World Famous Comics: Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists
By: Dan Barker Publisher: Ulysses Press Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Ulysses Press Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 392 Publication Date: September 01, 2008
Product Description: After 19 years as an evangelical preacher, missionary, and Christian songwriter, Dan Barker 'threw out the bathwater and discovered there is no baby there.' Barker, who is now co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation (America's largest organization of atheists and agnostics), describes the intellectual and psychological path he followed in moving from fundamentalism to freethought. The four sections in Godless--Rejecting God, Why I Am An Atheist, What's Wrong With Christianity, and Life is Good!--include chapters on bible problems, the historicity of Jesus, morality, the Kalam Cosmological argument, the unbelievable resurrection, and much more. Barker relates the positive benefits from trusting in reason and human kindness instead of living in fear of false judgment and moral condemnation. Godless expands the story told in Dan's 1992 book, Losing Faith in Faith--the two books overlap about 20%--but a lot has happened in 16 years, and Dan updates the story with four new chapters, including 'The New Call' (lessons from the debate circuit), 'Adventures in Atheism,' and 'We Go To Washington' (FFRF's Supreme Court lawsuit, in which Dan was a plaintiff).
"The fool has said in his heart, there is no God." Psalm 14:1 Dan Barker was NEVER a born-again believer. When you are truly saved, no one can pluck from the Father's hand.
Your thirst for answers can only truly be quenched within the Bible. God's inspired, infalliable, and inerrant Word holds answers to scientific questions throughout. Besides creation, the Bible explains truths from the sciences of genetics, isotasy, agriculture, astronomy, paleontology anatomy, medicine, and many more! All of them thousands of years before man discovered them on their own.
The Bible tells us that we were created to give praise to our Heavenly Father. Once you realize that man is wretched and sinful and that only through Christ can we escape God's wrath on Judgement Day, then and only then can you be truly happy, secure in the knowledge of your eternal life.
So, what should a person do to get to Heaven? If you said, "There is no Heaven" or "You just have to live a good life",YOU ARE WRONG. Stay with me and find out why. Let's see if you've been a good person. Jesus said "Whoever looks with lust has committed adultery in their heart". Have you ever lusted? Have you hated anyone(committed murder in your heart)? Have you made a god in your mind to suit yourself(idolatry)? Have you used God's name in vain? Have you ever stolen anything regardless of value? If you have then you are a thief. If you have told just one lie, then you are a liar and CANNOT get into heaven. On Judgment Day you will be found guilty and end up in Hell forever. But that's not God's will. We broke his Law but because Jesus paid our fine by dying on the cross, God can forgive us. If you REPENTand trust the Savior, God will forgive your sins and grant you everlasting life. So confess your sins to God today, put your faith in Christ, and obey God. Read John 14:21
Best book on Christian to Atheist conversion This book is simply the best book ever on Christian to Atheist conversion. Many fundamentalists will not convert to rational thought on the basis of writings like Dawkins. I am not saying this book will instantly convert any fundamentalist to rational thought, but it is more likely to than many others. It is divided into two parts. There is the personal story of Dan Barker (which is truly amazing) and the reasons why Christianity is false. Barker presents the last part without insulting ridicule.
Finally a book that I can recommended to christians I have read dozens of books exposing the problems with christianity in search of a book that I could recommend to my family, all of whom are staunch christians. Many of the books out there are written by people that do not have a strong personal experience of christianity themselves and though they may be brilliant books, the christians I know could dismiss them all because the writers haven't "received the calling of the holy spirit". The few books that I have read on the subject that have been written by ex-christians may have excellent content but contain angry undertones which I know would turn the christian reader off.
Enter Dan Barker, a man who was a true believer who has escaped from the prison of christian thinking into the real world with an appreciation for the importance of genuine humanistic morality and the credibility and beauty of observable reality. He has a deep and thorough knowledge of the bible and has truly beheld the christian "experience" first hand. He cannot be accused of taking scripture out of context. He also knows much about the background of the various translations, including the original Hebrew and Greek.
I bought his previous book, "Losing Faith in Faith" hoping that it would be the book that I could pass to my family but though it had great content, I wished that it had been written as a single piece of work rather than a collection of essays and short articles.
In this new book, "Godless", he retells the best parts of "Losing Faith in Faith" as well as newer content and contains a greater emphasis on what I think is important for christians to understand about christianity. His writing was always very good, but 20+ years after his first book, it is even better and this time it is structured as a single, flowing work.
I have bought copies for my family and hope they will read this book with an open mind, if not to liberate themselves from christianity, then at least to understand that there are valid reasons for rejecting it and that life, truth and morality can be appreciated and enjoyed without religion.
good 'god'less Give it a try it is a good book, very informative and a bit witty. makes you think a bit deeper about life, the universe and... everything! as we all should.
Dan tells his story of how he began to doubt his faith From spreading the word of god as an ordained minister to speaking out against his existence as an atheist -- how does this happen? "Godless: How An Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists" tells the personal story of Dan Barker, who was once a respected preacher and highly supportive of the Christian religion. With an unwavering candor, Dan tells his story of how he began to doubt his faith and why he thinks so many continue Christians to believe. An iconoclastic and intriguing criticism of faith, "Godless" is worth consideration for both those who want a better understanding of religion as well as those once dedicated Christians who also are feeling doubt about their faith.
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