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Freedom from Dogma
.: posted Friday, June 17, 2005 ::: by .:webmaster:. ::: EmailThis! »

sent in by Richard Moore

My name is Richard Moore and I am thankfully an ex Christian. I was raised in the very fundamentalist Southern Baptist Church. When I was too young to walk to Church, I was carried. There followed many years of Sunday School, worship service, vacation Bible schools, and summer youth camps. The pressure to believe is intense, and I was baptized at about the age of twelve. Christians must believe blindly and have faith without proof and doubts must be suppressed. Of course a single doubt or the wrong question can destroy the Christian programming.

About the age of sixteen I started asking the hard questions. For example, Adam and Eve had two children, Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel and was banished to another country where he took himself a wife. Since the Bible says that only Adam, Eve, and Cain were alive, how could there be another country from which he could take a wife? I found out that my church leaders didn’t like being asked the hard questions. I was told to shut up, just believe, and stop asking those pesky questions. I was naïve, but I really expected to have my questions answered. Since the Church didn’t have the answers, I had to look elsewhere for the truth.

For me, the question that finally destroyed the Christian meme was this. What kind of a god would sentence even one of His children to eternal punishment; not just for the sins of one short human lifetime, but for not believing the correct dogma? If true, He is the ultimate enemy of Mankind. If false, there is nothing to save us from, and the sacrifice on the cross is unnecessary. I could no longer accept such a god and the Christian dogma collapsed like a house of cards. I was free and had never been so happy in my life. It was like a heavy weight had been lifted from my mind.

My de-conversion occurred in 1970 and the last thirty five years have been spent as a seeker after truth and knowledge. I am a member of no Religion, although Buddhism may be closest to the truth. At least I am not aware of a Buddhist ever persecuting anyone.

Best wishes to all you ex-Christians. Prove all things and believe only that which is good, honest, and true. Remember that when Christians make it to exchristians.net, they obviously have doubts and need help and encouragement. Hate the dogma, yes, but not the poor deluded Christian.

Texas
USA
I was a Southern Baptist
Now I am a Seeker, Mystic
I converted because my mind was programmed through constant repetition
I de-converted because I could not accept a cruel vengeful god
email: qadeshet at yahoo dot com

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2 Comments:

Anonymous wrote:

I am the way the truth and the life.No one comes to the Father but through Me.For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that who so ever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

posted: December 04, 2005

Dave8 wrote:

I guess god just was just too busy to make the trip on his own. Talk about the "killing the messenger" story.

posted: December 04, 2005

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