Climbing into de-Bunker....
I apologize from the start for the horrible pun in the title. But get used to it. :o)
Before I was an ex-Christian I was......well, a Christian! I very sincerely confessed my sins and pledged my life to Jesus at the tender age of 7, and I was just as sincere in my effort to maintain my Christianity for the next 35 years or so. I took very seriously the exhortation to 'study to show thyself approved.' Little did I know that my studiousness would be the undoing of my faith in the supernatural.....
Before I was an ex-Christian I was......well, a Christian! I very sincerely confessed my sins and pledged my life to Jesus at the tender age of 7, and I was just as sincere in my effort to maintain my Christianity for the next 35 years or so. I took very seriously the exhortation to 'study to show thyself approved.' Little did I know that my studiousness would be the undoing of my faith in the supernatural.....
My childhood was fairly typical for the son of a Southern Baptist minister. Periods of rebelliousness punctuated an otherwise general attitude of respect and obedience. As a young man I evolved from inerrancy to legalism. I entered Dallas Baptist University with the intention of entering the ministry, which was constantly distracted by my affection for the piano. After my first marriage disintegrated I entered another period of 'rebellion', followed by a return to faith characterized by the charismatic experience. My wife and I met during this time and I led praise and worship for a medium-sized non-denominational church for five years. For most of this time we tithed over 10% of our gross income.
My first dose of critical thinking/reason came from, of all people, my own father! He gave me a copy of Hank Hanegraaff's Christianity in Crisis which, among other things, pointed out a flaw in one of the core teachings of one of our favorite ministers. I soon abandoned most Charismatic teaching and eventually stopped attending church altogether. I later ran across Preterism which at least seemed to make more sense out of the ever-changing field of eschatology while allowing me to remain a Christian. But Preterism's approach to symbolic vs. literal passages in the Bible led me to the discovery of major holes in the Genesis flood story, then creation accounts and eventually the historicity of much of the Bible, from Eden to Palestine. Where faith had taught me to accept even the most incredulous stories as literally true, reason brought doubts. I eventually reasoned my way out of faith in the supernatural altogether.
I have written about this in greater detail here and here.
I look forward to joining my fellow ex-Christians in this endeavor.
My first dose of critical thinking/reason came from, of all people, my own father! He gave me a copy of Hank Hanegraaff's Christianity in Crisis which, among other things, pointed out a flaw in one of the core teachings of one of our favorite ministers. I soon abandoned most Charismatic teaching and eventually stopped attending church altogether. I later ran across Preterism which at least seemed to make more sense out of the ever-changing field of eschatology while allowing me to remain a Christian. But Preterism's approach to symbolic vs. literal passages in the Bible led me to the discovery of major holes in the Genesis flood story, then creation accounts and eventually the historicity of much of the Bible, from Eden to Palestine. Where faith had taught me to accept even the most incredulous stories as literally true, reason brought doubts. I eventually reasoned my way out of faith in the supernatural altogether.
I have written about this in greater detail here and here.
I look forward to joining my fellow ex-Christians in this endeavor.