Preview of Upcoming Attractions

The purpose of my blog is to explain Why I De-Converted from Evangelical Christianity. I am not sure how long it will take me to systematically discuss all the issues that led to my loss of faith. I am willing to take as long as necessary.

So far, I have focused on the atonement. I chose this one first because it was, in some ways, the one that shook my faith the most. I distinctly remember a time in the early 1990's when I was on top of my roof in Arizona fixing the evaporative cooler when the thought struck me: How could someone dying 2000 years ago have any effect on me today? It was a startling thought. As any good Christian evangelical, I attributed the thought to Satan or one of his demons. I remembered the passage in 2 Cor. 10:5: Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. I thought that I need to cast down this imagination and bring my thoughts into the captivity of Christ.

The question kept resurfacing in my mind and I embarked on a thorough study of the atonement to assuage my doubts. Instead of resloving my doubts, though, they just became stronger. More doubts and problems with regard to other doctrines that I was teaching came into my mind. I tried to study those as well. Eventually, I had to be honest with myself and admit that I no longer believed the Evangelical Theology that I was teaching and preaching. This whole shift took several years.

While I am not finished discussing the problems with the Atonement, I want to preview for you some of the other issues that eventually led to my apostasy. These problems, and others (the list below is not exhaustive), will be discussed going forward on my blog, although not necessarily in this order.


1. The Problem of Evil

Here I will focus primarily on Natural Evil, i.e. hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, childhood cancer, birth defects, etc. I will focus on these because I don't think the free-will argument can come close to answering the problem of natural evil. (I am not sure it answers the question of moral evil, either, but it certainly doesn't answer natural evil.)

2. The Problem of the Bible as Divine Revelation

Here I will deal with many questions including: If the Bible is a divine revelation, why is it so ambiguous (i.e., subject to multiple interpretations)? If the Bible is a divine revelation, why does it include so much "worthless material"? If the Bible is a divine revelation, why does it contradict itself? If the Bible is a divine revelation, why does it contain so many divergent theologies? If the Bible is a divine revelation, why was there so much controversy over the canon and why did it take so long for Christians to agree? If the Bible is a divine revelation, why did God allow not only the original mss. to disappear but also the copies made in the first couple of centuries, thereby leaving us with no certain way of reconstructing the original documents?

3. The Problem of the Resurrection

Here I will deal with the lack of substantial evidence for believing in the resurrection of Jesus. I will interact with William Craig's arguments, N. T. Wright's and others. I will also deal with the fact that Christian theologians cannot agree on the nature of Christ's resurrection "body."

4. The Problem of the Incarnation

Here I will deal with the various Christologies that existed in the first four hundred years of the Church and how "orthodoxy" eventually won out.

5. The Problem of the Trinity

Here I will deal with the various ideas relative to the Godhead during the first three hundred years of the Church and how "orthodoxy" eventually won out.

6. The Problem of Christians

Here I will deal with questions such as: Why is there little or no evidence in the lives of Christians that Christianity is real? Why is conversion and life-change not unique to Christianity? In other words, why can you find people who have converted to Mormonism or Islam or some other religion who made drastic life changes? Is there really a psychological explanation rather than a supernatural one?

So, I think you can see that this blog will be continuing for a long, long time. I look forward to exploring these issues and your comments along the way.

As a side note, I will be travelling by car from Phoenix to Atlanta this week and will probably not be able to do much posting. I will be on the radio on Monday at 6:20pm Eastern time discussing the existence of God with a priest and a rabbi. You can listen on-line here . The podcast will also be posted at the radio's website within a couple of days of its airing.