jesus Archives

5 Things Freethinkers Want Christians to Know

December 1, 2019January 6, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

Back in April, I had the pleasure of meeting Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Dan Barker. It was a fun evening consisting of a lecture on his newest book, Mere Morality, and a following book signing. At the event, there was a table where you could buy one of Barker’s books or pick up a copy of the FFRF’s periodical, Freethought Today. Also on the table were several “nontracts,” courtesy of the FFRF. Dan explained that if you’re familiar with the tracts that religious people tend to hand out, these are the same idea except… the opposite.

2 Easy Ways to Get into Hell

November 24, 2019January 6, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

Earlier this week, I saw a video from a Christian YouTuber, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I almost didn’t click on it, because I thought it would be the same old Christian talking points that we hear all the time. But I’m glad that I watched it, because I was unable to stop thinking about it for days after—not because I was persuaded by it, but because I felt that it got so many things wrong.

Book Review: Outgrowing God by Richard Dawkins

November 10, 2019January 6, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

One of the first things I did when I wanted to educate myself on atheism was read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Predictable, I know. I was a sophomore at the super-Christian, super-conservative Grove City College and all that I knew was that my professors hated Dawkins, so he must be doing something right. When I bought my own copy of The God Delusion, (the first book in my collection), I kept it hidden inside the cover of another, unsuspicious, book. I was still a closeted atheist at college, but more so to my Lutheran family at home.

9 Annoying Things Atheists Do

July 28, 2019January 18, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

Believe it or not, everyone has their faults—even atheists! I know, I’m shocked too. This week we are going to turn our attention away from creationists and humble ourselves with a little bit of atheist introspection. No one is perfect, and when it comes down to it, most of these points should just serve as a reminder to be a decent person, no matter what your beliefs. Regardless, here are nine things that some (not all) atheists do that they probably shouldn’t.

The Bunny Song

April 21, 2019January 18, 2022Rebekah Kohlhepp

For many of us who were raised Christian, among our favorite memories are those of watching VeggieTales from a VHS tape on a big clunky square TV screen. This was something I did a lot growing up in the 90’s and early 00’s. To be honest, I really enjoyed learning bible stories from talking and singing fruits and vegetables. I fondly remember so many of its silly songs, but there’s one that has always stuck out to me from the rest.

Reading My Professor’s Apologetics Book: Part 5

September 2, 2018October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

David Hogsette’s E-mails to a Young Seeker is one of the most… fascinating books I’ve ever read. I first discovered this quirky apologetics book when I had to edit it as an assignment in a class at Grove City College—and not even a religion class, but an English class. Being the passive aggressive individual that I am, I decided that I had too many edits to be contained in one assignment, and I wanted my critique of the garbage presented to me at that school to be public. Read more →

Reading My Professor’s Apologetics Book: Part 4

August 5, 2018October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

In the past, each of my posts critiquing Prof Dave Hogsette’s E-mails to a Young Seeker has centered around four of five chapters, or fictional email exchanges between Prof Dave and a college student who does not exist. This post was meant to be split up into two, but a) I really hate reading this book and I am ready to be done with it, and b) splitting it up where I originally intended to would have been very awkward, because it didn’t turn out to be a good stopping point. What this means is that this post includes eight “exchanges”, although most of them are insanely repetitive, so I will try to be brief. Read more →

Reading My Professor’s Apologetics Book: Part 3

July 22, 2018October 5, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

This summer, I’ve spent some time going through an apologetics book called E-mails to a Young Seeker: Exchanges in Mere Christianity. The author is a professor at Grove City College, from which I recently graduated and where I encountered this book during an assignment in an English class. Throughout campus, Dr. Hogsette, or “Prof Dave”, as he calls himself in the book, was praised as a gifted author and apologist, but with every page of this book I find myself disagreeing more and more. (Check out my full introduction and Part 1, too!) Read more →

A Morning Routine Without Jesus

July 15, 2018October 13, 2021Rebekah Kohlhepp

A while ago, I tried to write a post showing the absurdity that is my life by proposing a hypothetical situation in which the roles of Christianity and atheism were reversed. In order to express just how much Christianity was forced on me at school, I wanted to say, “Imagine being a closeted Christian who had to take classes on atheism, sing songs about atheism, read books on atheism, and attend atheist church.” Quickly, I realized that this entire situation is flawed because by nature, atheism doesn’t operate in the same way that religion does. Read more →

Why Church Is a Scam

June 17, 2018September 4, 2023Rebekah Kohlhepp

Since I was a little kid, I haven’t liked going to church. Since my teen years, I also haven’t believed much of what was preached to me there. For the time that I’ve been an active atheist, I’ve been disgusted about what’s taught at church and its effect on the world. But somehow it wasn’t until just recently that everything fell into place and I realized why church is the perfect formula to be a man-made money-making scheme. Church, to me, means traditional, doctrinally structured services within the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, but a lot of my apostate readers will relate, whether you were Catholic, Pentecostal, Methodist, or probably any other denomination, even nondenominational. Read more →