Will you ever return to the Christadelphians?

By Jon Morgan

I have been asked by a number of Christadelphians whether I will ever return. Depending on how the question is asked, my answers have ranged from “I don’t see any path back” to “I don’t rule it out”. But I think it very unlikely that I will ever return to being a Christadelphian. Here’s why.

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Quote of the day

 "My true home is wherever the truth lies."

Rob Hyndman, former Christadelphian

Broadening your perspective

An important part of moving on from the Christadelphians is learning to see the community from an outsider's perspective. This includes understanding that the Christadelphian community is not an entirely unique phenomenon but forms part of a whole array of nonconformist movements that emerged around the same time and in a similar social-historical context.

Quote of the day

"There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty."

Bart D. Ehrman, Biblical scholar

Breaking free

Marlene Winell, a psychologist and former fundamentalist Christian who coined the term Religious Trauma Syndrome, has identified ten nine 'steps to recovery' from harmful religion. She has advice for each stage, some of which may be helpful to ex-Christadelphians or people considering leaving the community. Read the full article at Journey Free

Quote of the day

"Someone has somewhere commented on the fact that millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon."

Susan Ertz, British/American writer

Quote of the day

"Humans may crave absolute certainty; they may aspire to it; they may pretend, as partisans of certain religions do, to have attained it. But the history of science - by far the most successful claim to knowledge accessible to humans - teaches that the most we can hope for is successive improvement in our understanding, learning from our mistakes, an asymptotic approach to the Universe, but with the proviso that absolute certainty will always elude us."

From The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Quote of the day

"You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do."

Anne Lamott, American writer

Book review: 'In the Days of Rain' by Rebecca Stott

By Phynnodderee

Prowling round the religion section at my local library, I came across this book by a former member of the Exclusive Brethren and was instantly curious, as I wondered if this group had any similarities to the Christadelphians. I devoured it that evening in a single sitting.

The three gap theory

By Jon Morgan
 
As a believer, I found it difficult to address or dismiss intellectual arguments for God’s existence, even when I doubted his presence. Though over time I did reject some of the arguments, I never did a systematic evaluation. I think I was concerned about whether I would get stuck: What if I couldn’t dismiss the intellectual arguments, but they didn’t help me recover my lost confidence?

One of the things that helped most to evaluate those arguments was a theory that I imaginatively call the “three gap theory”. It showed me clearly why common intellectual arguments couldn’t provide me all the certainty I needed to remain a Christadelphian.

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The Balfour Declaration: 100 years on

By Jon Morgan

One hundred years ago today, the British Government issued the Balfour Declaration, a statement which supported “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. Christadelphians who expected the Jews to be supported by the British in a return to the land of Israel immediately seized on it, particularly since the British were advancing against the Ottoman Empire through Palestine. They have continued to view it as important, though I’m not sure how much effect it had on the formation of the state of Israel.

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Some book recommendations

By Jon Morgan

Recently, I put together a short list of books that had helped me when struggling with doubts, and that I wished I had read earlier.  They were:

• Why I Believed: Reflections of a Former Missionary (available online here)
• Unbelievable (available online here)
• Why Evolution is True
• Sapiens

For more information about how these books helped me, plus some fiction and a couple of other recommendations, see my original blog post.

But it got me thinking: I knew about all of these books because of recommendations by others (some of them on this site). And I'm sure that there are other helpful books that I'm not aware of.  So I thought I'd throw it open to discussion.

Are there any books that you would particularly recommend here?  Books that helped with dealing with doubt or with constructing a new worldview?  Please comment below.

Left the Christadelphians? You’re not alone

By Phynnodderee

When I left the Christadelphian community, I felt completely alone. I felt like the only person who had ever taken this step. I also found myself in the horrible predicament of having to rebuild my worldview almost from scratch. The purpose of this article is to reach out to people in the same situation. It is aimed at those who have recently left the Christadelphians and who are feeling disorientated or isolated as a result. Basically, it’s the kind of supportive advice I wish I could have received when I was going through that phase.

This article is based on my personal experience, so it might resonate with you or it might not. At the very least, I hope it reassures you that you aren’t alone and other people have gone through the process of adjusting to a new life outside the Christadelphians, and have emerged stronger on the other side.

Book review: Atheism for Dummies by Dale McGowan

By Phynnodderee

I spotted this book at my local library recently while I was looking for something else entirely. I found it so interesting that I decided to share this review with you.

Who’s the author?
Dale McGowan, an American atheist and humanist, who is a former music professor and now writer. He writes, blogs and runs workshops on non-religious parenting. You can read his blog at www.parentingbeyondbelief.com/blog.

What’s it about?
Atheism for Dummies (2013) is an introduction to atheism: what it is, what it isn’t, why so many people don’t believe in gods, the history of atheist thought and how it has developed over the millennia (yes, millennia – atheism is very old), and how atheists think, see the world and relate to religious people.

Tell me more…

Is Prayer Answered?

By Pansapien

I have heard Christadelphians assert that our prayers are answered in one of three ways; 'Yes', 'No' or 'Not yet'. I think this is an interesting manoeuvre for two reasons. Firstly, because it means that there is no evidence that can possibly be used to falsify this assertion - as a 'truth proposition' it is impossible to verify. And secondly, because if prayer didn't work we would expect to see these exact same outcomes. If the natural course of events were to play out then these are the only three possible options available.

Read the full article here

Jesus' trial and crucifixion

By Jon Morgan

I’ve talked about the resurrection narrative, and I’ve talked about the birth narrative, so now seems a good time to talk about the trial and crucifixion narrative. This is mostly for completeness: unlike the birth and resurrection, the stories contain few supernatural claims, and it doesn’t seem so surprising that someone claiming to be the Messiah and upsetting established authorities might end up being crucified.

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Was Jesus born in Bethlehem?

By Jon Morgan

A few days ago, I discussed a positive case for the resurrection story having grown over time. There is a similar case for Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem being a later addition, though it’s a lot simpler: Only Matthew and Luke make explicit claims about Jesus being born in Bethlehem, they have completely separate stories, and prophecy gives a good reason for them to want to claim a birth in Bethlehem.

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The resurrection: What evidence do we need?

By Jon Morgan

Editor's note: This article was written on April 16, 2017.

Today is Easter Sunday. A time when many Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For some, it is just a matter of faith: they are completely confident that their Lord was raised, and no evidence is required. For others, this is considered one of the strongest arguments for the truth of Christianity. In fact, some skeptics who have attempted to disprove it came to the conclusion the evidence is too strong, and became outspoken Christian apologists.

A few days ago, I questioned the argument that I considered the weakest: that 500 believers saw the resurrected Christ at one time. It was always my intention to go back and address the entire resurrection claim, and discuss why I don’t consider it compelling.

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The Six Day War: Fifty Years On

By Jon Morgan

Fifty years ago today, on the third day of the Six Day War, Israel captured the Wailing Wall, the Temple Mount, and the Old City of Jerusalem, giving them complete control of Jerusalem (which they retain to this day). At the start of the war, Israel’s existence had been threatened, but they came out of the war with a much firmer control of the entire area.

This may have been the high point of Christadelphian apocalyptic expectation. A mere 19 years before, Israel had returned to their land, and now with Jerusalem captured the time of the Gentiles was fulfilled. Everything was in readiness for Christ’s return, which must surely happen soon. There was a sudden spike in numbers of baptisms as young people rushed to make sure they would not miss out.

However, all these events happened long before I was born, and fifty years on there is still no return.

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The State Of Israel - God's Witness?

From pansapien

People often cite the Jews living in the land of Israel as confirmation of the Bible record and God’s hand at work. But this doesn't prove a causal relationship. There are other equally plausible explanations for the Jewish people returning to their ancient land.

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