Monthly Archives: May 2012

Is the Baptist Church to Blame for the Right Wing Craziness in America?

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Take a look at this map from the latest U.S. Religious Census. Keep in mind, this map only reflects Protestant church concentration.

It is clear, from a Protestant perspective, that the Baptists are the dominant religious force in America, especially in the south.

If you look at ALL religions in the Unites States this is how the map looks:

One thing is clear….Baptists and Catholics rule the religious roost in America.

What two religious sects are behind the current culture war in America?

The Catholics and the Baptists. (along with the Mormons)

It is good to know who we are fighting.

Bruce, Have you Tried THIS Flavor of Ice Cream

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Southern Baptist

Independent Baptist

Mennonite

Catholic

Assembly of God

Methodist

Lutheran

Church of Christ

Church of God

Independent

Charismatic

Pentecostal

Apostolic

United Church of Christ

Brethren

Missionary Alliance

Holiness

Jehovah’s Witnesses

Episcopal

Presbyterian

Holiness

Seventh Day Adventist

All of these sects have a church within ten miles of my home. These sects split further into various subsets according to theology, music, and worship style. Reformed. Calvinistic. Arminian. They subdivide further based on eschatological beliefs.

Yes, they all worship the same Jesus. They all read from the same Bible. They all profess the same basic facts about the Christian faith. They all believe salvation is through Jesus.

Yet, they ALL want to convince people that they are special and unique. Come to OUR Church!! We are D-I-F-F-E-R-E-N-T. God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit is at OUR church! Come EXPERIENCE the difference.

So different, yet all the same.

I view the various sects of Christianity like flavors of ice cream. Each flavor tastes different but the base ingredients are always the same. Even when when it comes to ice cream cones…you have a generic ice cream cone, a waffle cone, and a sugar cone. That’s it.

So I hope you will forgive me when I show little tolerance with Christians who think they are special and their flavor of ice cream is better than all the rest. They aren’t special and neither is their ice cream. The are willingly deceiving themselves and  I refuse to be party to their continued deception.

You see, I have a problem with the base ingredients that make up the cream. The milk, cream, and sugar. The ingredients are spoiled and make for an awful product. A product that I have no intentions of eating.

So dear Christian, the next time you are out and about in your internet ice cream truck, please don’t stop at my house. I am not interested in what you are selling.

Playing In Traffic, Don’t Worry God Will Protect Us

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If the Christians teachings on the sovereignty of God and his personal, direct intervention in the lives of human beings is taken seriously it often results in followers of Jesus acting foolishly and irresponsibly. It often leads to fatalism.

The thinking goes something like this….God is in control. Nothing happens that is not a part of his purpose and plan for our lives. The Christian live fearlessly, knowing that God  is controlling and directing their life. All they need to do is surrender their will to his, dying to self. (cue the song I Surrender All)  God promises the Christian he will never leave them or forsake them. He promises to be a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He promises, promises, promises……..

Back in the real world, Christians fail, get sick, have accidents, lose their lobs, get divorced, end up in bankruptcy, and die just like the rest of us. For all the promises of God……….their lives are no different than the lives of godless atheists. They “think” their lives are different but any cursory examination proves otherwise.

A scene is a recent episode of the Showtime hit  The Big C illustrates how Christians often deceive themselves.

The Big C is a comedy/drama about a woman who has terminal cancer. Cathy (Laura Linney) has cancer. Her son Adam (Gabriel Basso) has turned to Christianity  as his Mom continues to struggle with the reality that she is dying….

The  Christianity the show portrays is a mix of Lutheranism, Emergent church, and Evangelicalism. Adam starts attending a Bible study and he meets a girl. She is “saving” herself until she is married so she only will have anal sex with Adam. In her world anal sex and oral sex is not really “sex.”

One evening Adam is out with his girlfriend……and they come to the curb of a busy, traffic filled street:

Girlfriend: (starts praying) God help me to help Adam let him know your love and protection like I do let him give over his life to your loving hands.

Girlfriend: Ok, RUN! (and grabbing Adam’s hand they begin to run across the street dodging cars)

Adam: Oh shit!

Adam: (Upon safely reaching the other side of the street)  I can’t believe, we could have died.

Girlfriend: But we didn’t because god protected us. Just like he protects all of his children.

This is EXACTLY the way many Christians think.

Never mind the fact that if this same scenario was played out numerous times it is likely they would have been killed. The Christians have an out for that too………If they were killed that means it was their “time” to die. God called their number, end of story! To God be the glory.

I Don’t Want to Die

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And neither do you.

Another family member died over the weekend.

He was 50.

He suffered greatly for over 20 years.

Maybe death was a release for him…I don’t know.

All I know is…he is dead.

People will say his suffering is over.

They will speak of him being in a better place.

He can’t speak for himself on these matters.

He is dead.

Maybe he would be willing to suffer as long as he could live.

Maybe he would choose this life, the only reality he every knew, over a promised, never seen, life in a better place.

Everyone seems to think they know what the dead would have wanted.

All I know is that when we are dead we are d-e-a-d.

Have you ever thought of what it means to be dead?

I have.

Perhaps I am a bit morbid, too introspective for my own good.

I have had those moments in the still of the night….

Moments when I think of being alive one moment and dead the next.

The reality of non-existence.

In a split second, going from a living, conscious, thinking being to nothing.

I am a glass half- empty person.

Instead of focusing on all my relatives and acquaintances that lived 70, 80 or 90 years, I focus on those who didn’t.

My dad was 47 when he died and my Mom was 54.

Cousins who died in their early 50’s.

My uncle who died in his 30’s.

My sister-in-law who died at 43.

My best friends sister who died in her early 50’s.

I could go on and on…….

These deaths remind me of my own mortality.

Even if I live to age 70, I have 15 years of life left.

I don’t think I will live that long…..maybe I will, I hope I will, but my body tells me, not a chance….

Despite the pain, I still want to live.

Maybe some day I won’t want to live any longer.

Today? I want to be counted among the living.

The truth is, I fear death.

I fear the darkness and finality that death brings.

Fearing death is quite normal.

Who wants to trade a living  existence for the emptiness of the grave?

Someone is sure to say, I hate my life, I wish I was dead.

Fine……….kill yourself.

I thought so……..

Yes, life can suck, life can be unbearable, live can bring agony and suffering at every turn…

Yet, we still want to live.

Religion exists for the purpose of calming our fear of death.

Forget all the doctrines…

Religion is the antidote for the fear of death.

Christians talk of being ready to go.

They speak with big theological words about not fearing death because of Jesus who conquered death for them.

Yet, few Christians seem to be in a hurry to die.

They want to live just like the rest of us do.

I find no comfort in religion nor do I find any comfort in thoughts about returning to the collective universal consciousness when I die.

All I know for sure is that dead is dead and I am not ready to be dead.

As the one Petra song says, I want to live until I die.

Is God Punishing Me for My Sin?

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One of the saddest questions I see in the search logs is:

I have ____________________. Is God punishing me for my sin?

In today’s search logs someone who has fibromyalgia asked this very question.

If a person believes the Bible, as written, the answer to this question is Yes. God does afflict people because of their sin. God maims, sickens, and kills people on a routine basis. The Old Testament is a written record of God using affliction and destruction to either make  a point or to get someone to do what he wants them to do. God is definitely a hands on kind of God, punishing sin to the third and fourth generation.

According to the Bible, God doesn’t a-l-w-a-y-s afflict people because of sin. Sometimes God afflicts people so they will be stronger or so HE will be glorified.

Christians believe God is the creator of the universe and that God is in complete control of his creation.  So when a person is afflicted, God is behind it. To punish you, to teach you, to make you stronger, or because he gets a perverse form of glory when he afflicts you.

This is one of the reasons I am no longer a Christian. What kind of God operates in this manner? Of course, I am sure someone will tell me……who are YOU to question God’s work?

Not only am I questioning God’s work, I am accusing God of crimes against humanity. If a human being did to another human being what God does to human beings, they would be tried before a world tribunal and sentenced to death.

Better to believe that shit happens in life. People get sick, crippled, and die. Through genetics, environment, and lifestyle choices people are afflicted with all kinds of diseases. In many cases, these diseases are what will eventually kill us.

Better to believe this is how life is than to believe there is a God in Heaven set on afflicting you for your sin, because you need to be made stronger, or he needs some glory.

The liberal Christian is likely to scream foul and say, G-A-W-D is L-O-V-E. According to the Bible he IS love but he is ALSO everything I have mentioned in this post. Take off your blinders and read ALL of the Bible. Ignoring vast portions of the Bible that make you uncomfortable or make your God look like a mean, vindictive, son-of-a-bitch, doesn’t change the fact that those portions ARE in the Bible.

If God is unchanging, and Jesus is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever, then we must take the Bible as written. Either that or we must admit that the Bible is not a divine book and it is just a work of fiction written by men thousands of years ago.

For most of my life, I lived as a stoic, come what may Christian. No matter what suffering came my way I believed God was either making me stronger or teaching me a lesson. Like Pilgrim on his way to the Celestial City, no matter what came my way, I continued to run the race set before me.

Polly and I are quite matter of fact about life. This drives some people crazy but our Christian past taught us to bear whatever burden came our way. God was faithful, God would never give us more than we could bear, you know all the one-liners Christians quote when their life is a shit-storm.

This kind of thinking can make someone quite passive about life. Since God is behind everything you just keep trusting and believing right up to the moment you draw your last breath. No kicking, no screaming, no defiance……..just a sweet, thank you Jesus, smile as you draw your last breath.

I have come to see that this kind of thinking makes people LESS human. It often robs them of their will, their desire to live. Many Christians are like the Apostle Paul who wished he could die and go to a better place. After all, according to the Bible,  this world is such a sinful, wicked place. Death becomes the sweet release.

But what if you are wrong Christian? A little reverse Pascal’s Wager here. What IF this life is all you have? What if death really is the end of it all? Wouldn’t you want to enjoy THIS life to its fullest? Wouldn’t you want to live every moment and every day in such a way that reflects the brevity and finality of life? Instead of living according to the notion that we are most miserable if this is all there is, how about seeing how great a blessing it is to have life, often LONG life, even if there is no afterlife.

Even with all the pain I have to deal with, even with the physical debility I suffer with every day, life is still a blessing. I want to live…….after all what is the alternative?

I am not ready to become worm food. I am not ready for people to say lies about me at my funeral. Oh no, I will not go quietly into the night, I will not stand like a lemming in line waiting for the Wraith to come by and turn me into food.

Life IS worth living and I don’t need the promise of eternal life to make it so.

Dear Mom and Dad

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This entry is part 3 of 6 in the seriesLetters

 

(this post is inspired by a recent post on Michael Mock’s blog)

Dear Mom and Dad,

It will soon be nine years since I pastored a church, nine years since Polly was called the “pastor’s wife.”  This Thanksgiving it will be four years since we attended a church on a Sunday.  I know this dramatic change in our lives frightens and troubles you. As devout Christians, I am sure you pray for us daily. Maybe we are even on the Church prayer list.

Knowing you like I do, I am sure our current life breaks your heart and you have shed more than a few tears over the state of our soul. I am sure you believe that God is faithful and that he will honor your prayers and move in our hearts bringing us to repentance. I have no doubt you fear what God might have to do to us to get our attention.

Perhaps you blame me for all of this.  You have known me for a long, long time. You know my strengths and weaknesses. You know about my struggles with depression and you know how up and down I can be.  Perhaps you think I have always been a “troubled” person.  Surely, I am to blame…

I can’t stop you from blaming me. I have many faults………but….don’t we all?  Polly has spent most of her life being treated like she is a lemming.  She rarely, if ever, is given credit for thinking for herself. I guess I understand this. In the Independent Baptist world, the man is the head of the home. He is the decision maker. He rules the roost.

When I met Polly 36 years ago she was a quiet girl that rarely talked. She kept her opinions to herself.  She starting dating a fast talking, ever talking, opinionated, temperamental man. Six month later we were engaged and 34 years ago we married. For decades our marriage was a typical American Christian marriage. I was the breadwinner, the head of the home. Polly kept the home, took care of the children, and made sure there was food on the table every night for dinner.  She was a perfect picture of the good Christian wife.

So I understand when people think that Polly left Christianity because I did, that she doesn’t believe anymore because I don’t believe anymore. This makes sense IF the Polly of today is the same as the Polly I married in 1978. 

The Polly of today still bears the image of the young girl I married 34 years ago. She is still a quiet, loving, and kind person.  She is still willing to selflessly sacrifice for her family. In many ways she is her mother’s daughter. (and that is meant as a huge compliment)

In other ways though, the Polly of today is very different from the Polly I married. She is much more assertive. She is much more willing to make decisions on her own.   Having to enter the workforce helped with this transformation as did having a sick, disabled husband.  Going back to college fulltime, while working a fulltime  job, did more for Polly than anything else in her life. No longer was she in the shadow of her preacher husband. No longer was she the “pastor’s wife.”

Polly is a supervisor at her place of employment. She received this promotion because of her hard work, Her work, not mine. She did well in college because of her own hard work. She has learned though all of this that she can stand on her own two feet, she can be her own person. No longer is she the wife of Bruce Gerencser, the pastor of  such-and-such Church. Oh, she is still my wife but she is much more than that now.

Polly and I had to leave the ministry and Christianity to find ourselves. Our lives had been swallowed up by our religion, the church, the ministry, and the expectations everyone had for us.  Simply put, we lost ourselves in Jesus. Our thoughts and emotions were swallowed up by “thus saith the Lord.”  Of course, such a life was encouraged and applauded. We had died to self and were alive unto Christ.

Polly and I agreed together to stop attending Church. At this juncture in our lives I made it clear that I would no longer be the spiritual leader or guide for our family. Everyone was free to choose their own path, to answer the “God” question for themselves.

This was new ground for us. For decades  I was the “final answer.” I determined what everyone believed. I was, after all, a God called, Holy Spirit powered pastor.  Now everyone, Polly included, was free to be whatever they wanted to be.

I spent a lot of time re-reading the Bible and re-investigating the claims of Christianity. As always, I read a lot of books.  Over time I came to see that the Bible was not a supernatural book and that the supernatural claims of the Bible could not be sustained.

As a result of carefully considering the claims of Christianity I came to the conclusion that the Christian God did not exist. I knew I could no longer call myself a Christian.

Polly read “some” of the books I did but she has never been a big non-fiction fan. I have never questioned her about the process or the reasons “why” she stopped believing. I accept her decision to not believe without question. She is free to believe whatever she wants to believe.  If she wanted to go back to church I would not have a problem with it. When I says she is FREE, I mean totally, absolutely FREE. (as are our children)

We talk frequently about religion, the Bible, church signs, and this or that book we are reading. Now that Polly is done with school she will have a lot more time to read. When we talk it is not in an attempt to convince one another of anything. We just talk…….and leave it at that. Sometimes we have serious discussions and sometimes we spend time talking about the past, our lives as pastor and wife.  We talk, talk, talk……..and then Polly starts snoring.

In many ways Polly is more adamant in her unbelief than I am. I know this is hard to believe. Granted, she isn’t a writer like I am, but with her actions she shows the strength of her unbelief. On more than one occasion I have said,”would you like to go to Such-and Such church to see ________________” and the answer is always a quick, terse NO!

Polly is her own person as am I. After decades of living under the thumb of Jesus we are now free to embrace who we really are. We are free to be Bruce and Polly without any modifiers added to our name.   We have had a rebirth, a rebirth that allows us to freely embrace life as it is and this us allows to be authentic human beings.

Does this mean we are radically different people? Yes and No. How we think and what we think is important has changed dramatically. No longer does our priority list begin with God, the church, and the ministry. Now our priority list begins with self, family, and friends.

In many ways we don’t live much differently than we did when we were Christians. We still have many of the same values we had when we were Christians. Yes, our politics have changed. We are much more liberal these days but this change began while I was still a pastor. We are still the same kind, loving, giving, compassionate people we always were. Maybe even more so now since our motivation is no longer, “to please God.” We do what we do because we want to.

When it comes to the social aspects of life, what we are “willing” to do has changed a good bit. Our language is saltier.  We no longer feign offense when someone cusses on TV or when there is a sex scene.  We are now free to watch what we want.  We no longer consider “what would Jesus do?”  The only criteria is, “what do Bruce and Polly want to do?”  And our sex life? Well…..all I dare say is that life is g—o—o—d!

In most every way, we are happier now than we ever have been. (not that we were extremely unhappy before) Our marriage continues to grow and mature. Yes, we still fight. Yes, we still have conflict and disagreement, but we love each other more today than we ever have. When I tell you our marriage is great, awesome, fantastic, believe me, it is. We have  struggles just like everyone does. It is not easy for Polly having a husband that is disabled, a husband who can’t drive, who can’t do many of the things he used to do. It is not easy having a husband that struggles with depression most every day of his life.  And it is not easy having a wife who thinks you put oil in the car when the red light comes on.

We have learned to accept the deficiencies we each have. We have stopped trying to change each other. We are who we are, and we do our best to ignore the things in each other that irritates us. It is not easy. In many ways, we are very, very different from each other…….but we make it work.

We take seriously the vow we made to each other 34 years ago…….til death do us part.  Some days we want to make til death do us part happen real soon, but most days we live in hope of some day seeing our great-great grandchildren.

Don’t worry about us. We are fine. The root of our marriage runs deep and we are resilient. We continue to walk hand in hand, even if my hands are on the armrests and Polly’s hands are on the wheelchair. (and even if Polly is thinking…hmm……I am sorry officer I just lost control of the wheelchair and it rolled down the hill)

While we no longer share  a religious connection with you, we still remain your children. Nothing can ever change that. We love you, and no matter what happens in your life we will be right by your side.  As we have told you many times, if the time ever comes that you can’t live in your home, our home is your home. Like with our marriage, our relationship with you is “til death do us part.” 

While we may not share your religious beliefs we respect your beliefs. I know I have written many strong words about the Christian religion and I make no apology for doing so. That said,  we have no desire to rob you of your sincerely-held religious beliefs. That’s why we don’t talk about religious matters with you or around you. If you ask or want to know we will be glad to talk about religion but unless you ask we will never utter a word.

We share so many things in common. A love of nature. A love of travel. A love of good food. Grandkids. You are not young any more and neither are we. Instead of allowing religion to divide us or ruin our relationship, let’s focus on the things that we have in common. I know this might not be easy for you. You worry about our soul. You worry about God judging us. Let your God handle those things and let’s enjoy the shared life we have.   Life is short. Let’s lustily enjoy what life remains. The days, hours, and minutes are clicking off so quickly now. Let’s not put off til tomorrow those things we want to do together.

Here’s what Polly and I want from you, what we have always wanted from you. Your love, and as much as lies within you, your support.

I know it is hard for you coming to terms with this “new” life we have chosen. I don’t know of any way to make it easier for you. Both Polly and I are on a journey. Sometimes we journey together and other times we wander off on our own. Our desire is to walk the path of life with honesty and integrity. Wherever the path leads we want to go, even if we end up walking a path less traveled.

With much love,

Bruce

***My parents are dead. Polly’s parents are still alive. Communication has always been difficult and over the years we took to writing letters to convey our thoughts and feelings. We were told a few years ago, please no more letters, so this letter is what I WOULD write if I was sending Polly’s parents a letter about our deconversion from Christianity.

Letter to the Editor of the Defiance Crescent News, May 22, 2012

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This entry is part 7 of 22 in the seriesLetters to the Editor

What follows is a letter I sent to the editor of the Defiance Crescent News.

Dear Editor,

Cal Thomas is right about one thing. The Bible clearly condemns homosexuality. The Bible is not ambiguous about homosexuality. It is a sinful behaviour that is the mark of a reprobate heart. If the Bible is taken literally, it is clear that no homosexual will inherit the kingdom of God.

And this is the very reason the Bible should not be used as a legal standard in the United States. Christians are free to live according to the dictates of the Bible, however, in a secular state, a particular religion’s moral code of conduct has no business being codified into law.

There are many moral strictures in the Bible that many moderns find abhorrent. The Bible has been used in the past to justify all kinds of vile behavior. Not too many years ago segregationists routinely quoted the Bible to justify their dehumanizing of the African-American race. We matured as a Nation and realized the Bible was wrong about slavery and the so-called inferior races.

In the same manner, the Bible is wrong about homosexuality. In fact, the Bible is wrong about many sexual matters. At best, the Bible is a religious text that promotes sexual repression and control. It is is book that is currently being used by single, white, Catholic men to deny women birth control and control of their own bodies. Christians who willingly submit to such anachronistic laws are free to do so, but Christian sects have no right to force, through the legal process, others to live by their moral code.

We say we are a Nation that believes in privacy but it seems that many Christians only support a right to privacy when what is being done in private lines up with their moral code. Simply put, Christians need to mind their own business when it comes to the sexual proclivities of others. What goes on behind closed doors between consenting adults is nobody’s business. Again, Christians are free to live according to their interpretation of the moral code of the Bible, but in a secular state they have no right to insist, through legal means, that others do so.

Homosexuals should have the same civil rights as any other American. Since marriage is a legal act licensed by the state, matters of religion have no place in the process. Two men, two women, or a man or woman should have the same freedom to marry. There is no civil reason for denying homosexuals the right to marry.

Christians need to realize that the United States is not a Christian nation. It never has been. Christianity does not deserve special status and certainly the Bible should have no weight when it comes to enacting law.

Our legal system should reflect what is best for the American people. How best to live as a pluralistic people in a secular state. Allowing homosexuals to marry and have the same civil rights as heterosexuals is absolutely essential as we mature as a nation.

Sincerely,

Bruce Gerencser
Ney, Ohio

Four Questions From a Christian Student

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I was asked by a student to answer four questions for an assignment they are working on. Based on the nature of the questions I assume the student is a Christian and might even attend a Christian school. What follows is my answers.

What is your background, education, etc?

I am a 54 year old man, who attended Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan. I was a part of the Christian church for 50 years, 25 of those years spent pastoring Evangelical churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan.

Over the course of 25 years, I preached expostionally through many books of the Bible. I preached thousands of sermons at the churches I pastored and at Bible conferences, pastor’s fellowships, youth camps, and revival meetings. I made it my life’s ambition to know the Bible well.

I am now an atheist. I blog on a regular basis at The Way Forward.

I live in the rural NW Ohio community of Ney with my wife, three children, three cats, and one dog.

More information about me can be found here.

Does God exist and what is God like?

I will assume that the questioner is asking, Does the CHRISTIAN God exist and what is God like?

Before a person can determine if a particular God exists they must first answer the question does any God exists at all. Many Christians never ask themselves this question. They operate under the presupposition that there is only one God and that God is the Christian God. How can they know this until they have thoroughly investigated all the other gods in existence?

Christians are quite atheistic themselves. They deny any other God exists but theirs. As an atheist, I only believe in one less God than the Christian does. Of course this could be said of all believers, regardless of their religion.

As an atheist, I am agnostic about the question of whether or not a God exists. Is it possible that a God of some sort exists? Certainly. However, the question I ask myself is this; is it probable a God exists and my answer to that question is NO.

Based on the evidence at hand it is improbable that God exists. This is my answer to the question, “does A God exist?”

The question though is not about A God. Instead, the question is about THE God, the Christian God. On this question I am much more certain.

After weighing the evidence for the existence of the Christian God, I have concluded that the Christian God does not exist. After spending decades studying the Christian Bible, I have concluded that the God revealed in the Bible is the creation of the human mind and is no God at all. The Bible is an errant book filled with contradictions. It is not something that we can rely on to give us proof that God exists.

What’s wrong with the world and what is the solution to the problems of this world?

The world is filled with people who do good and bad things. Every human being does good and bad things.

One of the problems with the world stems from Christianity and its view of sin and the depravity of humanity. Humans are told that, from birth, they are vile, evil sinners in need of redemption. Deliverance from sin, according to the Christian, is through Jesus Christ. Unless a person becomes a follower of Jesus they are the enemy of God, a child of Satan, and will never have meaning or purpose in their life.

Humanity would be better served if it cast off these teachings and adopted a humanistic view of life. A view where humanity and the natural world take center stage rather than the Christian God and his son Jesus. As long humans seek to serve God above humanity and seek God’s forgiveness rather than the forgiveness of those actually offended we will never address the wrongs in the world.

Humans must be held accountable for the bad they do. Humans should also be praised for the good they do. There is no need to interject the Christian God into the middle of this.

As an atheist, I do not believe God exists so God cannot be the solution. As a humanist, I think that humans are the solution to the problems our world faces. No God is going to show up and fix things for us. Simply put, we broke it and it is up to us to fix it.

How can a person become right with God?

As an atheist, I do not think there is a God I need to be right with. As a humanist, I think I have a duty and obligation to be right with my fellow human beings. As much as lies within me, I should strive to be a peaceable, loving, compassionate, and kind person. I do not need a God to be able to be this kind of person.

What happens to a person at death?

What does the evidence tell us? People die. Cemeteries are everywhere. No one comes back from the dead. There is no empirical evidence for heaven, hell, or any sort of afterlife. As a finite being, I wish heaven and the afterlife were true but they are not. When our heart stops beating and our lungs stop breathing we are dead. That’s it. Our body ceases to live and we live on only in the memories that our friends and loved ones have of us.

Christianity teaches that the present life is one that must be endured. Successfully enduring this life results in a home in Heaven with God after death. Happiness is offloaded to a future life, a life that may or may not exist.

In the Christian view of eternity people like me will spend our afterlife in hell. (Lake of Fire) We will be punished for all eternity because we refused to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

As an atheist, and a humanist, my focus is on the present. I only have one life to live. I only have this one opportunity to make a mark on the world I live in. I have no time for thoughts about God, heaven, or hell. As a husband of 34 years, father of six grown children and grandfather to eight, I have chosen to focus on being the best husband, father, and grandfather I can be. I fail many times in this endeavor but every day I get up and try to do better. As even the Bible says (Matthew 25), I hope that my life will be judged according to my works. I hope that my good works outweigh my bad works.

Keith Green, the deceased Christian artist, sang a song about Matthew 25. Matthew 25 teaches that our judgment by God will be determined, not by what we say we believe, but by how we live our lives. Matthew 25 speaks of sheep and goats, righteous and unrighteous. Green said this:

What is the difference between the two? What they did and did not do.

While I do not believe in Green’s God, I do believe the sentiments he expressed. I want my life to be judged according to my deeds. If there is a God (and I don’t think there is), surely how I lived my life is far more important than whether or not I believed the right things or said the right words.

Video link

 

Sometimes People Believe What They Want to Believe

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Even skeptics.

Skeptics like to think of themselves as people of reason, people who value evidence and facts above all else.

I agree, that’s the way we should think.

Why is it then that so many skeptics think people who go to Christian colleges receive an inferior education?

Everyone has seen the Bill Maher clip now…….the one where he denigrates Liberty University………basically saying their degrees are a joke, worthless. (BTW, Liberty is an accredited institution)

Now……..I am a Bill Maher fan. I watch his show religiously.

But, on this matter……Bill Maher is full of shit.

Skeptics like to focus on the fact that Christian colleges teach creationism. Let’s assume all Christian colleges teach creationism. Does this one fact mean that every other class or course of study is deficient?

Where are the studies, oh we skeptics love studies, that show that a Christian college education is inferior to a secular college education? Come on skeptics…….just one study.

I thought so…..this isn’t about evidence or facts. This is about our disposition towards hating all things religious.

Outside of the science issue, what proof is there that a secular college education is superior to the Christian college education?  Three of my children and my wife have taken classes and graduated from secular colleges. I have watched closely as they take their classes.  I have read their syllabuses, looked at their textbooks. I have reviewed what was required of them to graduate from their respective college. I found nothing that would suggest that their secular education was superior to a Christian college education.

The truth is, education standards have declined everywhere, Christian and secular. Personally, I think a lot of what is taught at the college level is a colossal waste of time. The whole system is in need of a radical overhaul. Yet, skeptics tend to ignore the deficiencies in their own places of higher learning. Christian colleges, because of their religious beliefs, become easy targets for skeptics. After all, only uneducated hillbillies attend a Christian college. Many of them, curl lip, and with a slight snarl…….many of them were HOME SCHOOLED.

Ah yes, another dog skeptics love to beat. Skeptics hate stereotypes, yet they seem to have no problem using a stereotype when judging home schoolers. Skeptics have their anecdotal evidence of a Christian family that home schooled their children. The kids lacked social skills and were educationally deficient. Never mind that their anecdote is the exception to the rule.  Skeptics WANT to believe that home schooled children are wallflowers and have the education of a third grader. This makes it much easier to dismiss Christians and their backwater religion.

Skeptics might want to take a long, hard look at the public school system before they start chucking rocks at families who home school. A couple of years ago I read a number of Comp 1 and and Comp 2 essays written by recent high school graduates for their college English class. The vast majority of the writing was atrocious. Terrible grammar and spelling. Many of them showed a complete lack of ability to construct a coherent paragraph. So much for the superiority of the public school system.

Home schooling has its faults. All six of our children were home schooled. I am well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of our home school program.  My wife and I determined that we would focus on core competency, so we made sure our children could read and write well. We adhered to this philosophy: a child who can proficiently read and write can do most anything.

We knew that we could never provide the science education that a public school with a lab could provide. Instead, we taught them to be observers of the natural world. Yes, at the time, we believed they should be careful observers of the natural world God created, but good observation skills are valuable for theist and skeptic alike.

When our children entered college and took Biology they were at a slight disadvantage. I say slight, because they didn’t have the lab skills their public school counterparts did. However, their reading and writing skills were far above their classmates so this offset their lab skill deficiency. Again…..read well and you can learn most anything.

Skeptics need to judge Christian colleges and homeschooling according to facts. We live in an educational world where everything is judged by a number. How do home schoolers test out compared to their high school counterparts? In most instances they test higher, often significantly higher.

Now, I am not saying that every home schooled child is receiving a good education. I have met a few of the anecdotal stories that skeptics like to tell. Parents who have no business home schooling their children. Children who are illiterate. These are rare occasions and the whole home schooling movement should not be judged by the reprehensible actions of a few.

When one of my sons was in elementary school he had a teacher that had no business being a teacher. How she got a college diploma and a teaching certificate is beyond me. After three years, local school administrators found out she was not teaching her students to read and they  fired her. Terrible story. Now, using the standard some skeptics do, I could conclude that the public school system is a failure. Of course, a good skeptic wouldn’t do that. The skeptic realizes that all this is one bad teacher, an anecdotal story that proves nothing.

Christianity deserves the criticism it gets but let’s be sure of our facts before we open our mouth or post the latest Bill Maher attack on religion to our blog, Facebook, or Twitter. Christian colleges and home schooling deserves careful scrutiny but let’s not forget our own sacred secular cows.

What Happens When We Die?

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On another post, a Christian asked me, what happens when we die? Rather than answer him in the comments, I thought I would answer his question here.

The power of religion rests in the hope they give people concerning life after death. Remove this from religion and churches would be shuttered overnight. Hope, along with fear, is the glue that holds most religions together. What would religion be without the fear of hell and the hope of heaven?

The problem though is that there is no proof that there is a heaven or a hell. All we have to go on is the various religious texts that clerics use to “prove” there is a hell and a heaven.

No one has ever gone to heaven and come back to tell us about it. The same goes for hell. All we have to go on are what ancient texts say about heaven and hell. Thus, it requires FAITH to believe there is a heaven and a hell.

The same goes for any life at all after death, whether it be reincarnation or Christian resurrection. There is no proof that there is ANY life after death. Again, a belief in life after death requires FAITH.

As a skeptic *, faith has very little place in my worldview. I judge matters according to what I can know. What does reason tell me about life after death? What do my my observations tell me about life after death? What do my experiences, anecdotal they may be, tell me about life after death?

Simple….when we die we are dead. That’s it. End of story.  When my heart stops pumping and my lungs stop breathing I am dead. Everyone of us will come to this end. No one escapes death.

I know of no one who has come back from the dead. I know of no one who is not right where they were planted or sprinkled after they died. As with God, there is no evidence of a hell, heaven, or life after death. Since there is no evidence, I must conclude these things do not exist.

Now, this does not mean I don’t wish it could be different. Heaven, eternal life, a pain-free body…..that appeals to me. But then, so does having magical Harry Potter powers. Both are fantasies that have NO foundation in reality.

Some day, sooner rather than later, I am going to die. It is unlikely that I will be alive 20 years from now. I hope I am, but my body and its slow, gradual decline tells me that death is lurking in the shadows and some day will come and claim me. Believe me, I want to live. I have no death wish like many Christians do. Take me Jesus, I am ready to go, many a Christian says. Not me. I have no desire to leave on the next boat or any other boat.  I hope that slow-black train that’s a-comin’ gets derailed in Texas.  I want to live as long as I can. I want to be married for 50 years and see my grandkids get married and bless me with great grandchildren.

You see, we as skeptics value life because this is all we have. We know (because that is what the evidence tells us)  there is no hell, heaven, or life after death. This is it and because this is it we want to ring as much as we can out of life. We are not content to off-load life to a mythical afterlife. Every days matters because every day lived is one less day we have to live.

I have lived about 19,843 days, 467,592 hours. What is most important to me is how I spend the days I have. Have I lived life to its fullest? Have I made a difference? Am I a better person today than I was yesterday?

This is enough for me. A well-live life…what more can anyone ask for?

Sadly, the Christian views life as something to be endured so that they might get an after-life payoff. I know this description sounds crude, but it is the essence of the Christian belief concerning life after death.  Endure! Suffer! Be Patient! As the Christian song says, Some day it will be worth it all. Some day you will cross the finish line and receive the prize that awaits you, the Apostle Paul says.

Now, I fault no Christian for believing in hell, heaven, and the afterlife. The Christian Bible certainly says these things are real. The Christian Bible certainly says who will be going to hell and who will be going to heaven. However, as a skeptic, I see no evidence that these beliefs are true. I do not have the requisite faith necessary to suspend reason on these matters. (and faith requires the suspension of reason) I am unwilling to waste my life in the pursuit of that which, best I can tell, does not exist.

I hope this adequately answers the Christian commenters question.

* my use of the word skeptic. I use the word to represent atheists, agnostics, and humanists in general.