Wednesday, October 15, 2008

My Entry

Ray Comfort of bannana fame has a contest.
I won't be posting for a few days (I will be at the "Deeper" conference in Georgia). So I have a proposal for atheists. Write a 200 words or less article called "Why I don't Believe in God."

The winner will get $100 and get published (I will be the judge), runners up and other thought-provoking articles will also get published, along with my rebuttal. Contest closes Monday 20th, October, 2008.
Two-hundred words ain't a lot! I don't know how many words I have, but here's my entry.
I am an ex-christian. My father is a fundamentalist pastor. I was taught at a young age about Jesus, God, Heaven and Hell. At the age of five, I asked Jesus to come into my heart. Maybe, I did it because I was scared. But, I do know that I was sincere. How can a five-year-old not be sincere? Later in life, I rededicated my life to God. Later still, I rededicated my life again. I was very sincere. Sincere enough to read the bible.

I read the bible. I read every word. The further I got into the book, the less I believed. When I got to Deuteronomy 21:18-21, my belief was out the door, never to return. I still finished the bible, but I read it a little more objectively than I used to.

When I was a teenager, I was coping with a mental illness. Life was a living Hell for my Dad during that period. I didn't listen to him. I was not rational. I was rebellious. When I read Deuteronomy 21:18-21 later in life, I couldn't believe what my holy book was telling me. According to God, my Dad should have had me killed! Stoned to death! All because I had a few neurons misfiring. As long as that verse is in the bible, I will never accept it as the inerrant word of God.
I'm not sure I like the idea that a misogynist literalist will be judging my essay by his own merits, but it's just a few hundred words. If I win, the money ($100! Woo Hoo!) will go the The Fayetteville Freethinkers.

5 comments:

Robert Madewell said...

The word count is 230.

Maybe, he'll accept it anyways.

fatblue said...

Good luck!

Pvblivs said...

     Well, there don't seem to be too many people that took Ray's bait for this one, so you might still win.

Robert Madewell said...

Well, I didn't win. Boo Hoo!

Anonymous said...

It was a good effort, though.