Posted on 08/08/2012 4:14:07 PM PDT by fishtank
Pastor Became Atheist. Why?
by Brian Thomas, M.S. | Aug. 8, 2012
Teresa McBain ministered in the Methodist church for twenty years. She formerly pastored at Lake Jackson United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, Florida, but today she ministers as the public relations director of the American Atheists.1 She says that she used to believe in the God of the Bible, but she recently changed her mind: "I know it's a lie. I know it's false."2 Why has she rejected God?
She explained her reasons to the Christian Post, saying, "One [reason] was the contradictory nature of the Bible; the lack of scientific or historical foundation or accuracy, which took me a very, very long time to come to terms with."3
It makes sense to reject the God of the Bible if the Bible contained errors and lacked scientific or historical foundation. But it doesn't. Analyzing and teaching the amazing ways that true science confirms Scripture is what motivates the ministry of ICR—evidence for the veracity of science and Scripture abounds.
While McBain may represent those who are unfamiliar with or reject the truth of Scripture, scientific and historical confirmations of the Bible exist in abundance. A summary of ICR News reports during the month of June 2012, a small sampling of evidence, provides just a snapshot of recent examples:
Gene control regions are protected from tampering, which means that assuming that evolution tampers with them is a faulty conclusion.4 Evolutionists turned a blind eye to original dinosaur red blood cells when they claimed that Otzi the Iceman's red blood cells were the oldest preserved. Red blood cells in dinosaur fossils fit with the biblical young world.5 A clay seal with the oldest inscription of the word "Bethlehem" confirms that it had been a village before Micah prophesied that the Lord would be born there.6 Squid ink, made of original, unmineralized biochemical melanin, cannot possibly be as old as its 160-million-year age assignment, confirming the Bible's historical time line as well as its account of the great Flood.7 The precisely arranged body parts of rorqual whales were all required to coexist simultaneously for them to eat and survive, confounding whale evolution and confirming Genesis 1:21.8 Whoever arranged the molecular machines that perform plant photosynthesis understood quantum mechanics far better than any physicist.9 A 1984 Bible-based model for the origin of planets predicted that Mercury's crust would contain remanent magnetism from its recent creation. This was confirmed by MESSENGER's most recent survey in 2012.10 The newly published bonobo genome has a hallmark of special creation—its gene sequences do not match any evolutionary tree, but comprise a well-integrated mosaic of gene systems.11 The idea that the Bible has contradictions and lacks scientific or historical confirmation is popular, but it is wrong.
In a dramatic moment at the 2012 Annual Convention of American Atheists in Bethesda, Maryland, MacBain apologized to her new atheist friends for having been one of those "crazy fundamentalists."12 Believing in the fundamentals of the Bible would be crazy if the Bible were not internally, scientifically, and historically reliable.13 But because its verifications are so overwhelming, refusing to believe it is crazy.
References
Former Pastor Teresa MacBain New Public Relations Director. American Atheists. Posted on atheists.org July 3, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Hagerty, B. From Minister To Atheist: A Story Of Losing Faith. National Public Radio. Posted on npr.org April 30, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Zaimov, S. Ex-Pastor Turned American Atheist Director Tells How She Lost Faith. Christian Post. Posted on christianpost.com July 11, 2012.
Tomkins, J. Gene Control Regions Are Protected—Negating Evolution. ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 11, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Thomas, B. Are Iceman Blood Cells Really the Oldest? ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 13, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Thomas, B. Artifact Confirms Ancient Bethlehem. ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 18, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Thomas, B. Fresh Fossil Squid Ink 160 Million Years Old? ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 20, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Thomas, B. Organ Discovery Shows Why Whales Didn't Evolve. ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 22, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Thomas, B. Photosynthesis Uses Quantum Physics. ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 25, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Thomas, B. Mercury's Magnetic Crust Fulfills Creation Prediction. ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 29, accessed July 23, 2012.
Tomkins, J. Anti-Evolutionary Secrets of the Bonobo Genome. ICR News. Posted on icr.org June 29, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
Teresa MacBain - coming out - American Atheists Conf. March 26, 2012. You Tube. Posted on youtube.com March 29, 2012, accessed July 23, 2012.
For hundreds of articles that confirm the Bible in every major discipline, see Evidence for Creation. Institute for Creation Research. Posted on icr.org.
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on August 8, 2012.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:46)
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: (Mark 3:29)
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. (Isaiah 24:21-22)
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished: (2 Peter 2:9)/
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I don’t think there is much that can help her, she has DENIED God. She lives for THIS WORLD. I feel sorry for her. :(
The Bible is doctrine for Christians. I’m consistently amazed by how many people think that God is some big, jolly Buddha god laughing at the antics of His wayward children.
I Agree!! I thought they all were already!
2 Pet 2:20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2 Pet 2:21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2 Pet 2:22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
She probably prayed to lose 50 lbs. and it didn’t happen.
A lot of people who don’t get what they pray for feel let down.
This sort of thing happened a lot in the 19th century, when agonized clergymen decided they couldn’t take everything in the Bible literally. Didn’t realize it was still going on in churches where things aren’t so strict as they were for the Victorians. She’ll land on her feet, I’m sure. The culture’s changed a lot over the last hundred years.
She was never regenerated; never having come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. At least that's God's opinion.
Like an old sage told me once, God answers all prayers...and sometimes his answer is “NO”.
Many people need to understand that.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works; There is none that doeth good. — Psalm 14:1
In the mid-eighties the percentage of the population who admitted they're homosexual was higher in Tallahassee than in San Francisco. I don't know if that's still the case but I do know there's definitely no shortage of such folks in Tallahassee.
At one time the Methodist Church was the largest denomination in the country so it was targeted the same way the Catholic Church has been. The main difference is that the Methodists for the most part went along with the people subverting their church so the infiltrators didn't resort to creating scandals. In the case of the Catholic Church, infiltrators resorted to creating scandals when they realized they weren't going to be able to subvert and take over the Church.
They were able to pull a lot of people away from the Catholic Church and undermined an awful lot of US parishes, but they didn't have any where near the success at taking control as did in so many Protestant denominations. Whether it's the Steelworkers Union, the United Mineworkers Union, or the Catholic Church, the fascists work to destroy what they can't take control of. Whatever they're working to destroy is always plagued by sex related and money related scandal because democrat fascists are past masters at using both to their advantage.
She was never a believer to begin with and did not dig any further than DU to find answers to her questions.
Shouldn’t the caption under the picture you posted read “Teresa McBain Past and Present Whor of Tallahassee, Florida?
The more “mainline” the Protestant denomination (United Methodist, United Presbyterian, ELCA Lutheran, Episcopal), the more likely the creature officiating the congregation is a fraud. My observation of the united Methodists is that somewhere between 25-50% of the clergy could not articulate their own faith being in accord with scriptures. A long time friend who is an Episcopal priest told me fewer than 5% of his fellow Episcopal priests are Christians.
For years before she was old enough to drive my daughter was the organist for an Episcopal parish. I came to the conclusion that the clergy of that denomination is simply the liturgical wing of the CPUSA.
P.S. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if she is a lesbian.
I imagine she is making a hellava lot more dough as Public Relations Director for American Atheists than she was as a Methodist pastor.
She never should’ve been ordained in the first place:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=I%20timothy%202:12-15&version=ESVUK
“I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.”
This is the fruit of following after vain philosophies.
There are many Christian Methodists, but unfortunately many congregations have become tainted with PC, with “social justice” being their lodestar instead of a deeper walk with Christ.
When they start to do it, so many Christians try to jump in and warn them, and they are ignored for all their efforts. They are looked on as “backwards”. But this is the end - their faith slowly falls away, and they become apostate.
Simple answer. Her church made her a pastor, and the bible clearly states that is wrong. So, why should she respect the bible, when her own church doesn’t follow it?
And if you aren’t following God’s will, it isn’t hard to decide God doesn’t matter. She already had decided that long ago, when she decided that she knew better than God who should administer to His church.
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