from The Onion
Christianity commonly teaches that God always answers prayer in one of four ways (here’s an example):
1) Yes
2) No
3) Wait
4) A specific answer. ex. “Choose chocolate, not vanilla.”
Let’s examine these answers a bit more, shall we? I hope it’s agreed that no one can physically hear God. We just don’t have casual back-and-forth chit-chats with the Almighty Whatsit. Prayer, for even the most sensitive and faithful religious individual, is a one-way street. If we could hear God, we wouldn’t need to guess what he was saying in response, now would we?
Read the Rest! Post a comment (10)Dear Previous Self,
I love you, chica. You’re delightful, passionate, curious, and charmingly sardonic. And whatthehell, you’re me; of course I’ve got a soft spot. But oy, you have got to break out of that slump of blissful ignorance you’ve been stuck in since that first felt storyboard in Sunday school. There are some things that must be said. They may not convince you or influence you, but what kind of Future Self would I be if I didn’t try to knock you upside the head?
1) You were not born a Christian. No matter what your family is or was culturally, you are only a member of a religion once you choose to be. Unfortunately, parents don’t trust their children to think and learn on their own, and the word “indoctrination” should be used for what inevitably follows.
Read the Rest! Post a comment (18)Dear Christian,
Do you feel far from god? Are you struggling with emotions of guilt, shame, frustration, or exhaustion when you think about your devotionals, prayer time, church activities, and ministry work?
I can easily recall acute feelings of guilt in respect to my Christian practices. I felt like my walk with the divine was often defined more by the belief that I should do something, rather than I was eager to do something. Even knowing what to do was a topic of confusion. How many prayer times is enough? Should I join another bible study? Do I need to attend church twice a week? Do most Christians do a daily devotional?
In retrospect, I realize that my closeness to god hinged fully on emotion and the satisfaction that came from doing well in what I thought was expected of me, and the natural high that occurred when enjoying myself and my thoughts during those times.
I know Christians often struggle with how to draw near to god. For example:
Read the Rest! Post a comment (3)As a former Christian, I’m used to capitalizing the word God when speaking about the Christian god, Yahweh. Hell, I even spent two years of my life spelling it G-d so I wouldn’t offend the guy with a vowel. Since I’m still detoxing from religion, I’m not quite sure how to frame references to the Christian god. Do I capitalize God as if it’s a name? What about referencing other gods? Should I perhaps start using “Yahweh” in order to differentiate between deities? Yikes, this is getting silly.
I want people to understand what I’m writing about and the context that comes with the word. If I say “God”, most people know what I’m referencing and the religion/beliefs that go along with it.
If I just do “god”, then it’s more ambiguous which deity/tradition I’m speaking about, but it keeps me from giving respect to something I don’t believe exists–and thus is not a proper noun.
If I use Yahweh, well… I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just not far enough away from my knee-rattling fear of blasphemy to feel comfortable using “the Name” yet.
I’m sure other non-theist bloggers out there have come up with a solution to my little dilemma. Any opinions or ideas? For now, I’m going to toss them all on the wall to see which one sticks.
Chris on 
Bill the Heathen on 
jabran on 
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