HARMONIC ATHEIST - Matthew Distefano: "I can't worship that god any longer."

Описание: Today I spoke with Matthew Distefano, a hip-hop artist, author, podcaster at the "Heretic Happy Hour" and "All Set Free," and a regular contributor for the blog "Unfundamentalist Christians."

We chatted briefly about his deconversion from Christianity, touching on many topics, including:

• The fear of being left behind during the Rapture and of committing the unpardonable sin.
• Contemplating the implications and dynamics of hell/eternal conscious torment.
• Struggling with defining god as "good" if he forces eternal hell on sinners, including the horrors of election, where god picks some of his children to eternal glory and some to eternal punishment.
• The experiential absurdities of Christian beliefs.
• How people craft their theology based on false assumptions.
• Realizing that other people's theologies have no power over us.
• Deciding that you can't let ideas that you find harmful go unaddressed.
• The grief cycle and raw emotions of deconstruction.
• Working through the shunning process that occurs when you leave your prior faith.
• Why some people "look behind the curtain," and others simply refuse to.
• Admitting that you can't just choose to believe something that you find unbelievable.
• How you can't go back, and "unsee what you've seen," once you've truly deconstructed.
• The dynamics of Christians disowning their loved ones who deconstruct/deconvert, and not digging into the reasons they left.
• Understanding Girard's mimetic theory about why ancient cultures were ritualistic and sacrificial.
• How Protestant Christianity does not teach the history of the development of Christianity.
• How understanding the "pagan" parallels and non-Biblical sources of the Bible stories helps us to deconstruct and take more of a historian's perspective.
• Learning to live in the moment to live out your humanness, regardless of your beliefs.


Many thanks to Matthew for sharing his story and perspectives with us today, and for all that he does for the community!


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Visit Matthew's website:
allsetfree.com

Find Matthew's books here:
https://www.amazon.com/Matthew-J-Dist...

Check out the Heretic Happy Hour podcast:
heretichappyhour.com

Visit the Unfundamentalist Christians blog:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/unfunda...


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--Tim

  / harmonicatheist