This blog is for the silenced, the marginalized, and the victims of the many types of abuse that the leadership and members of Liberty Church in O'Fallon Missouri have inflicted on their members and any who opposed their love for control. These are the stories of the witnesses:
*I will continue posting stories tomorrow, this was just on my mind.
My Thoughts
"Can I be real and vulnerable with you all? I am an atheist. This is Peter, you can read my story that went up a week or so ago. Being called back to help light up the darkness of Liberty has been hard. It means i have to be around many christians all saying their copyrighted sappy phrases of how Jesus is loving and that not all churches are as bad as Liberty. Thats not easy for me.
I want to quickly state the non-emotional reasons I don't believe. There is no evidence of who the authors of the gospels are. We have no original manuscripts, only copies and shreds of copies of parts of the new testament. We have to trust the word of Paul, murderer/pharisaical raised Jew who had a vision that no one else could verify and then taught exact doctrines on issues Jesus was never recorded talking about. The bible itself being compiled many decades after the events and the politics that went into adding and editing the many religious documents before it was eventually compiled. The fact that christians today pick the version of the edited english bible that was translated from greek, about the words of their god who spoke aramaic, and then go to the brand/denomination of church that best suits their many preferences. Then they have the audacity to claim to know exactly what a god said who they have to have faith to believe in, says and feels about everything. This seems insane to me.
Now i want to address all of you who felt the need to correct, defend yourself/god, or debate me. Why? Why do I need to believe like you? Why can't you see this as a wake up call to truly live out your beliefs? It is just too convenient to claim that the church is a hospital for sinners and not a museum for the saints. You are basically saying that no matter how bad you violate the teachings of your own faith, you will still be fine. That you can claim to have the ultimate standard and challenge others with a faith that allows you to be a hypocrite and get away with it.
You see, David Vaughan, Mike Bond, Greg Tyler, Dan Benson, Justus Witty, etc. all firmly believe that their beliefs give them the right to teach and control others. That their intentions justify their loving power grab. They do not care how much damage they do to others as long as they can control how people live for as long as possible. Out of love, naturally.
There are lasting consequences to what they and others have done. Because of them I lost contact with my mom for over ten years. My dad was allowed to abuse me. I lost my faith and many friends. Other christians are quick to say that not all christians and churches are like that and that god isn't like his people. But they are not quick to be what they claim.
They say their god forgives and yet they do will not talk to any of us that they hurt. They claim to have the very son of god living in their hearts and yet they don't support the homeless, the refugee, the oppressed, the abused. They claim that their god changed their hearts and yet they will abandon and ostracize others who marry and be friends with those they do not approve of. I could go on. I see no empirical evidence to say there is a god. And no, a subjective, biased, and emotional experience is not proof. When there is no evidence, and the people themselves merely pick the flavor of christianity they like and call it truth and then use it to say they can determine what is factual, is ridiculous to me.
Liberty hasn't contacted us. I am an atheist not because I want to live my life my own way without consequences. Its because it doesn't make sense. People like me, we are watching. Don't try to evangelize me or prove how well you have studied the bible. LIVE it and then let those of us who don't believe see that there might be something to what you believe. I am trying to expose the truth about Liberty because of their continued abuses, because it is right. Many claim that we should only expose them in the "right way". They also claim to have Jesus in their hearts. From what I have studied about Jesus, the guy who supposedly spent all his time calling out the religious leaders and not focusing on the politics of the day (take note of that conservatives), he would be whipping out the members at Liberty right now. It sounds stupid, but its time to bring back What Would Jesus Do. Would he ignore us, mock, be hypocritical, and protect a religious hierarchy that he never called for (we are all equal members of one body supposedly)? Or would he open the doors, live what he preached, and stop wasting so much time trying to argue and evangelize people into conformity? You decide, just don't try to save me. Lead by example."
*I will continue posting stories tomorrow, this was just on my mind.
My Thoughts
"Can I be real and vulnerable with you all? I am an atheist. This is Peter, you can read my story that went up a week or so ago. Being called back to help light up the darkness of Liberty has been hard. It means i have to be around many christians all saying their copyrighted sappy phrases of how Jesus is loving and that not all churches are as bad as Liberty. Thats not easy for me.
I want to quickly state the non-emotional reasons I don't believe. There is no evidence of who the authors of the gospels are. We have no original manuscripts, only copies and shreds of copies of parts of the new testament. We have to trust the word of Paul, murderer/pharisaical raised Jew who had a vision that no one else could verify and then taught exact doctrines on issues Jesus was never recorded talking about. The bible itself being compiled many decades after the events and the politics that went into adding and editing the many religious documents before it was eventually compiled. The fact that christians today pick the version of the edited english bible that was translated from greek, about the words of their god who spoke aramaic, and then go to the brand/denomination of church that best suits their many preferences. Then they have the audacity to claim to know exactly what a god said who they have to have faith to believe in, says and feels about everything. This seems insane to me.
Now i want to address all of you who felt the need to correct, defend yourself/god, or debate me. Why? Why do I need to believe like you? Why can't you see this as a wake up call to truly live out your beliefs? It is just too convenient to claim that the church is a hospital for sinners and not a museum for the saints. You are basically saying that no matter how bad you violate the teachings of your own faith, you will still be fine. That you can claim to have the ultimate standard and challenge others with a faith that allows you to be a hypocrite and get away with it.
You see, David Vaughan, Mike Bond, Greg Tyler, Dan Benson, Justus Witty, etc. all firmly believe that their beliefs give them the right to teach and control others. That their intentions justify their loving power grab. They do not care how much damage they do to others as long as they can control how people live for as long as possible. Out of love, naturally.
There are lasting consequences to what they and others have done. Because of them I lost contact with my mom for over ten years. My dad was allowed to abuse me. I lost my faith and many friends. Other christians are quick to say that not all christians and churches are like that and that god isn't like his people. But they are not quick to be what they claim.
They say their god forgives and yet they do will not talk to any of us that they hurt. They claim to have the very son of god living in their hearts and yet they don't support the homeless, the refugee, the oppressed, the abused. They claim that their god changed their hearts and yet they will abandon and ostracize others who marry and be friends with those they do not approve of. I could go on. I see no empirical evidence to say there is a god. And no, a subjective, biased, and emotional experience is not proof. When there is no evidence, and the people themselves merely pick the flavor of christianity they like and call it truth and then use it to say they can determine what is factual, is ridiculous to me.
Liberty hasn't contacted us. I am an atheist not because I want to live my life my own way without consequences. Its because it doesn't make sense. People like me, we are watching. Don't try to evangelize me or prove how well you have studied the bible. LIVE it and then let those of us who don't believe see that there might be something to what you believe. I am trying to expose the truth about Liberty because of their continued abuses, because it is right. Many claim that we should only expose them in the "right way". They also claim to have Jesus in their hearts. From what I have studied about Jesus, the guy who supposedly spent all his time calling out the religious leaders and not focusing on the politics of the day (take note of that conservatives), he would be whipping out the members at Liberty right now. It sounds stupid, but its time to bring back What Would Jesus Do. Would he ignore us, mock, be hypocritical, and protect a religious hierarchy that he never called for (we are all equal members of one body supposedly)? Or would he open the doors, live what he preached, and stop wasting so much time trying to argue and evangelize people into conformity? You decide, just don't try to save me. Lead by example."
I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ. -Gandhi
ReplyDeleteI like your Christ; I do not like your Christians, they are so unlike your Christ. -Gandhi
ReplyDeleteLove that quote Sharon! Peter thank you for sharing this. It has been painful to watch you re-go through this again. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. It is ALWAYS okay that we don't have the exact same beliefs. I know we were taught at Liberty that we had to, but we're free of that now. I celebrate that you have choice now. It was always supposed to be that way.
ReplyDelete