1. Why did you put up this site?2. Who do you think is your audience?
3. Why don't you accept Christianity?
4. Why do you waste your time arguing against something that you don't believe in?
6. Where is there information on your site about subject X, Y or Z?
8. Can I submit articles or links to be considered for your site?
9. You make a claim in one of your essays or e-mails which is not true. Will you correct your error?
10. Who are you?
11. Do you have any big plans to improve your site in the future?
12. What's with all the pop-up ads on the discussion board?
1. Why did you put up this site?I grew up as a believing, praying, church-going Lutheran. My mother-bless her heart-put me in Confirmation Class. However, I dropped out before finishing the class for one reason or another. As I got into my teenage years, I thought it less and less likely that Christianity was true. The stories of the Bible just didn't jibe with what I was learning about the world at school. It became fairly clear to me, for example, that the Genesis version of history was make-believe. However, even though I was very skeptical of Christianity and I no longer went to church, I did not entirely let go of Christianity; I thought that possibly there was some kernal of underlying truth in the Bible.
After I finished school, I moved to Washington state (U.S.). Here it seemed that most everyone I met was a Christian. The people I became friends with were Christians. Christianity suddenly became a big issue for me. Christian friends and aquaintences often reacted with shock, horror and revulsion upon learning that I was skeptical of Christianity. This was very frustrating because after they reacted the way that they did, I felt that I could not adequately explain why I doubted Christianity. I had never before been put in the position of having to explain my thoughts on the subject. It was a difficult time for me because I didn't know of anyone else who thought the way that I did. I started to believe that there might actually be something wrong with me for doubting Christianity. I wondered what I was missing that these Christians were presumably seeing. So I did some research. I listened to what the Christians had to say, I found and read skeptical literature and, finally, I read the Bible. What I learned from doing all this was that the problem was not with me. The problem was with Christianity.
I really wanted to share with others what I had learned about Christianity. In 1996 I produced a half-hour video that consisted of a brief introduction with me, about 25 minutes of scrolled Bible verses, and then a brief conclusion. I had this broadcast on the local public access station. That summer I got a computer and in the beginning of 1997 I started to put up some Christianity: Bogus Beyond Belief web pages.
2. Who do you think is your audience?I put up this site in the hope that those who are starting to doubt Christianity could benefit from it. I wanted to help these people see that there was nothing wrong with them because they were starting to question their beliefs. Of course I have no illusions about changing the minds of fanatical Christians who visit my site. They are usually too far gone to be helped. The only point in discussing issues with them is so that others can see how absurd their arguments are.
3. Why don't you accept Christianity?Here is an outline of the main reasons why I reject Christianity:
1) There is no evidence for a supernatural realm. The existence of miracles-which are claimed to be evidence of a supernatural realm-cannot be documented and supported. Stories of miracles found in ancient religious texts cannot stand up to any kind of critical scrutiny.2) Major Christian claims conflict with the accepted facts of reality. For example, the book of Genesis is filled with claims about history, astronomy, geology and biology that are flatly contradicted by modern knowledge and modern science.
3) Christians claim that animals and plants exhibit evidence of design by an intelligent designer, yet the "design" of life is explained by evolution, a demonstrated, observed process that does not require a designer. Furthermore, the predation, disease, violence, suffering, and incredible waste of life in nature-as well as the many examples of jury-rigged "design" in nature-would indicate that if there was actually a designer, this designer was not intelligent and loving but stupid and cruel.
4) There is no good evidence that the Jesus figure that is described in the Bible actually existed. No contemporary witness or historian makes any mention of him. His amazing supernatural miracles apparently went unnoticed by all of his contemporaries. The earliest writers in the New Testament seem to know virtually nothing about the life or the words of Jesus. All of this suggests that his life and words were invented at a later date. For more information on this subject, go here:
http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/jesus.html5) Christians cannot coherently define the term "God," so when they say that "God exists," they apparently don't know what they are talking about. God is called a supernatural being, but this is not terribly informative. What, exactly, is a supernatural being? Is a supernatural being composed of matter and is it alive in the same way that natural biological organisms are? Christians cannot explain what a supernatural being would be in any clear and understandable way. When Christians do try to provide explanations of what a supernatural being would be, they can do little more than speculate and hypothesize.
http://pages.ca.inter.net/~oblio/puzzle1.htm --provides a quick outline of the major points.
6) Besides not being able to define what "God" is, Christians typically are unable to provide good reasons why they believe in such a thing. They will sometimes cite stories of ancient miracles as evidence of God's powers, but they are unable to explain why anyone should accept that such miracles actually occurred. They will also point to personal experiences as evidence for God, but of course these personal experiences have no meaning to anyone but themselves. They will often appeal to ancient prophecies as evidence for God, but they cannot show that these claimed prophecies were real or were miraculous or are actually evidence for God. They will triumphantly proclaim that Jesus' defeat of death proves that God is real, yet they don't seem to understand that the ancient, anonymous, uncorroborated, contradictory, fantastical stories about Jesus are not terribly believable to others.
7) Christians claim that God's existence is proven by what is written in the Bible, yet the Bible does not appear to be a terribly reliable source of information. The Bible is a collection of ancient books that were obviously written by fallible and unenlightened human beings. These books demonstrate nothing supernatural. They are filled with contradictions, scientific errors, cruelty and violence.
8) Though they cannot define precisely what God is, Christians have assigned various attributes and qualities to God. These attributes and qualities are mutually contradictory-and contradictions cannot exist in reality. For more information on this topic, go here:
http://www.update.uu.se/~fbendz/lib...impossible.html9) Virtually all of the important doctrines and story elements of Christian theology are present in earlier religions. The simple and uncontroversial explanation for this fact is that Christianity was copied from earlier religions. The earliest Christian apologists, however, tried to claim that Satan had anticipated Christianity, and had created the earlier religions with very similar story elements in order to confuse Christians and destroy their faith. Needless to say, this was an obviously contrived rationalization. For more information, go here:
Pagan Christshttp://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa.htm
10) The fact that religions are linked to culture and are separated by geography indicates that religions are simply man-made.
11) The god of the Bible murders children, it supports slavery, it orders the massacres of men, women and children, and, in the New Testament, this god is said to send people to a place of eternal torture as punishment for their opinions. By any reasonable measure, the biblical god is an immoral monster. It seems fairly clear that the alpha male figure of Jehovah was invented by a primitive and barbaric culture. Because Christians claim that their god is morally perfect and perfectly loving, the vindictive and cruel deity presented in the Bible represents an impossible contradiction.
12) The Christian religion employs a variety of mind control techniques to gain and maintain converts. This would seem to indicate that Christianity is false and little more than a cynical con game. Go here for more information.
4. Why do you waste your time arguing against something that you don't believe in?Go here.
5. I am a Christian and I feel righteous indignation when I view your web site. I insist that you take it down forthwith. When will you accede to my demand?Believe it or not I have actually gotten e-mails with words much like this. (see the e-mails from Kelly and Matt here)
So why do some Christians feel this way about my site? Is it because I have a picture of myself roasting in hell? Is that so horrible? Well, the idea of me roasting in hell is not my idea-that is what Christians, citing the Bible, claim is my eternal fate. Are these Christians offended by my site because I highlight various biblical atrocities? Well, it is not my fault that these things are found in the Bible. Are these Christians upset because I often refer to the authors of the books of the Bible as primitive, superstitious and violent? Frankly I don't know how else to describe ancient people who believed in talking jackasses and who celebrated slavery, torture and murder.
If people have a problem with my site, I would suggest that their real problem is with Christianity itself.
6. Where is there information on your site about subject X, Y or Z?My web site does not cover an overwhelming number of topics. I have mainly posted essays on topics and links to topics that I find interesting, or that I think are the most important. In any case, if you want to look for information on my site about a specific topic, the best way to do this is to visit the site search engine. A quick way to see most of the pages on my site is to open up the side bar guide. If you do have a specific question about a specific topic that is not covered on my site, you can always e-mail me at Tekministry@aol.com and I may be able to help you find more information on it. You can also post a question on my site's discussion boards or search through the subjects that have been discussed there already.
7. You are going to hell, sinner. When you are in hell screaming in agony, I'll be up in heaven with Jesus, laughing at you. What do you think about that?I think it is very sad that you devote your life to worshipping a god who you believe casts people into a place of eternal torture. I feel sorry for you.
8. Can I submit articles or links to be considered for your site?Absolutely. You can submit your own essays or essays that are copied from any author who allows copying. I would be interested in well-written, well-thought-out and interesting essays. In other words, something better than what I've written.
Keep in mind that you can also post your information on my discussion boards.
9. You make a claim in one of your essays or e-mails which is not true. Will you correct your error?Certainly. If I made a mistaken claim in an e-mail that is posted on my site and I learn about the error, I will simply leave the original mistake in and add a correction as a side note. If I made the error in an essay, I would just edit the mistake.
10. Who are you?I am a former Christian, as I noted earlier. I am in my thirties and I live in the Northwest United States.
11. Do you have any big plans to improve your site in the future?I don't think anyone has asked me this, but I have asked it of myself. In the future I would like to:
- -add more comments from Christian apologists. I am so amazed at what these people come up with to try and rationalize away the problems with Christianity that I feel strongly compelled to share their comments with others.
- -detail the dishonesty of various Christian creationists. I know it is hard to believe, but several prominent creationists have been caught lying outright to further their cause.
- -update the news articles page. I want to add articles that detail Bush's so-called "Faith-Based Initiative" program, and add articles about the Catholic Church's child abuse scandals.
- -add more e-mails to the responses section.
- -put the pages from this winzip file into a more readable format, and respond to the last e-mails
- -post some comments on what I've learned from conversing with Christians over the Internet
12. What's with all the pop-up ads on the discussion board?Well, it is a free account so there are pop up ads. I just don't feel like paying for the discussion boards. I strongly recommend using a pop up blocker program if you want to read or post on the boards. I have had good luck with a few of the freeware programs found on this page.
* Actually, Genesis has two creation stories.
Tekministry@aol.com
Most recent update: 3/26/06
