was right. The Christian worldview cannot be established as the only viable option out there.
And through the reading of John's book. And through a traumatic and eye opening experience I had.
The main people responsible for helping me reject the God of the bible:
John Loftus
Shygetz
Lee Randolph
Manifesting Mini Me (Beautiful Feet)
Jennifer
I love both of you ladies dearly and I'm looking forward to walking the streets of gold with you.
And thanks to rest of you for opening up my eyes. It's been a hard battle for me the past six months. But I'm finaly letting go of it.
Welcome, Ken. I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.
"I'm especially interested in knowing what leads some of us to desert the faith and others to remain in it."
Although I don't have as dramatic a de-conversion story as you do (I just drifted away from the church during my school years), I still have a lot of family in the church, especially in Canada (where my dad's family live). I sometimes wonder how I can relate to them - some are easier than others. I wish there was an answer to your question, some key to unlocking the shutters they pull over their eyes - minds, even.
Welcome aboard Ken!
Wow, a former Wycliffe Bible Translator! Glad to have ya here.
Thank you, Ken, for joining the blog and for having the courage to not wear the blindfold. Your story is inspirational and interesting.
Best and Good
Thank you all for the warm welcome. Dingodave, I appreciated your thoughts on what makes the difference between those who apostasize and those who remain in the fold. I agree with all your points, yet I also find myself wondering: Am I personally responsible for the courage, honesty and humility required to leave the faith? I know a lot of courageous, honest and humble Christians, yet they still wear blinders.
Did I leave of my own free will, or was it a result of my inborn nature (over which I had no control) and the accident of exposure to certain ideas? I don't suppose we'll ever know, but it's interesting to mull these questions over, particularly if they could shed some light on how best to approach the other side.
Reading Robert Price was for me like taking a bullet between the eyes, yet I have Christian friends who've read Price without being fazed, so apparently there's no one-size-fits-all approach. I wonder if there's some common thread we deconverts all share that has made us more receptive to the skeptical arguments. Certainly education, courage, honesty humility are key, but if so, why do we have these necessery ingredients while so many others lack them? I find it hard to believe that my wife is any less courageous, honest or humble than myself (ok, maybe I'm blinded by love!); perhaps she's just less educated in relevant matters?
Anyway, thanks again for all your thoughts. I'm sure we'll never find a "magic bullet" to get through to the die-hards, but for me it's still worth thinking about.
Ken asked:
-"Am I personally responsible for the courage, honesty and humility required to leave the faith? I know a lot of courageous, honest and humble Christians, yet they still wear blinders. Did I leave of my own free will, or was it a result of my inborn nature (over which I had no control) and the accident of exposure to certain ideas?"
I believe that you are personally responsible. Of course calvinists would argue that you were always pre-destined for perdition, in which case you'll be in good company. : )
-"I have Christian friends who've read Price without being fazed, so apparently there's no one-size-fits-all approach. I wonder if there's some common thread we deconverts all share that has made us more receptive to the skeptical arguments."
Everyone is different. Some people have the temperament of sheep, others have independant and inquiring minds. The Bible roundly condemns people who have enquiring minds.
2Cor.10
[4] for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
[5] We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,
[6] being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
Rom.16
[25] Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages
[26] but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith --
Phlm.1
[21] Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
Christianity is predicated on ignorance, and the blind unquestioning obedience of it's followers to their religious leaders. Without these attributes, the religion withers and fades into absurdity. Christianity has put in place powerful teachings which immunise it's followers against seriously questioning any of it's dogmas and assertions.
Here is an exerpt from Farrell Till's wonderful article entitled 'The Wisdom of the World', which highlights Christianity's most powerful weapon for keeping it's flock in line. I'm sorry if it's a little bit long, but I think that you'll enjoy reading it.
'The Wisdom of the World'
"Have you ever thought about the implications of Adam's and Eve's sins? They ate of the tree of knowledge (Gen. 3:6), and act that opened their eyes (v:7), and so God drove them from the Garden of Eden, because "the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil" (v:22). In other words, their sin was the acquisition of knowledge. It was a sin so great that the petulant Yahweh not only banished them from the garden but pronounced an everlasting curse on them and all their descendants.
The condemnation of knowledge implied in this story established a policy that was generally, but not always followed by the other biblical writers. That policy was to discourage and even sometimes to condemn the acquisition of knowledge. Perhaps no single biblical writer ridiculed knowledge any more than the apostle Paul, who is considered by many scholars to be the real founder of Christianity. His strongest denunciation of knowledge was made in his first letter to the Corinthian church:
"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us who are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of
the prudent." Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things that are mighty; and the base things of the world that are despised has God chosen, yes, and the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are: that no flesh should glory in his presence" (1:18-29).
Ever since Paul penned this statement, Bible believers have used it to justify every form of ignorance imaginable. If anyone dares suggest that the idea of a human sacrifice for the vicarious atonement of the sins of mankind is ridiculous, the Christian will merely see this as proof that his belief is right. "Yes," he will say, "that is exactly what Paul said. It pleased God to save the world through the foolishness of preaching. You can't understand it because you seek after worldly wisdom, but God chose the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and this is exactly what has happened to you. You have allowed the wisdom of the world to blind you to the truth. God's wisdom is greater than man's wisdom, and when you understand that, you will understand why the sacrifice of his son for the sins of mankind was necessary."
Yeah, right. And if the Christians who parrot such nonsense as this ever learn to recognize circular reasoning, they might begin to see the foolishness in their own "wisdom." With that type of reasoning, one could justify any kind of belief. Flat-earthers! Believe it or not there are some who dismiss all scientific evidence for the rotundity of the earth as just "the wisdom of the world." Creation scientists (an oxymoron if ever there was one) reject as "man's wisdom" all scientific findings that dispute their 'Young Earth', creationists views. Just cite any kind of scientific or scholarly information that conflicts with what the Bible teaches, and bibliolaters will pooh-pooh it as "the wisdom of the world."
...A detailed response follows this letter in the "Mailbag" column, so here we will merely note that history has proven repeatedly that this "mess of pottage" that skeptics have sold their souls for is superior to the
"wisdom of God" that bibliolaters have put their trust in. Presumably by the wisdom of God, Jesus attacked human illness by casting out devils, but the wisdom of the world invented microscopes, discovered microbes and viruses, and then conquered diseases with vaccines and drugs. The wisdom of God rebuked Galileo, but the wisdom of the world has long confirmed that he was right about the heliocentric nature of our solar system. The wisdom of the world discovered that smallpox could be prevented through vaccination, but through the wisdom of God, preachers opposed it as witchcraft and the work of Satan. Whenever the wisdom of the world has clashed with the "wisdom of God," the wisdom of the world has had a consistent way of proving itself right. So let bibliolaters scoff at the "wisdom" of the world all they want to. In this controversy, we will put our trust in the side with the better track record...
Many beliefs of today's most radical Bible fundamentalists would have been considered rank heresy by the most educated Christians of a thousand years ago. Knowledge caused the change and will continue to change religious thinking, because not even the most fanatical Bible fundamentalist can live in our scientific era without absorbing at least some of the "wisdom of the world" that is so despised in fundamentalist circles. Meanwhile, knowing the threat that knowledge poses to them and the institutions from which they derive their livelihood, clergymen will continue to ridicule the "wisdom of the world" in order to cultivate the colossal ignorance that is necessary for fundamentalist religion to survive."
http://www.bible-infonet.org/Challenge/topics/wisdom/05_01_01.htm - REPRINTED FROM THE SKEPTICAL REVIEW
Also available at,
http://www.theskepticalreview.com/tsrmag/2front95.html
I agree that there's no magic bullet which will open a believer's eyes to reality, but I believe that education is a good first step.
If only there was a pill we could give people which would do the job for us, like in the movie 'The Matrix'.
Scene from 'The Matrix'
Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice. Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You could say that.
Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he's expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: 'Cause I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know exactly what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know, you can't explain. But you feel it. You felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there. Like a splinter in your mind -- driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix?
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
(Neo nods his head.)
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere, it is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, or when go to church or when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, born inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind. (long pause, sighs) Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.
(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)
Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (a red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember -- all I am offering is the truth, nothing more.
(Neo takes the red pill and swallows it with a glass of water)
Morpheus: Welcome to the real world.
Now wouldn't that be wonderful?
Ken welcome aboard. I hope my welcome is no less hearty for its tardiness. Great to have you here.
I just finished your story and was simply amazed. Thanks for freely posting all of your thoughts. I am a recent deconvert, and it is nice to read similar stories. By the way, you're a gifted writer. I do have some personal questions about some family stuff, but don't want to post it here. Send me an email, if you'd like to converse. tycannon23@gmail.com
Hey Ken, I really enjoyed your story. I'd like to ask you a few questions if you have the time. Just send me an email when you have a chance (fishead at gmail dot com). Thanks!
Thanks again to all of you who've welcomed me aboard and shared your thoughts. Interesting stuff, Harry--Larkin was one of my professors; he would read from the Greek NT to the class, translating into English on the fly.
Dingodave, thanks for the expansion of your original thoughts; I've long concurred with Till on Paul's clever sealing of the exit door by casting aspersions on those who would think outside the box.
I'll be sure to respond to those who've already requested personal contact and anyone else who makes a similar request in the future.
What a great site!
Ken,
How do you and your wife keep together? I am not an atheist but I am certainly changing from my previous fundementalist views I used to hold. However, my wife is going crazy at my simple slightly changign views. How did you do it?
Jeff, regarding my relationship with my wife, it hasn't always been easy, but it's turned out not to be as difficult as it might have been. I think the key for us as been to keep at bay our mutual desire to convert each other, at least overtly. Discussing our differences, while necessary to some extent in the beginning, has become a rarity over time out of necessity. Yet she's getting a healthy dose of exposure to freethinking ideas as our individual e-mail addresses come to the same inbox. She knows what others write to me and vice versa. It's perhaps unconventional, but allows us to keep a pulse on each other's thinking and influences without having to duke it out verbally.
I can only hope with time she'll see the light, but even if that never happens, I see her as a quality person, a companion, a lover, the mother of my children--and that for me trumps our differences in outlook. Even though she's a committed evangelical, her demeanor is not that of a fire-breathing fundamentalist, which is fortunate for me, or else I might have thrown in the towel by now. Not everyone's situation is the same--it all depends on the personality of the two parties, but I believe a mixed marriage can survive and even thrive for those who determine to see value in their spouse despite their differences and treat the other with respect.
Thanks Ken,
I think my issue is that I married a firebreathing fundementalist. I am glad that you were able to keep it together, I hope the same can happen for me, again I am not even an atheist I just reject many of the fundementalist right wing stances and she thinks I am already corrupted. HAHA I would say pray for me but..well have your wife do that....HAHA
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I'm sure it took a great deal of guts for you to be honest with yourself and side with the evidence. Welcome to being fully human! I'll look forward to reading more of your thoughts as time goes on. I am also in a mixed marriage, it sounds like there are many more like us, and so could use all the moral support available!
Ken, First time poster and I have not been to this site in quite a while. I want to read your full story. I, too, am in a mixed marriage, only coming to my deconversion about 2 years ago after 30 years as a believer. I have not been able to come out of the closet with the rest of my family, and only recently with my wife after finally stopping all church attendance last year. It is difficult, to impossible to converse with her because she is truly a fundamentalist. "It's in the bible, God said it, I believe it." That's sort of her motto.
I gladly raised our three children with her in the church and with good, conservative "Republican" Christian values, with big doses of James Dobson, Chuck Colson, etc. Son is currently in a PhD program at a seminary, and married to an ordained minister in full time christian service. Oldest daughter married to the brother of an evangelical priest, and she and her husband are devoted to evangelical/Calvinist doctrine and plan to home school their children, which has started already with the older two. Youngest daughter is evangelical and charismatic and lives every moment of her life for Jesus and never thinks she is doing enough.
Need I say more as to why I am still in the closet with my unbelief? I feel like I am boxed in and as badly as my only two conversations with my wife have gone explaining why I do not believe that the bible is the "word of God", or even the "work of God", I do not look forward to the day that I must level with the rest of my family.
How do you feel about your children being indoctrinated by evangelical teaching and preaching, knowing that you lived so much of your early life chasing the "lie"? They must really feel the tug-of-war that is going on in the hearts of their mom and dad who would each like to see them go the way that they see as the truth. This has got to be something that is ever-present in the minds of you and your wife, and would seem to be natural to be a great source of tension and conflict in the family, whether overt or just sort of simmering under the surface at all times, waiting to boil over! I have a hard time visualizing how you and your spouse make all that work.
Anyway, if anybody wants to comment to me directly, feel free. I will try to get back here from time to time. labczar77@aol.com RK
Wow, I can sort of understand the position you guys are in, but (especially Randy) it must be SO hard.
I went to meet up with my father's family a couple of years back in Canada (I hadn't seen him for 20 years) and they were *all* evangelicals. I was always the only atheist in the room. They were for the most part quite happy to leave me alone - my father was very ill and so I don't think they considered it a good time for converting me! However, I really found it hard to keep my mouth shut, especially when I saw my half-brother's 4 daughters - all home-schooled, all completely indoctrinated.
The only advice I can give - and I hope that I practiced this noticeably while I was out there - is to try and stand firm in your atheism while setting an example of how someone can live life morally and constructively *without* a god.
Sometimes I felt like taking them by the shoulders and shaking them! "Wake up! Take control of your own life and stop giving responsibility to a ghost!" etc. etc. But this wouldn't do any good, in fact it would probably reinforce their "faith". Rational behaviour is the best, indeed only, antidote to irratioal belief. It just takes a lot of time and patience, and indeed it really tests your own sanity and saddens you to see loved ones living a delusion.
I am very happy to have found this site and to be able to share this experience with you guys. Your stories are hard to tell but they give a lot of hope to others like me who are in similar positions.
All the best :)
Wow, Randy, that is truly a journey in life. I have to tell you all I am not an atheist however, I am certainly more liberal that I used to be. I used to be a hardline right wing fundy. The initial kicker was innerrency, how can an inerrent texted be so if you can look to the very text and find errors. I still ultimately believe in a divine, I don't take 100% ownership like I used to. My main issue right now is the imperialism of the religious right, I can't stand it. I will stand next to any nonbeliever if it means beating up on those idealougs. I would say I have a freethinking christian faith, many of the programmed preaching tools no longer work, the empty appeals to emotion to either get money or free workers for the church. Good Luck to you Randy, I have little children and while I think there are many positives in living a faithful life I am going to try to teach my kids to recognize blatent dogma. Of course, to you atheists its all dogma.....Thanks all
Without minimizing the beauty of the story given here, it sounds like many on this blog have been broken on the rock of modernity. Even in its waning years, as the power of its ideas and ideologies slowly passes into history...
Todd, I don't suppose you would like to define your concept of "modernity" for us, show us where in the OP's story he hit this imaginary "rock", and show proof of how this imaginary concept is now on its last historical legs?
Without obliging us in this manner, it gives the impression that, rather than looking for debate or reading the post with an open mind, you have simply commented here out of a misplaced desire to get the last word in. It strikes me that, though you claim to appreciate the "beauty" of this story, it hasn't touched you on any level, least of all the rational.
Hello folks,
I need the help of a theologian. I have a Christian girlfriend, I am a devout enough athiest to live with that. Anyway She is cooling off because the bible says that inter faith marriages are out of bounds; Corinthians 1 chapt. 6 & 7. and Corinthians 6 end of chapter 6 apparently. I've not had a bible since my confirmation, but will be laying my hands on one tomorrow.
Can you help? there must be a contradiction to this prejudice somewhere in there, or is this a dodgy interpretation?
Ken, don't know if you're reading this three years later, but I live in DeSoto and work in D-ville and Cedar Hill. I'm an atheist PK with a divinity degree myself.
Lemme know if you want to shoot the shit sometime!
Steve
John Appleshard, nope, you could be SOL. "Unequally yoked" is pretty clear; elsewhere, Paul says "neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free" but neer says "neiter believer nor unbeliever."
Ken, just finished reading your full story on the Secular Web. It was a fabulous read, and helpful to me in clarifying some of my own thought processes (I'm a fairly recent deconvert). Thank you for taking the time to write it.
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