Following years of entrapment in a Nineteenth Century British religion, started by a slave owning medical doctor, based on a book written by Iron Age scribes in Babylonian captivity in the Seventh Century BCE; Christadelphians are finally waking up to the reality that they can escape and return to live normal lives in society.
On his Internet blog, recently resigned Brother Rob Hyndman has written:
"I don’t believe the Bible is inspired by God. I am not even sure there is a God. Perhaps there is, but he is not who I once thought he was."
His change of heart aligns him with hundreds of other Christadelphians who have applied rational thinking to re-examine the evidence for their faith and found it to be missing.
The endless Christadelphian sanctimonious platitudes, coupled with rampant hypocrisy, the anti-science, anti-evolutionary rhetoric, the ongoing failure of Bible prophecy to make any sense, the corrupt and perverted morality of the Bible, the impossibility of Biblical inspiration in a book that is riddled with mistakes, contradictions and irrelevant nonsense. The Biblical superstitions about the devil and demons, a talking snake, an ass that could talk, a Sun that stood still in the sky, an innocent young girl offered as a burnt offering to God, a carpenter's son who could walk on water and predicted his imminent return to rule which never happened. All of this and ten thousand more pieces of evidence that the Bible is bunk are convincing Christadelphians all over the world that the game is up. The religion is finished.
More resignations are in the pipeline and early indications are that Rob's escape to reality, reason and rational thinking has had a major impact on wavering Christadelphians; especially the young people who are looking for leadership in a religion that has lost its way.
The Ex-Christadelphian movement is growing in strength and we can now offer a very real alternative to a lifetime in a dead and irrelevant religion. We will continue to grow and we will not give up our efforts to free our beloved brethren and sisters from the prison camp of irrational thinking.
"The easiest person to fool is yourself" and the time has come for us all to stop fooling ourselves. This mistaken religion must end and it must end quickly; so that we do not continue to perpetuate our error.
Ex-Christadelphian brethren and sisters are waiting for Christadelphians with welcoming arms outstretched. We now have talented and strong leadership, multiple websites for you to educate yourselves, a support group for fellowship and friendship, functions for you to attend and a growing infrastructure that one day will replace Christadelphianism. Above all we have rational thinking and truth on our side. We can't lose this fight for your freedom and we will not lose it.
Run for your lives Christadelphians and join us as we renew the search for all that is true and good in this wondrous universe.
Editor's Note: The recent accusation that we are "exploiting" Rob Hyndman's resignation and that it is an "invasion of his privacy" is nonsense from Christadelphians who want this matter covered up.
Rob has exploited the matter himself by declaring on the Internet his rejection of Christadelphian belief for the whole world to read; he even invited comments. We are merely commenting on what he has himself written in the public domain and drawing our own conclusions on the matter. This is of interest to a great many people who need to know what has happened.
If the Pope resigned and declared his rejection of the Catholic religion on his Internet blog, it would not be an invasion of his privacy for the media to pick up on the sensational news.
The resignation and rejection of his previous religious beliefs by a leading Christadelphian intellectual is a sensation, in a usually boring and uneventful religion.
Run for your lives Christadelphians and join us as we renew the search for all that is true and good in this wondrous universe.
Editor's Note: The recent accusation that we are "exploiting" Rob Hyndman's resignation and that it is an "invasion of his privacy" is nonsense from Christadelphians who want this matter covered up.
Rob has exploited the matter himself by declaring on the Internet his rejection of Christadelphian belief for the whole world to read; he even invited comments. We are merely commenting on what he has himself written in the public domain and drawing our own conclusions on the matter. This is of interest to a great many people who need to know what has happened.
If the Pope resigned and declared his rejection of the Catholic religion on his Internet blog, it would not be an invasion of his privacy for the media to pick up on the sensational news.
The resignation and rejection of his previous religious beliefs by a leading Christadelphian intellectual is a sensation, in a usually boring and uneventful religion.
I'm with you, buddy. My only question is "What took you so long?"
ReplyDeleteDiane, have you read Rob's book?
ReplyDeleteRob's book is available online. It's linked at the top left.
ReplyDeleteI also notice that his blog post linked here no longer exists, but it is in chapter 2 of the book: https://robjhyndman.com/unbelievable/ch2.html
Jon, the link worked for me, I had time to read it yesterday, and, at least superficially, it answers Diane's question.
DeleteI say superficially because on reading it again, many years after it was published, and being older and more cynical than ever, as well as having watched the carry on in my former Christadelphian family over those years, I am not so sure that Rob is telling the truth about his deconversion, or if he is just presenting a palatable, after the fact set of reasons that fit.
Rob was Christian (Christadelphian), for 30 years, before this dawned upon him:
"In the last couple of years I’ve become much more conscious of how weird our community is, and how many established practices have no biblical basis.
That led me to start thinking about what was biblical, and what would a biblical church look like.
In the process, I started to think about inspiration, because it wasn’t clear that there was a biblical mandate for a church at all."
It cannot be only me that for this to be the case in somebody clever enough to work his way up to be a university professor, seems a little unlikely. In those 30 years did he really never notice just how strangely different his "community" was, to his day to day dealing with, and his climb within his academic community were? Likewise, he says this:
"Almost all of my family and friends are Christadelphians. Almost all of my social activities have been with Christadelphians.
I have spent a couple of weeks every year attending, and often speaking at, Christadelphian camps and Bible schools.
While I would like to think that my friends will remain my friends, the reality is that Christadelphians spend an enormous amount of time together,
making it difficult to retain friendships with “outsiders”."
It beggars belief that he stayed this isolated, and yet was able to climb the competitive and slippery academic pole to the level he did, the old phrase "it's not what you know, it is who you know", comes to mind.
My guess is that perhaps his deconversion had more to do with the religion becoming a hinderance to career progression, than it did with questioning religious beliefs, but that is of course mere speculation on my part, based on my having seen how willing Christadelphians are to suspend their beliefs temporarily if a lucrative opportunity arises that requires their doing so.
Reading the book now, 12 years later, I am highly skeptical that it presents even an approximation to the truth.
Joseph, I was in the same ecclesia as Rob for many years, followed his Musings blog for the several years before that "End of Faith" post ended the blog, and have discussed some of it with him afterwards.
DeleteI'm not going to get into a lengthy back and forth on details of it, just say that with that background I find it completely credible.
If I might add my pennyworth, from my own experience I do think it is perfectly possible to be completely and consistently a fully paid up Christadelphian whilst pursuing education or a career. The outside influences bounce off one because they are only a small part of one`s life compared to the 24/7 involvement one is subject (willingly) to when in the bubble. Until . . . something causes the brake on one`s reasoning to loosen a little. This might take years before it happens.
DeleteMancott, I bow to Jon's more close up knowledge on this matter. However, it should, as you suggest (I think) serve as a warning to those either in the group, or being brought up in the group, that just because a "brother", "uncle" etc has a well paid and "successful" (choose your own definition of "successful") career, this does not in any way mean that what they spout from the platform has any quality or relevance whatsoever. and could well be just the result of inculcation from an early age, and the lack of an environment that challenges this.
DeleteI'd agree with that. I think it's often also true when speakers rely on their career - the classic being "See, we have a *scientist* who disagrees with evolution", and their professional qualifications have absolutely nothing to do with biology.
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