Verwandte Artikel zu I Sold My Soul on eBay: Viewing Faith through an Atheist'...

I Sold My Soul on eBay: Viewing Faith through an Atheist's Eyes - Softcover

Mehta, Hemant

 
9781400073474: I Sold My Soul on eBay: Viewing Faith through an Atheist's Eyes
Softcover
ISBN 10: 1400073472 ISBN 13: 9781400073474
Verlag: PRH Christian Publishing, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

Unique insights from an atheist’s Sunday-morning odyssey

When Hemant Mehta was a teenager he stopped believing in God, but he never lost his interest in religion. Mehta is “the eBay atheist,” the nonbeliever who auctioned off the opportunity for the winning bidder to send him to church. The auction winner was Jim Henderson, a former pastor and author of Evangelism Without Additives. Since then, Mehta has visited a variety of church services–posting his insightful critiques on the Internet and spawning a positive, ongoing dialogue between atheists and believers.

I Sold My Soul on eBay tells how and why Mehta became an atheist and features his latest church critiques, including descriptions of his visits to some of the best-known churches in the country. His observations will surprise and challenge you, revealing how the church comes across to those outside the faith. Who better than a nonbeliever to offer an eye-opening assessment of how the gospel is being presented–and the elements that enhance or detract from the presentation.

Mehta announced prior to his churchgoing odyssey that he would watch for any signs of God’s existence. After spending Sunday mornings in some of the nation’s leading churches, what happened to the man who sold his soul on eBay? Did attending church change his lack of belief? The answers can be found inside.

Die Inhaltsangabe kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Hemant Mehta is an honors graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he helped establish the organization Students WithOut Religious Dogma (SWORD). Mehta also is chair of the Secular Student Alliance’s board of directors. His story has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Seattle Times, the Village Voice, National Public Radio, and FOX News Channel, among other major news outlets. Currently, Mehta is working toward a masters degree in math education at DePaul University in Chicago.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Introduction
The Question of Faith
There once was a town that was the envy of all who lived outside it. The people in the town were happy, their businesses did well, and everyone was in good health. New residents arrived constantly, knowing they would be building their lives in a wonderful place. God was watching over the town.
One summer, however, things changed. Monsoons drenched the area, and most of the crops were washed away. Animals couldn’t find shelter from the continual rain, and they were dying along with the crops. The people became depressed as they lost their sources of food and income—and watched their family members fall ill. The times were so bad that an atheist in the town went out one night and painted his credo on the side of a prominent building:

G O D I S N O W H E R E

When the townspeople saw this, they wanted more than anything for the man to be proven wrong. But they struggled to mount a convincing counterargument. They had no reason to think God was still with them. If He were, wouldn’t the rain let up? They went on with their business, wading always through inches of water, thinking no one could help them. One day a wise monk visited the despondent community. He knew how beautiful the town had been, and he wondered what could have happened to
destroy everyone’s faith. He wanted to do something to restore the people’s hopeful outlook on life.
As the monk walked through the town, observing the devastation, he realized the difficulty of his task. He stopped townspeople and asked what they were thinking. They told him God had left their village, and there was no one who could help them. They had no choice but to succumb to the misery. The monk assured them their lives would get better, but his words were easy to dismiss.
Then the monk rounded a corner and saw the atheist’s message painted on the side of the building. Suddenly, he saw what had to be done. The next day, as the townspeople passed the building, they saw a slightly altered message. Only one diagonal line had been added, and yet it changed everything. The message now read:

G O D I S N O W / H E R E

The change in the town was dramatic and immediate. When the people realized God was still with them, they became optimistic again. Maybe God had just been testing them, and for a while they may have failed the test. But now they knew they could withstand anything with God’s help. The people realized their future was being looked after and their prayers would be answered. In no time at all, the town became prosperous again and the residents spread the word of God to every newcomer.

This story served as my introduction to the world of other religions. At the age of five, I knew very little about religion or God. But I did know one thing: anyone who believed in a faith different from that of my family was wrong. I don’t remember being taught that, I just picked it up indirectly from my parents and other adults who shared our religious beliefs. When my mom told me the story of the once-prosperous village, I don’t think she intended to criticize other belief systems. She just wanted me to understand that God was great and if I said my prayers, according to our religious beliefs, I would be in His good graces.
I could understand the wonderful, sanguine message that the power and reach of God were incredible. But recalling the story now, almost twenty years later, I can’t help but ask a number of questions: Where was this town? Why didn’t they arrest the guy who vandalized the building? Wouldn’t the monsoon rain wash away the freshly applied paint? And are you telling me that just one slash mark really changed everyone’s thinking? Such is the nature of a skeptical person. We don’t put our confidence in fables that are meant only to inspire us. However, when my mom first told me that story, I thought it was true. She didn’t issue a disclaimer that identified the story as fiction. Only after I began asking questions did the story begin to lose its credibility. And as I grew up, I heard other parables like this one from other religions, stories meant to teach moral lessons. While I understood them to be just lively fairy tales, I found that even adults believed them to be literally true, without bothering to raise the types of questions I had.
Why are people unwilling to examine and question their beliefs? I wondered. But such questions reflect who I am today, not me as a child. When I heard of the attitude change brought about by a simple punctuation mark, I welcomed the wisdom God brought, and I hoped I would be as blessed as the townspeople were whenever I went through a rough period. How horrible it must be to think God isn’t around! If only the people had held on to their faith from the start, they would’ve been able to make it through the time of despair much more easily. And I was saddened to learn that whoever these atheists were, they didn’t believe in God. I guess the story produced its intended effect, since these thoughts stayed with me for years. Amazingly, even though my parents raised me in the Jain faith, I didn’t recall my mom mentioning our religion in the story. As I talked more with people who were religious, I discovered that many of them had heard similar stories about atheists. In fact, many of the stories portrayed atheists in a more malicious light. It took another ten years, after I had become a teenager, before I realized the extent to which such prejudices and stereotypes colored the reputations of nonreligious people.
I have lived on both sides of the religion divide—first as a devout religious believer and, since age fourteen, as a person without religion. I am an atheist, but I don’t fit the common stereotype held by so many in the religious community. I am not angry with God, and I don’t want to rid the world of religion. In this book, as we talk about matters of belief and nonbelief, I hope you will think of me not simply as an atheist, but rather as a person with questions about faith, an openness to evidence that might contradict my current beliefs, and a curiosity about Christianity and its message. Please don’t assume I am the enemy of religious belief. I’m not trying to tear down anyone’s religion, and I don’t pretend to have all the answers.

By way of introduction, my name is Hemant, and I’m a friendly atheist. I’m serious when I say that in this book I’m going to do my best to help improve the way churches present the Christian message. I suspect a number of questions have popped into your mind already. Is he so naive that he believes religious people care what people like him think about Christianity? (I do think Christians care about how they present their message, and I would never consider that to be naiveté.) Why isn’t he capitalizing the words atheist and atheism? (Because atheism is not a religion, and atheists do not adhere to any religion. So I don’t capitalize the word as I would Methodist or Presbyterian.) How is his name pronounced? (I prefer HEH-mint.)
I agree that my assumption that committed Christians will listen to what a nonreligious person has to say about churches and the job they’re doing is a bit of a stretch. No athlete ever risks asking the opposing team’s captain for advice on running a particular play… Well, not unless there’s a hidden agenda,
right?
Honestly, I have no ulterior motive. In fact, coming from a religious background myself, one I will describe in chapter 2, I know how important a place of worship can be. The religious culture that centered on my Jain temple was a positive force in my life, and I always see how profoundly and positively religious...

„Über diesen Titel“ kann sich auf eine andere Ausgabe dieses Titels beziehen.

Verlag
PRH Christian Publishing
Erscheinungsdatum
2007
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
1400073472
ISBN 13 
9781400073474
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
224
Kontakt zum Hersteller
SC
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/

CL MODESTO LAFUENTE 41
Madrid
Madrid
Spanien