A Safe Place To Vent
Chris Basten
From: "Chris Basten"
To: "Positive Atheism" <editor@positiveatheism.org>
Subject: A safe place to vent
Date: Fri, 17 Aug 2001 00:13:22 -0500
Cliff:
I am glad that there is a website like Positive Atheism for people like me who are coming out of the belief system of Christianity and realizing that it isn't the nirvana that it claims to be. In fact, before I found Positive Atheism, I didn't know where to go with my nagging doubts and revulsion about some of the things that were taught in churches or the Bible itself. I was always taught that atheists were "those weird people who were going to hell because they didn't believe in God." But as I scoured this site for the first time, I found nothing but very sensible people with a lot of common sense (something I ached for when in the trenches of Christianity). I feel that Positive Atheism is a very safe place for me to vent about my frustrations with the deceptiveness and irrationality of Christianity (or any other religion for that matter). So, Cliff, bear with me as I vent.
I am very young in my deconversion process. For the first time in my life, I have carefully studied the Bible and now know how contradictory and revolting it is. I am very open to the idea that there might be a God but I have no evidence to believe that there actually is one, especially that sadist, juvenile God of the Bible.
I get a kick out of Christians who sing or tell me that "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Really?! I couldn't find any recorded passage in the Bible where Jesus actually said this (unless I missed it).
They expect me to believe that God works for the good of all people but I find a lot of random and needless suffering in the world that can't be explained away with zippy platitudes about God having it all under control. It just doesn't make sense.
Christians claim that the point of life is to know and be in a relationship with God. How can that be for a child who is only born with a brain stem and only lives a cold, blue, unfeeling existence for a few days in the sterile recesses of a hospital ward? What was the point of that child's existence? "It's all part of God's plan" doesn't feed the bulldog. It is just irrational for a supposed all-knowing, all-powerful, all-loving God.
How can the Bible be inerrant when it has so many glaring errors? "You must not be of God, otherwise you would see the Truth" is a poor argument to pose. To ignore the facts does not change the facts. It has errors. That is a fact. This secret "Truth" of Jesus-followers is about as sound a concept as "the force" used by the Jedi in Star Wars. It is pure fiction and is downright childish in my mind. There is no evidence to support that "the Truth" exists. Life is too complex and full of dilemmas to posit such silliness.
Once I am a parent, I want my children to have every opportunity to learn about religions and atheism and decide on their own what they believe. I don't want to force them into anything. I just want them to be safe and happy. Deep down, I believe most parents feel this way as well and yet most people are very uneducated about anything other than Christianity. Most Christians don't even know the Bible that well; they just know how to act like a Christian. It's really not that hard to do. I pulled it off very well.
How does one go about asking Jesus into your heart for salvation of sins and eternal life!? This is the weirdest concept I have ever encountered. There is nothing tangible about it. Christianity claims that good works don't impress God, only one's relationship to Jesus. How can you have a relationship with a dead guy who may not have even existed? I can have a relationship with things that exist: namely, living, breathing humans. God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus (one God!?) don't exist. I can't talk to them, touch them, or listen to them. They are mere imaginary friends worshipped by children who don't know any better and full-grown adults who do know better. What are we doing!? This irrational thinking and this "us-versus-them" attitude is separating us further apart in an already anti-social society.
The Bible does have some good passages about moral behavior. This I acknowledge. Nonetheless, it is nothing that I couldn't have figured out on my own or with the help of my fellow human beings. These few moral excerpts are not earth-shattering in nature and these behaviors are not exclusive to Bible-reading Christians. I have many Christian friends whom I cherish and adore: I respect the people and I respect their right to believe what they think is true, but I do not respect the strange beliefs themselves. Still, I do respect the believers as kind, loving human beings who enrich my life and the lives of everybody whom they touch. Therefore, my venting is far safer here in an anonymous world of people who think more like I do. Thanks for allowing this website to fulfill its purpose for me.
Positive Atheism is a safe service for those with no reason to believe. Thanks for allowing it to be that way for me. I need it in a most unsure and vulnerable time in my life.
Chris Basten
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