The story of High-Ranking Mormon leader Hans Mattsson seeking sincere answers from his church but instead finding contempt, fear, doubt...and eventually peace

    Over the last 100,000+ years humankind has gone through three different phases in trying to understand and explain how things came to be: The Magical, The Religious and now The Scientific. Is it now time to dispense with mythology and superstitions as a way to live our lives and fully embrace the scientific method?

    And even for believers, the intellectual and spiritual temptations to deny the existence of God seem greater than ever. Too often we respond to this pressure by seeking more and more rational proofs of God's existence, but what if a lack of reason to believe is not our main problem? In this volume, Joseph Minich argues that our real challenge is existential and imaginative—a felt absence of God that is more visceral in our modern world than for most generations past, and the sense that if God cannot be sensed, He cannot be there. Why are we so haunted and disoriented today by this sense of God's absence? And how can we learn to sustain and strengthen our faith in the face of it? In these pages, Minich charts a way back to a renewal of our hearts and imaginations that can enable us to embrace the challenge of finding and being found by the hidden God.

    But beneath the facade of brotherly love and organizational unity lies a captive organization in which doubts are stifled and dissent is ruthlessly crushed. Once a Witness stops believing, they face being ostracized as a loathed "mentally diseased" apostate. They must navigate a labyrinth of obstacles and dilemmas due to the organization's cruel policy of shunning former members. Lloyd Evans is a well known ex-Witness writer and activist, and in his second book he draws on his firsthand, insider knowledge as a former elder to guide would-be escapees through the minefield that awaits them. How should elders be dealt with? What resources are available for objective research? What should someone do if they are threatened with judicial action? What about coming clean to family members? How does someone go about rebuilding their social circle? What precautions should be taken to maintain privacy when browsing apostate material online? All these questions and more are answered in How to Escape From Jehovah's Witnesses, described by Paul Grundy of JWfacts.com as "an invaluable tool in helping [former Witnesses] move on as efficiently and painlessly as possible."

    Tim Sledge was a Southern Baptist preacher and writer for 35 years. His pioneering work in faith-based recovery ministries in the 80s and 90s ultimately guided participants in 20,000 Christian support groups across the U.S. The driving force behind Sledge’s ultimate rejection of Christianity was his long-term, up-close observations of church life. “After living and leading in the church for decades, I saw no consistent evidence of an ongoing supernatural presence—and I wanted to see that evidence with all that was in me.” Part memoir, part exposé, part polemic, Goodbye Jesus is an honest, highly personal, and frequently provocative spiritual autobiography that concludes with an insider’s takedown of religious faith. This is a relatable and thoughtful read for those seeking to better understand the evangelical mindset, for Christians who are questioning their faith, for ministers trying to decide whether to stay or go, and for those who have left their faith and are dealing with its loss.

    Regretting many of the decisions he made in his debut book, and wrestling with his continued ambivalence to both his son(s) Jesus and his frenemy Satan, God decides to set things right with creation—again. But this time, he asks, why stick around the dusty Land of Israel or a decaying heaven when there’s a much bigger world to explore—and countless others out there just waiting to love and praise him? And why work with the same tired old prophets, when there are much better candidates for the job? Journeying from the sands of Arabia to the hills of Utah to the stars of Southern California, God works to set his message—and record—straight. But with each new book he commissions, the same old questions, demons, and troubles remain. Forever haunted, he decides to do away with creation once and for all...or wait, maybe just apologize? Returning to where it all began, God makes one final judgment, with the fate of the universe—and himself—hanging in the balance.

    That book – more correctly known as the Torah – does not simply recount the history of a people. It gives the children of Israel the keys to their divinely-ordained destiny. It was Jacob, son of Isaac, who returned from exile and took the name Israel: a name inherited by the whole Jewish people long before it designated a nation-state. That single name unites the patriarch, the people, and the promised land. The history of the Jewish people is intertwined with the history of humanity. What role did Jews play in the fall of Byzantium? How have they influenced the Christian church? What role did they play in the two terrible “European civil wars” of the first half of the twentieth century? Yahweh’s people has always lived apart from the rest of humanity, endlessly reproducing the same Biblical schema: the Babylon captivity, the flight from Egypt, the Book of Esther. This psychological template for the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob unites them, alone against the world, from the vengeance holiday of Purim to the sacralized memory of the Holocaust. Even the creation of the modern nation-state of Israel has had no effect on the “invisible walls” of the “Jewish prison.” This book is not just a scholarly inquiry into the history of an idea. It is also an appeal to our Jewish brothers and sisters to liberate themselves from a mythology that imprisons them in a schizophrenic relationship to the world. Alternately a chosen people and a cursed people, a people carrying a divine message and a people who kill the divine messengers, eternal guides to humanity and its eternal victims: To be born Jewish is to be born beneath the heavy weight of 2,500 years of history.

    Women have been deemed less worthy than men, have been prevented from owning property, and worse—all in the name of a higher power. In recent decades, women have made progress in terms of equal rights with men, at least in Western democracies, but still, why has the United States never had a female president? Why aren’t more women heads of Fortune 500 companies? Why do politicians in the West continue to attack women’s reproductive rights? As this volume explores, it would be hard to find a bigger culprit than religion when identifying the last cultural barriers to full gender equality. With topics ranging from the subjugation of women in the Bible to the shame and guilt felt by women due to religious teaching, this volume makes clear that only by rejecting the very system that limits their autonomy will women be fully liberated from its malignant influences, not just in codified law but also in cultural practice.

    In Mere Morality, he argues there's no need to appeal to supernatural commandments or the fear of some higher power when considering morality. Stripping “good" and "evil” down to the basics, he offers a simple compass for navigating life's most difficult moral and ethical dilemmas.

     Whether worrying about the end of the world coming "Any day now", his budding love affair with shrubbery or building bunkers before leaving school to become a full time Minister at 16 you'll find something to cringe about. He also talks about nearly losing and then actually losing his sister to the cult before discovering her all over again, Neil takes you on a funny and awkward jouney with a pretty happy ending! Neil's first book on the subject of the Jehovah's Witnesses "How To Leave A Cult" is available on Amazon and has sold literally dozens of copies.

    Atheism has long fascinated people but debate around this controversial position may seem daunting. In this lively and lucid book, Graham Oppy addresses the following important questions:-　What does it mean to be an atheist?-　What is the difference between atheism, agnosticism, theism and innocence?-　How has atheism been distributed over time and place?-　What does science tell us about atheism?-　Are there good reasons to be an atheist?-　Are there good reasons not to be an atheist?-　What do we mean by 'new atheism'?With a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading throughout, the book considers key philosophical arguments around atheism, making this an ideal starting point for anyone seeking a full introduction to the arguments between those who hold atheistic beliefs and those who do not.

    In this volume, David and Marybeth Baggett offer a dramatic, robust, and even playful version of the moral argument. Tracing both its historical importance and its contemporary relevance, they argue that it not only still points to God's existence but that it also contributes to our ongoing spiritual transformation.

    * * * When we imagine a machine, the result is always something close to a mechanical system that works by itself. It doesn’t bother us to think that it’s nothing beyond that. But how do we feel when we imagine ourselves as a machine? Empty. We have the feeling that something is missing. And what is missing? What’s there in a human that is missing in a machine? Illusion. The emptiness of the machine is the consciousness that our subjective world is a fiction; the consciousness that our humanity is a delirium, and that there’s nothing behind what we are living. We are machines, and our consciousness is a dream of this machine. Nothing else. Absolutely nothing.

    But in order to repair a watch, one must first understand how it works. Fortunately, recent scientific discoveries decisively unveil the biological mechanisms underneath the hood of happiness.

    It covers some common misconceptions about Islam that both Muslims and non-Muslims have.The book starts with a little introduction of the author—how and why he became an ex-Muslim—and it is followed up with the importance of writing the book. The first chapter covers the importance of critical sense over common sense and how we should always invoke critical thinking when it comes to looking at the world around us. The book also covers some arguments for God and some counterarguments against God’s existence. It discusses the importance of God in keeping the morality of the society and the mental well-being of the human species. It also discusses the baggage that comes with religion, leaving our only lives here on planet earth devoid of pleasure and enjoyment. Moreover, it discusses the scientific flaws in the Quran and argues how it looks like a book written by a seventh century Arab warlord rather than the creator of the billions of galaxies. It discusses the critical and sensitive topic of the character of Allah (Muslim God) and Muhammad in light of the Quran, Hadith (collection of Muhammad’s quotes), and the biography of Muhammad. It gives a detailed account of Muhammad’s wives and violence in his life. In the last part of the book, the author discusses the rise of Islamism in the western world and its dangers. Finally, it educates its readers on how to debate with a religious apologist and some common arguments and techniques employed by them. It is a very interesting read into Islam from an ex-Muslim’s point of view and the best guide to learning Islam.

    Combining his own research with the insights of publications past and present, Conner leads us down haunted hallways of Greco-Roman ghost lore to illuminate neglected corners of the gospels. Along the way, finding yet another human side to the beloved old tales, we understand how ghostly apparitions were spoken about for much the same reason modern-day people still see them: a psychological response vividly experienced by those suffering great loss.