08.04.08
Posted in articles, stories at 10:35 pm by MPJ
In the last post, I wrote about Lon Solomon, pastor of the McLean Bible Church, a 10,000 member non-denominational mega-church in my area. The type of preaching he does, on the radio no less, is typical of the Faithful or Stage Two religion. It happens that on one of his several websites, we find his conversion story, as told my him. You can listen to it in the original if you want, but it is sixty minutes long: http://www.mcleanbible.org/media_player.asp?messageID=961. He is an amusing speaker so if you have the time, do click on that link.
Anyway, Lon grew up in a Jewish household where they went through the motions of following the Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
04.20.08
Posted in stories at 8:16 pm by MPJ
This week this story came in from a person in the United States and I am one hundred percent sure this person belongs in our “Mystic” group. He claims he never went through any of the stages and started out at the Mystic level as a child. This may well be the case. However, even though his story shows no progression through any stages, it certainly does give us a clear idea of how a mystic approaches spiritual concerns.
__________________________
Dear Ms. Johnston,
I just came across your website today via a Google search. FYI, your sight
comes up #1 for the search [temperament Fowler faith] not [Christian].
Just from this search you may be able to tell something about me, but of
course, I am writing to tell you my story, which I believe Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
02.05.08
Posted in stories at 8:36 pm by MPJ
Leaving the Church
The hardest thing I’ve ever done was to leave the church I loved and accept an existence with no god and no eternity.For my entire life, until I was a mother, I had no doubts that I was a member of the one and only true Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
12.13.07
Posted in stories at 9:06 pm by MPJ
I’m a 26 year old recently-deconverted Christian (and no, Dawkins, Harris, nor Hitchens were responsible). I’ve been checking some of the stories other people have been posting about their deconversions (on another site) and I can see many are similar to mine. Some of this may be rehashed variants of other people’s stories but may be unique in other ways, so enjoy!The best way I can describe my deconversion from Christianity is to parallel it to Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
12.09.07
Posted in stories at 9:35 am by MPJ
I feel as though I have come to three different belief systems in my life.
The first was quite natural. As a child going to a revival in our Southern Baptist church, I felt a “tug” to go Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
11.20.07
Posted in stories at 12:07 pm by MPJ
As far back as I can remember I always knew there was a God. Raised as a Roman Catholic and attending parochial school all of my life, religion was a major part of my education. I not only learned about God, but also about his mother Mary, and all of the saints. Our day started with prayer, and then our first class was Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
11.12.07
Posted in stories at 6:16 pm by MPJ
David L. Allen says:
I was raised Roman Catholic. Not the CEO type (Christmas and Easter Only), but the every Sunday and all Holy days type and I attended Catholic School. At that time, in my world, there were only two types of people, Catholics and Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
11.07.07
Posted in stories at 8:00 am by MPJ
Written by Beth Cortez-Neavel
This story previously published
http://www25.uua.org/YRUU/synapse/2006-2/index.html
It was winter time, and my mother had arranged for my younger sister and me to travel to Denver, Colorado and on to Boulder to visit with her Aunt Barbara and Uncle Tom. Barb and Tom had a son and daughter, my mother’s cousins, a woman named Tamara and a young man named Joshua; aged twenty-seven and twenty-five respectively. All four of this lively family
Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
10.25.07
Posted in stories at 7:52 pm by MPJ
By Judith Beckman - author of “What Price Priesthood?”
Don’t get me wrong! I’m very thankful that God chose me to be born to a Catholic father who adhered to strict Catholic doctrine and made sure that all his children were baptized and raised in the Catholic church. It was not an issue of whether or not we would go to church, just like it was not an issue of whether or not we would eat three meals a day. Going to church was an essential part of living. Thanks to my father’s religious values I started learning Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
10.23.07
Posted in stories at 4:32 pm by MPJ
My women’s group, The Daughters of EOS, was on it’s annual getaway, this one at Sea Ranch. We were six that weekend, settling into an afternoon stroll along the high path above the rocks, curving toward the shore. My partner Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
« Previous entries