Have The Courage To Question and Look Within

A Seventh-Day Adventist Pastor Becomes An Atheist

This holiday season NPR released the short story of “After Year Of Atheism, Former Pastor: ‘I Don’t Think God Exists“. A tale of former Seventh-Day Adventist pastor Ryan Bell making an unusual New Year’s resolution for 2014: to live for one year without God.

Of course the timing of the story is designed to inflame emotions of those with faith into reading the article. While many are celebrating their Christian beliefs, anything that contradicts that will of course draw someone in and get them to at least read the article.

I really get annoyed with that kind of psychological manipulation. If your story has value, then it should hold true regardless of what time of the year it is. But that’s not what I want to talk about here.

I’ve come across this article three times in two days. On Twitter through NPR, on FB and as a share from a family member I have great respect for. It was after this third encounter I decided to read the article and find out what this is all about.

My first reaction to the headline was:
If that’s all it took for him to review and question his beliefs, then I doubt the original dedication this pastor had to his religion. He sounds more like a follower than a leader. Easily swayed and lead down a path. A person who doesn’t think for himself, but follows what others tell him to believe. Then I read the short article and formed a more informed opinion.
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