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Tag Archives: husband
A Pastor, a husband, a bible school teacher. Now I am not. What events caused the loss of my faith. – Read with Open Mind!
A Pastor, a husband, a bible school teacher. Now I am not. What events caused the loss of my faith. What were the first steps that lead me to make such a change? Read on!
I grew up in a devout penticostal / Charismatic Christian home. The son of a pastor, I endured the attention and expectations of the large congregation. Obviously the pressure was there from a young age to go into the ministry myself.
Our family life totally revolved around church. We went to church every Sunday and attended the many weekly meetings and conferences. My youth was spent living in a “fish bowl” of christianity. I had to look and act the part of a good Christian boy. It was actually a part I played well and enjoyed greatly.
As a teenager, I worked in the Youth department and eventually became a youth leader in the church. If you have been involved in the charismatic movement you will know that the whole experience is exciting and for the most part wholesome and fun. I certainly don’t have any regrets about my youth and upbringing. It was fun and something that I was totally immersed in.
After leaving High School, I felt the “call of God” to go to bible school and train to be a pastor myself. After attending Bible School I left to pioneer my own church. The church grew and soon became a well known establishment in the charismatic community.
I loved preaching and enjoyed the power I felt it gave me week after week. After several years I started preaching overseas and became a very popular preacher, I wrote several books and released selected preaching series on DVD and CD. I was being invited to bigger and bigger conferences and worked hard at developing my ministry and popularity. All of this sold more books and CD’s and further increased the demands on me to preach a certain message and live a particular lifestyle.
I remember one night after a particularly “wild” church meeting I went back to my hotel and thought about my life. What was I really accomplishing? What change was I really making to other people’s lives? It seemed that I was getting paid a lot of money to entertain the crowds and increase the popularity of the pastors who ran the churches I preached in. I was a paid performer who used hype, enthusiasm, guilt and fear to control the way people lived, ensured that they supported the church with their hard earned money and time.
I felt used. I felt like I was prostituting my “god given” talents and abilities.
My journey out of the ministry and Christianity was not a sudden one. It took several years of evaluation, change and personal development.
Today I look back at all this without regret, I admire the pastors who work tirelessly to help marriages and young people. Those who’s hearts are right and actually do make a difference in some people’s lives. Unfortunately all this help is so often laced with control and fear. Sadly the “cure” given by the church turns out to be worse than the disease.
I am no longer a believer. I don’t believe in Heaven. I don’t believe in Hell. There is no devil and if there is a higher power, I very much doubt he is even remotely like the entity described througout the Bible as “Jehovah”, “God” the creator of heaven and earth.
Sadly thousands of people are caught up in world of religion and Christian experience that is no more than manipulation and control designed to get their money and support. Organisations that exist to get support so they can keep existing and feed the ego’s of those who run them.
I am a happy person with a great life! I don’t feel guilty any more! Like the old hymn says “I once was blind, but now I see!”
I hope this blog helps others see the light too!
As a Charismatic/Pentecostal Bible teacher and pastor for many years, I preached a hard gospel. I subscribed to the belief that the only way to heaven was through confession and belief that Jesus is the son of God.
I preached that the road to salvation was narrow and the way to destruction broad. I preached that with 2 rusty nails and a wooden plank, Jesus built a bridge across the gap between heaven and hell. I was passionate, I was focussed and single minded in my belief that not only was there a God and a devil, there was a heaven and hell. Those who believed in Jesus went to heaven and those who did not, went to hell.
I believed that the Bible was the inspired word of God. It was factual and absolute.
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: I naively believed and taught that the word of God (the Bible) was infallible, inspired by God and 100% correct.
I went through a stage of questioning my beliefs, what is the purpose of the church?, what is the end result of my beliefs? Why does God answer the prayers of some and not others?
I now no longer question these things. I know that God, the story of Jesus, the acts of the apostles and the stories told in the Bible are just that… stories.
Stories that have been passed down from all different cultures and religions that existed long before the time of Jesus. Stories that have been changed and manipulated to serve those in power to keep the populace controlled and living in fear.
This brings us to the ultimate question… Who created whom? ”Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”
Romans 12:2
You could interpret this verse as: “Don’t accept scientific, factual or rational information from human sources, but let your mind be changed so you believe everything the “word of God”, the bible says instead”
.
.
The creation story as recorded in the book of Genesis is not unique! A similar creation myth can be found in almost every human culture. These myths take a similar form; a supernatural, all powerful being created the world and all life on earth. Almost all these creation stories predate the Genesis version by many thousands of years!
Primitive inhabitants from all parts of the globe including the Australian aboriginals, African tribes, the Aztec of South America, North American Indians and Eskimos all have creation mythology as a central part of their religious beliefs. These beliefs date from a time period many thousands of years before the Bible was even written.
Perhaps the Genesis account of creation came from these stories, passed down generation to generation and eventually a written account of it was made. This would lead us to conclude that the account we have in the Bible is simply a myth. A myth created by simple minded people who desperately wanted to believe in something other than their own existence.
Death is a subject that dominates all religions. Life after death is a concept we would all dearly love to cling to. By thinking there is a god who created humanity and that this god provides for us after we die is a comforting one. Certainly early humans would have been eager to believe and propagate such stories!
The Bible account of creation, that God created the world in six days and then rested is not a fact. It is fiction. The genesis account of humanity and its generational accounting of humanity from Adam to Jesus contains approximately 4000 years of human history. Considering that Jesus apparently existed 2000 years ago, this would place the creation of our world roughly 6000 years ago. Our world and the life that exists and once existed in it are far older than 6000 years!
Of course today, due to carbon dating methods, archeology and scientific research we know that humanity in its current form has existed on the earth for more than 200,000 years. That is a fact.
In response to this overwhelming factual evidence, Bible scholars have, of course, started to back peddle on their staunch “If the bible says it I believe it” stand! Apparently they now believe that one “day” in the creation story could be “1000 years” or even a million years….
Hmnnn, does it seem strange to you that the God of the universe can’t effectively communicate to humanity an accurate time frame for creation?
The overall conclusion is this: Man wrote the Bible account of creation. It was not “divinely inspired”, it was based on the mythological beliefs of humanity at the time. We live in a world where scientific research has superseded these beliefs. Sadly much of humanity would rather cling dogmatically to an outdated belief system.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with you or anyone else believing in God, heaven, hell, life after death – you can believe whatever you like! The problem is when you pass off as FACT something that is simply a belief. Christian leaders then take this belief, which they now state as factual and use it to control and manipulate children, families and loved ones.
The end result of this manipulation of the masses has, sadly, too often ended with bigotry, judgemental attitudes, murder, guilt, oppression and fear!
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http://expastor.blogspot.com/
Husbands’ and Wives’ perceptions of each other – Smile for a While
It starts off with stars in our eyes and pure bliss. However, after the ‘new’ wears off, we begin to make assessments about our spouse’s emotions; whether true or false, we form our own perceptions of what mood he or she is in. Here are two pie charts that illustrate the point.
A Pastor, a husband, a bible school teacher. Now I am not. What events caused the loss of my faith. – Read with Open Mind!
A Pastor, a husband, a bible school teacher. Now I am not. What events caused the loss of my faith. What were the first steps that lead me to make such a change? Read on!
I grew up in a devout penticostal / Charismatic Christian home. The son of a pastor, I endured the attention and expectations of the large congregation. Obviously the pressure was there from a young age to go into the ministry myself.
Our family life totally revolved around church. We went to church every Sunday and attended the many weekly meetings and conferences. My youth was spent living in a “fish bowl” of christianity. I had to look and act the part of a good Christian boy. It was actually a part I played well and enjoyed greatly.
As a teenager, I worked in the Youth department and eventually became a youth leader in the church. If you have been involved in the charismatic movement you will know that the whole experience is exciting and for the most part wholesome and fun. I certainly don’t have any regrets about my youth and upbringing. It was fun and something that I was totally immersed in.
After leaving High School, I felt the “call of God” to go to bible school and train to be a pastor myself. After attending Bible School I left to pioneer my own church. The church grew and soon became a well known establishment in the charismatic community.
I loved preaching and enjoyed the power I felt it gave me week after week. After several years I started preaching overseas and became a very popular preacher, I wrote several books and released selected preaching series on DVD and CD. I was being invited to bigger and bigger conferences and worked hard at developing my ministry and popularity. All of this sold more books and CD’s and further increased the demands on me to preach a certain message and live a particular lifestyle.
I remember one night after a particularly “wild” church meeting I went back to my hotel and thought about my life. What was I really accomplishing? What change was I really making to other people’s lives? It seemed that I was getting paid a lot of money to entertain the crowds and increase the popularity of the pastors who ran the churches I preached in. I was a paid performer who used hype, enthusiasm, guilt and fear to control the way people lived, ensured that they supported the church with their hard earned money and time.
I felt used. I felt like I was prostituting my “god given” talents and abilities.
My journey out of the ministry and Christianity was not a sudden one. It took several years of evaluation, change and personal development.
Today I look back at all this without regret, I admire the pastors who work tirelessly to help marriages and young people. Those who’s hearts are right and actually do make a difference in some people’s lives. Unfortunately all this help is so often laced with control and fear. Sadly the “cure” given by the church turns out to be worse than the disease.
I am no longer a believer. I don’t believe in Heaven. I don’t believe in Hell. There is no devil and if there is a higher power, I very much doubt he is even remotely like the entity described througout the Bible as “Jehovah”, “God” the creator of heaven and earth.
Sadly thousands of people are caught up in world of religion and Christian experience that is no more than manipulation and control designed to get their money and support. Organisations that exist to get support so they can keep existing and feed the ego’s of those who run them.
I am a happy person with a great life! I don’t feel guilty any more! Like the old hymn says “I once was blind, but now I see!”
I hope this blog helps others see the light too!
As a Charismatic/Pentecostal Bible teacher and pastor for many years, I preached a hard gospel. I subscribed to the belief that the only way to heaven was through confession and belief that Jesus is the son of God.
I preached that the road to salvation was narrow and the way to destruction broad. I preached that with 2 rusty nails and a wooden plank, Jesus built a bridge across the gap between heaven and hell. I was passionate, I was focussed and single minded in my belief that not only was there a God and a devil, there was a heaven and hell. Those who believed in Jesus went to heaven and those who did not, went to hell.
I believed that the Bible was the inspired word of God. It was factual and absolute.
2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: I naively believed and taught that the word of God (the Bible) was infallible, inspired by God and 100% correct.
I went through a stage of questioning my beliefs, what is the purpose of the church?, what is the end result of my beliefs? Why does God answer the prayers of some and not others?
I now no longer question these things. I know that God, the story of Jesus, the acts of the apostles and the stories told in the Bible are just that… stories.
Stories that have been passed down from all different cultures and religions that existed long before the time of Jesus. Stories that have been changed and manipulated to serve those in power to keep the populace controlled and living in fear.
This brings us to the ultimate question… Who created whom? ”Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”
Romans 12:2
You could interpret this verse as: “Don’t accept scientific, factual or rational information from human sources, but let your mind be changed so you believe everything the “word of God”, the bible says instead”
.
The creation story as recorded in the book of Genesis is not unique! A similar creation myth can be found in almost every human culture. These myths take a similar form; a supernatural, all powerful being created the world and all life on earth. Almost all these creation stories predate the Genesis version by many thousands of years!
Primitive inhabitants from all parts of the globe including the Australian aboriginals, African tribes, the Aztec of South America, North American Indians and Eskimos all have creation mythology as a central part of their religious beliefs. These beliefs date from a time period many thousands of years before the Bible was even written.
Perhaps the Genesis account of creation came from these stories, passed down generation to generation and eventually a written account of it was made. This would lead us to conclude that the account we have in the Bible is simply a myth. A myth created by simple minded people who desperately wanted to believe in something other than their own existence.
Death is a subject that dominates all religions. Life after death is a concept we would all dearly love to cling to. By thinking there is a god who created humanity and that this god provides for us after we die is a comforting one. Certainly early humans would have been eager to believe and propagate such stories!
The Bible account of creation, that God created the world in six days and then rested is not a fact. It is fiction. The genesis account of humanity and its generational accounting of humanity from Adam to Jesus contains approximately 4000 years of human history. Considering that Jesus apparently existed 2000 years ago, this would place the creation of our world roughly 6000 years ago. Our world and the life that exists and once existed in it are far older than 6000 years!
Of course today, due to carbon dating methods, archeology and scientific research we know that humanity in its current form has existed on the earth for more than 200,000 years. That is a fact.
In response to this overwhelming factual evidence, Bible scholars have, of course, started to back peddle on their staunch “If the bible says it I believe it” stand! Apparently they now believe that one “day” in the creation story could be “1000 years” or even a million years….
Hmnnn, does it seem strange to you that the God of the universe can’t effectively communicate to humanity an accurate time frame for creation?
The overall conclusion is this: Man wrote the Bible account of creation. It was not “divinely inspired”, it was based on the mythological beliefs of humanity at the time. We live in a world where scientific research has superseded these beliefs. Sadly much of humanity would rather cling dogmatically to an outdated belief system.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with you or anyone else believing in God, heaven, hell, life after death – you can believe whatever you like! The problem is when you pass off as FACT something that is simply a belief. Christian leaders then take this belief, which they now state as factual and use it to control and manipulate children, families and loved ones.
The end result of this manipulation of the masses has, sadly, too often ended with bigotry, judgemental attitudes, murder, guilt, oppression and fear!
http://expastor.blogspot.com/
