Pigeonholing is a pretty common problem in online discussion. People have some idea of “how things go” – how someone ends up losing their faith, for example – and they chop bits off reality to fit.

To me, that seems really immature. I find myself doing it too sometimes, but I try to stop when I notice. One of the things that kept me coming back to this blog is that Amanda was always willing to understand atheists in their own terms rather than trying to shoehorn them into a pre-existing stereotype.

Dragging you back into the fold, if you’d just trust him and drink this koolaid…

Don’t shut your brain off, Mandi. Not for him, not for anyone.

I’m sure you know that we disagree on matters of faith. I strongly believe in the God of the Bible and his son Jesus … you no longer do. I certainly hope that while we have only ever communicated online, you have never felt that I was one of those Christian friends who has rejected you. I would love to see you embrace Jesus again but even if that never happens, I hope you can see that I don’t just hang out with people online, or offline, simply because we have the same set of beliefs. I’m not here to try to re-convert you, I’m here because I like the person I see represented here.

I simply pray that you’ll continue seeking truth, free of the expectations of others. If God is real, and I truly believe he is, he will show himself in that search.

Mind you, I could be wrong. After all I’m one of those narcissists who has a .net website with his own name in it.