REJECTED! (But am I surprised?)

Back in October I set some lofty goals for getting publicity as an author and selling my two books, “Doubt after Doubt” and “Them Demons is Tricky.”

For about 2 years now I had been following the work of Steve Harrison. He often hosts free tele-seminars that provide tips, tricks and insider details on how to get publicity for your books or small business. He and his brother, Bill, also host the Quantum Leap Program. His site explains:

If you’re accepted into our program, we’ll work with you over the next year to help you get a lot more publicity, sell tons more books, brand yourself as THE expert in your field, become a highly-paid public speaker, sell your book/information over the Internet, create spin-off passive income streams, build your own mailing list and more!

I applied! In my application I provided details about my books and website and goals.

A few short days later I was accepted and was told to plan on being in Philadelphia in December for the program’s kick-off – 3 days of publicity seminars, meetings with literary publicists, TV and radio show producers, networking with others like myself and more. Within hours I booked my hotel room and flight.

I quickly sent off copies of my books to the Quantum Leap Program, including copies of press releases and book reviews. I was ready to take my Quantum Leap! I logged into their private web site, updated my profile and submitted my photograph and contact information for their directory.

Then I received the e-mail whereby my acceptance was rescinded. I was told, in part:

Steve recently had a chance to sit down and review your book and material; it appears that one of the things you are promoting is biblical doubt. While Steve wouldn’t classify himself as a fundamentalist, he is a devout Christian and feels there is an inherent conflict between your message and his personal beliefs.

Steve is insistent that all members of Quantum Leap receive their full money’s worth out of the program but he doesn’t feel he can offer you the full support you deserve. Steve feels it would be more beneficial for you to work with someone who would help deliver your message and who doesn’t have the same conflicts that he has.

I was rejected! My content is too conflicting!

Am I surprised?

I knew Steve Harrison was a church-goer as he’d mentioned this in his programs. I also knew Steve Harrison went to Davidson College just outside of Charlotte, NC – a school established by Presbyterians and which maintains close ties to the church. The odds of Steve being a Christian were strong – but were they strong enough to reject my application?

The thought of being rejected crossed through my mind when I submitted my application. The title of my first book is pretty straight forward, “Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith,” so I thought this alone would’ve been enough to reject me upon receipt of my application. Instead, I was accepted until further review of my material.

The rejection assures me my work needs to gain the publicity it deserves. Someone like Steve Harrison is probably a prime candidate to read my books – so many put so much faith into their religions without “truly” investigating it for themselves.

My hope is not to necessarily deter others from Christianity as much as it is to share my own journey, to open the minds of more people to the myths of the Christian faith and to encourage others to be more critical of the religion they put their faith into – or anything else for that matter. In my book Them Demons is Tricky not one fundamentalist I confront stops being a Christian, but they all stop being “fundamentalists!”

In the United States today it’s almost taboo to question Christianity. Many people, including many family members, refuse to read my book simply because of its content – it questions the Christian faith. I’ve had people tell me I was “wrong” to question my religion, but I am forever thankful that I did!

I’ve also had friends “Unlike” my fan pages on Facebook because they were concerned it would draw concerns, ridicule or condemnation from fellow friends & family. It didn’t matter that they fully agreed with the work I was doing and the message I was promoting.

Christianity must be challenged precisely because people are afraid to challenge it, precisely because it has so much influence upon the people of our nation, precisely because so many people are ignorant of what is actually in the Bible, precisely because so many people know so little about other faiths and the truth of Christianity!

I cannot fully blame Steve Harrison for denying me from his program – after all, would I actively “promote” someone with an evangelical cause or anti-gay cause or anti-environmental cause? Of course not. I’m a Pagan, he’s a Christian – I get it. Unfortunately Steve doesn’t yet recognize we have far more in common that we have differences.

Sadly, it is clear Steve Harrison has not read my books. As one book reviewer put it, “This book is significant in that it illustrates several important points of the dangers of intolerance…Jacik’s message that love, tolerance, and enlightenment can and should replace fear and ignorance is extremely important not only in the context of religion, but in all aspects of life.” Sounds like Steve would be a prime candidate to read my book and see if it makes him “think” about what it is he has put some much faith into. It may change him and it may encourage him to encourage others to read it.

My work is having an impact. A recent text message from a friend conveyed that someone thought my book was “Incredible!” and that they were going to buy a copy for everyone they know!

While rejected from his program, I hold no ill will toward Steve or the Quantum Leap Program – I offer him only my best as I will seek publicity elsewhere, and hopefully someday our paths will cross another way. And I can only hope that he will not be too fearful to read my book.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and…all Hell broke loose! (Joshua 10)

Over the past few days I’ve been enjoying one of my birthday gifts from my wife, “The Grand Design” by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow.

In it they remind us of a passage in the Book of Joshua where the Lord stops the sun and the moon in their place so that Joshua may defeat the Amorites. The passage goes like this:

On the day the LORD gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar. The sun stopped  in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.  – Joshua 10:12-13

While I have always scoffed at this tale as pure legend, Hawking and Mlodinow remind us on page 87 that if this were to truly have happened the earth would have had to stop moving – because it is the earth that revolves around the sun and not vice versa. While the authors of Joshua were respectfully clueless about the laws of motion and gravity, we now know from Newton’s laws that “anything not tied down would have remained in motion at the earth’s original speed (1,100 miles per hour at the equator).”

Can you imagine the chaos, death and destruction such an event would have caused not only to the enemies of the Israel, but to every living thing on the planet when the earth stopped short? And consider what effect would it have had on oceans? Tsunamis would’ve certainly ensued!

I encourage you all to read the Bible with a closer eye – check out my website http://www.DoubtafterDoubt.com

God made him have red skin to make us know he was to burn forever

 Here is a portion of an exchange between Fundamentalist Hank and myself from Them Demons is Tricky.

From Fundamentalist Hank:

I am glad that you have many Bibles and that you have read them. But you are not reading them with the Lord. You must open your heart to the Lord and he will enter and give you understanding. You are confused by what you read and see trouble where it does not exist.

You said that for God to be a man it would make him human; but that is not right. For God to look like a man makes us more like Him. And being God he is able to look like what he wants to. He could look like a rock or a tree or a frog or a man. He chose to look like a man because he knew that would be the best way for us to look and he wanted us to not be afraid of his image. That is why we are afraid of Satan. God made him have red skin to make us know he was to burn forever and he gave him horns and a tail to make him and us know that he was now a beast. That is why he is called The Beast – because of his horns and tail.

A portion of my response:

Let me begin by saying that I find it a shame that a pagan such as myself is far more familiar with the Bible and your religion than someone who professes the Christian faith as strongly as you do. If you are going to defend your faith, you’re going to have to do a better job than tell me what your reverend has spouted off to you.

It is obvious from your previous e-mails that you take his words in higher regard than your own Bible. If indeed you want to believe in Christianity, please profess its faith properly.

In future dealings with me I do ask that you turn to the Bible, the Good Book you hold so sacredly, and the power of the mind the Goddess gave you, rather than to your reverend who is filling you with lies and deception while you simultaneously fill his pockets. It is clear that you do not know the Bible even a quarter as well as I do.

Want to read more? Check out Them Demons is Tricky.

Doubting the Creation Story

A new FREE CHAPTER from “Doubt after Doubt: Doubting the Christian Faith” is now available for your amusement! It’s “Chapter 4: Doubting the Creation Story.”

In this chapter, author Rob Jacik begins by asking “Where in the universe is there the instantaneous creation of anything?” Jacik turns to the Bible to read its opening passages and the tale of how the earth and life were created in practically an instant. While it is an entertaining story, the evidence for it as fact is simply non-existant.

The discrepancies of Genesis are revealed and the attempts by popular Christian authors to substantiate these issues are successfully debunked. The chapter progresses to investigate how other popular Christian authors, such as Lee Stroebel and Hank Hanegraaff attempt to dismiss evolution in favor of creationism – Jacik successfully exposes the flaws and failings of their arguments.

Can evolution and God co-exist? Jacik provides the answer. Learn more by visiting  http://www.doubtafterdoubt.com to obtain your FREE CHAPTER.