I sometimes read articles from mainstream conservative pastors and theologians. One of these is the famous Doug Wilson who blogs at Blog and Mablog. Well, recently he was attacked by a secular left feminist named Sarah Stankorb. I looked over her recent articles, and a pattern emerged about what she – and the women she writes about – think that Christianity is about.
Here’s an article entitled “These Evangelical Women Are Abandoning Trump and Their Churches”.
She talks about a woman named Katie Loveland, who leaves her church for the following reasons:
- If a church allows a man to act like a fool towards women, then Christianity is false.
- If a church allows a man who has passed a background check and holds a concealed carry permit to be armed so he can protect church members from attacks like this one, then Christianity is false.
- If Christians support a politician who has a pro-life record of demonstrated achievements over a politician who promises to remove all state and local restrictions on abortion from conception to birth, then Christianity is false.
And another woman named Elaina Ramsey, and her reasons for rejecting Christianity:
- If Christianity requires you to disagree with your gay and queer friends, then Christianity is false.
- If Christians refuse to marry you because you’ve been raped, then Christianity is false.
- If the Bible records (and condemns) the rape of Bathsheba by David, then Christianity is false.
- If Christianity teaches that murdering humans is wrong, and science says that the unborn are human, then Christianity is false.
And more about another woman named Deirdre Sugiuchi, and her reasons for rejecting Christianity:
- If your father claims to be a Christian and spanks you, then Christianity is false.
- If you are sent to an abusive Christian reform school for being rebellious, then Christianity is false.
- If Christianity feels anti-gay, anti-black or anti-woman, then Christianity is false.
- If the United States opposes Al Qaeda for carrying out the 9/11 attack, then Christianity is false.
Are you seeing a pattern here?
It turns out that a lot of emotion-based people claimed to be Christians and were accepted as “Christian”, without any rational basis for believing it. And later on, when Christianity made them feel bad about being reckless and irresponsible, or when it loses them non-Christian friends, then they abandoned it. It’s not that they discovered that Christianity is illogical. It’s not that they discovered evidence to falsify Christian truth claims. Their stated reasons for leaving Christianity are entirely subjective. And none of the reasons do the work of falsifying core Christian truth claims, such as God’s existence, the inspiration of the Bible, or the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus.
Just to review, here are some of the reasons why authentic Christians believe in Christian theism:
- scientific evidence for the origin of the universe
- scientific evidence for cosmic fine-tuning
- scientific evidence for the origin of life
- scientific evidence for habitability
- scientific evidence for sudden origin of body plans
- scientific evidence for molecular machines
- scientific evidence for irreducible complexity
- the argument from consciousness
- the argument from objective morality
- the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus
These arguments – and many more like them – are defended by scholars in books published by top academic presses. But I see no evidence that emotion-based ex-Christians have ever read such books. Why would they? They aren’t interested in forming their worldview based on objective reality. They aren’t interested in constructing a life plan where their desire for happiness comes second to following Jesus.
People who abandon Christianity because of feelings or experiences have not “left Christianity”. They just stopped faking being Christians. They were never actually Christian in the first place. To be a Christian in the first place, you have to know that Christianity is true. People who accept the arguments for Christianity listed above have just as many disappointments with God, bad experiences with Christians, and bad experiences with churches as people who were guided by their emotions and experiences.
In fact, I personally know women who grew up fatherless, or had defective parents, or other setbacks. They got themselves into a lot of trouble with churches and immoral men, and yet today, not only are they solid Christians, but they actually take the lead in gospel enterprises, such as apologetics. Why? Because for them, the objective truth of Christianity was more important than their subjective feelings and experiences.
The differences between Christians and non-Christians is that Christians overlook bad feelings, shame and rejection, because we know facts don’t care about our feelings. For real Christians, the normal Christian life requires bad feelings, disappointments, bad experiences and rejection by non-Christians. We actually read the Bible, and so we expect bad things to happen to us.
Note: if you are relying on someone to act in a Christian way – say, as a marriage partner – then you’d better find out what kind of “Christian” they are, by asking them how they arrived at their beliefs. Do not marry a fake Christian who just reads romance novels and fiction. A person can’t determine the truth of Christianity by focusing on career, travel, entertainment, promiscuity, etc.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
“People who abandon Christianity because of feelings or experiences have not “left Christianity”. They just stopped faking being Christians.”
BINGO! They confused churchianity with Christianity. Good riddance! The fewer femiNazis in the churches, the greater chance that the churches (in the West) might become Christian again.
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Did you notice how they put feminism above Christianity in so many cases? They were not interested in gospel work at all, just whether Christianity made them feel important and in control. They want to have control of the plane, even if they crash it. And they don’t want to learn how to fly it, either. They just want the controls.
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The sad thing is that modern day feminists are the exact opposite of early Church women, who knew how to submit to the male leaders AND still acoomplish tremendous things for the Church.
These “women” do not want to hold to either good doctrine OR good practice. And it’s a lot more common than people realize in the Western churches too.
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It won’t let me like that comment… so… I like it.
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They’re leaving christisnity because it taught in christ there is neither male mor female which gave them too much power; they are looking forward to the new afghan immigrants taking over and beating them (lightly) like the koran teaching.
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This is why God says that “women and children” lead nations to destruction. Most just don’t think in terms of logical sense. Its not at all that God or men hate women, its that women are just wired differently and the require direction. Of course, this is demeaning to women who think of themselves as completely on par with men when it comes to thinking and acting. Giving them the vote was a mistake, and untethering them from the authority of their fathers and husbands has been one of the wrecking balls that has destroyed the pillars of the West, and christianity in the West. Shame on us for letting it happen.
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The reasons given by these women not only are wholly subjective, some are
• Make no sense: (If the Bible records (and condemns) the rape of Bathsheba by David, then Christianity is false.)
• Factually incorrect: (If Christianity teaches that murdering humans is wrong, and science says that the unborn are human, then Christianity is false.)
• Bad reasoning: (If a church allows a man who has passed a background check and holds a concealed carry permit to be armed so he can protect church members from attacks like this one, then Christianity is false.)
• Just plain ignorant: (If the United States opposes Al Qaeda for carrying out the 9/11 attack, then Christianity is false.)
And, as you conclude, these people were never Christians. They may have been members of a church, these are the “tares” or weeds of Matthew 13:25-30.
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Reblogged this on Faith Seeking Understanding and commented:
A post worth reading from Wintery Knight.
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“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Seems like you could slap them around the head with a foam bat of truth and they still wouldn’t notice.
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Evidence#2342 of why feminism is cancer for society. Christianity is the only religion that actually relies on logic and reasoning. And emotions isn’t even considered viable in Christianity. There so much evidence, that it’s hard to deny. Modern Western Christianity isn’t Christianity. But I’m curious how did feminism, communism, and secularism slide into the church? Where did it all start.
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According to this “logic”, if counterfeit bills exist, then all money is false.
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If I may, I’m going to take a somewhat contrary position.
They really aren’t being driven by “feelings”. Their feelings are a direct result of what they believe and think. They think all of those things you mentioned are more reliable sources of truth, and that’s something they have to either be taught or are motivated to believe because of disordered desires, not feelings as such. Nobody naturally feels like this.
It really isn’t faith or facts versus feelings and never has been. Your emotions are an important, vital part of being human. And often what’s described as a “feeling” is really an intuitive sense or “horse sense”.
None of these women are being driven by feelings, their feelings are being driven by what they value. At least that’s my read on it.
Plus as an aside Christianity isn’t exactly a philosophical proposition on an individual level, personal faith as far as I can tell, is when you directly intuitively experience God drawing you to Himself. It may involve a lot of emotion or very little, but it’s not lines of philosophical programming being uploaded, it’s something you “see”. Hence the whole “seeing the light”, metaphor.
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I’m a bit reluctant to reply to you…because I don’t want to be disrespectful or condescending, at the same time I’m not entirely sure what you’re saying makes sense. I’m sorry, but I’m seeing a lot of contradictions. lolol, it’s like I’ll agree with part of your statement, but then you seem to follow up with a contradicting statement that just negated what you just said. Like the last paragraph about how it isn’t a philosophical proposition on an “individual level”…and then you go on to say it’s something you “see”…which is individual. No one can see it for you, right?
Or how, “they aren’t really driven by feelings” but then you end the paragraph with, it’s something they’re taught because of “disordered desires”…A desire is what we “feel”. It’s a type of feelings.
So when it comes to your profound statement of “It really isn’t faith or facts versus feelings and never has been.”
Perhaps…first off, I’m thinking faith should be on the same side of feelings, so it would be facts versus faith and feelings…because faith and feelings are strengthened by “facts,” right?
I think when people say, “facts versus feelings” we usually say it because on the opposite end of the spectrum, people will straight up deny facts in favor of their feelings. It’s the same with faith. As one born in 1986, there’s no way I can prove with certainty that Adam and Eve existed. But through my faith in the Bible, Adam and Eve’s existence is a fact. And of course, the reason why I have such strong faith in the Bible is due to actual facts I’ve seen in the real world. Which I could get into, but this isn’t my blog and it would take a whole essay to explain what I mean by those “facts”.
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Well said. It reminds me of a quote I heard a while back. “Too many people want Christ’s Teachings to conform to their lives…instead of conforming their lives to Christ’s Teachings.”
I’m going to write an essay about it, but all of these “movements” really are in a sense, a rebellion from something. A lot of it, is a rebellion from Christianity. A defiant move for humans to become their own Gods. And the question I want to ask these people is, “is it worth it?”
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Well said…100% truth.
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Indeed, the bible reveals a world just like ours- doing without God. But by his redemptive grace, “this generation” still rejects Christ.
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