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Childish Things: A Memoir
The Jesus movement of the 70s was a heady time. It was a time of Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell. It was a time of the Doobie Brothers telling us that “Jesus is Just Alright With Me”, and Norman Greenbaum singing about a “Spirit in the Sky”. It was a time when Jesus was going to return any day, according to the bestselling book “The Late Great Planet Earth”. It was a time of the Rapture, Armageddon, and the Antichrist.
Dave Warnock’s faith took root during this intoxicating era, and soon he was speaking in tongues, casting out demons, and praying for legs to grow. That raw, emotional faith grew into a mature Christian lifestyle over the next three and a half decades, including pastoral roles on three different church staffs, where the innocence of Dave's early faith evolved into staff meetings, budgets, and carefully planned worship services. Dave's spiritual journey included vocational, financial and personal struggles, and an increasingly frustrating search for God's involvement.
But what if it’s not true? What if there’s not an active God doing things for His people? What does a man do when he pauses and reflects on a life lived in this kind of faith, and finds, upon examination, that the God he dedicated his life to has never been there?
By 2011 Dave had come to the conclusion that he no longer believed in a personal God and he rejected his lifelong faith. In 2016 he was diagnosed with ALS.
Praise for Childish Things : “Raw, open, honest—I can’t imagine the courage it took to write this book, but it is a story you will not be able to put down until the last page. I hope this has a healing influence on anyone who reads it.”
Dr. Darrel Ray, president and founder of Recovering from Religion, author of The God Virus and Sex & God, founder of the Secular Therapy Project “You will need a fire extinguisher as you read Dave Warnock’s journey. The pages blaze with courage, intensity, drama and heartbreak—and sometimes real fire. This candid revelation of behind-the-scenes ministry has no come-to-Jesus moment. Just the opposite.” Dan Barker, co-president of Freedom from Religion Foundation, Author of Godless and Life Driven Purpose “This book healed emotional and mental wounds I didn’t know I had. It shook me to my core. This is not a confession of sins—an imaginary term and concept created to control people. It’s more a presentation of what-the-fuck-was-I-thinking?”
Cass Midgley, former pastor and podcast host of Everyone’s Agnostic
“Dave Warnock writes like he conversationally and compellingly. Deconversion stories aren’t uncommon, but Dave’s chronicle is unique, interesting, and inspiring . . . a great read for the religious and non-religious alike.”
Seth Andrews, The Thinking Atheist, author of De-Converted and Confessions of a Former Fox News Christian
“Astounding and aching. Dave’s story helped me, as a Millennial, to understand the Christianity formed among my parents’ hippie generation. Dave also invites us into empathy with those whose grief pulls them away from God. Suffering strengthens the faith of many, but for others, suffering confirms God’s unwillingness to save his faithful and throws into free-fall the fallacy of omnipotent love. Dave offers a raw, humorous, and unflinching account of purpose after pain—and freedom after faith.”
Alice Greczyn, actress, author of Wayward, founder of “Dare to Doubt”
Dave Warnock’s faith took root during this intoxicating era, and soon he was speaking in tongues, casting out demons, and praying for legs to grow. That raw, emotional faith grew into a mature Christian lifestyle over the next three and a half decades, including pastoral roles on three different church staffs, where the innocence of Dave's early faith evolved into staff meetings, budgets, and carefully planned worship services. Dave's spiritual journey included vocational, financial and personal struggles, and an increasingly frustrating search for God's involvement.
But what if it’s not true? What if there’s not an active God doing things for His people? What does a man do when he pauses and reflects on a life lived in this kind of faith, and finds, upon examination, that the God he dedicated his life to has never been there?
By 2011 Dave had come to the conclusion that he no longer believed in a personal God and he rejected his lifelong faith. In 2016 he was diagnosed with ALS.
Praise for Childish Things : “Raw, open, honest—I can’t imagine the courage it took to write this book, but it is a story you will not be able to put down until the last page. I hope this has a healing influence on anyone who reads it.”
Dr. Darrel Ray, president and founder of Recovering from Religion, author of The God Virus and Sex & God, founder of the Secular Therapy Project “You will need a fire extinguisher as you read Dave Warnock’s journey. The pages blaze with courage, intensity, drama and heartbreak—and sometimes real fire. This candid revelation of behind-the-scenes ministry has no come-to-Jesus moment. Just the opposite.” Dan Barker, co-president of Freedom from Religion Foundation, Author of Godless and Life Driven Purpose “This book healed emotional and mental wounds I didn’t know I had. It shook me to my core. This is not a confession of sins—an imaginary term and concept created to control people. It’s more a presentation of what-the-fuck-was-I-thinking?”
Cass Midgley, former pastor and podcast host of Everyone’s Agnostic
“Dave Warnock writes like he conversationally and compellingly. Deconversion stories aren’t uncommon, but Dave’s chronicle is unique, interesting, and inspiring . . . a great read for the religious and non-religious alike.”
Seth Andrews, The Thinking Atheist, author of De-Converted and Confessions of a Former Fox News Christian
“Astounding and aching. Dave’s story helped me, as a Millennial, to understand the Christianity formed among my parents’ hippie generation. Dave also invites us into empathy with those whose grief pulls them away from God. Suffering strengthens the faith of many, but for others, suffering confirms God’s unwillingness to save his faithful and throws into free-fall the fallacy of omnipotent love. Dave offers a raw, humorous, and unflinching account of purpose after pain—and freedom after faith.”
Alice Greczyn, actress, author of Wayward, founder of “Dare to Doubt”
- GenresReligionMemoirNonfiction
369 pages, Hardcover
Published December 22, 2021
16 people are currently reading
121 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
July 16, 2022
I was originally going to give this a 4 because I feel that there are significant gaps in it, but then I see that an additional book is on its way in 23. I still am not sure that the gaps that concern me, such as wanting to know more specifics about Warnock's deconversion, will be in that, but what makes this book so impactful is Warnock's consistent vulnerability and honesty. I think everyone should read this no matter what their beliefs, but I think current and former evangelicals should definitely read it. At the very least, current evangelicals can see what happens when cruel games are played in the name of God. Former evangelicals can find someone to relate to in Warnock.
January 8, 2024
I enjoy the deconversion genre. Warnock tells a good story and he got sucked in during the ‘Jesus Revolution’ time-period. This book reminded me a lot about that truly awful movie called ‘Jesus Revolution.’ The movie never saw itself for the ironic masterpiece that it was as when for example Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer) holds up the Bible and says ‘the inerrant word of God is in this book,’ or when he pretends to know that ‘Jesus is love, and God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten soon and who ever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal live.’
Dave Warnock understood the irony as he told his story and this memoir shows how someone can get conned while his background of the 1970s accepted the absurdities as the default truth and Time Magazine would have on its cover ‘Jesus Revolution’ is happening and it is a good thing.
This book is the long unwinding of that Bible quote. Every one wants love and kindness to permeate the world. Dave Warnock did. I do. It’s sounds wonderful. But, who among us wants to believe with an implicit threat behind the assertion since if you don’t believe you will you not have heavenly eternal life, but, rather, you will be damned forever-and-a-day.
Also, as Paul defends his uniquely derived version of original sin of Adam and Eve, and God came down in the guise of his son and had to be tortured in-order for us to be given that promise and with an implicit threat if we turn down His own sacrifice to Himself for our sins through his vicarious suffering, and Paul knows it is true because a spirit told him so. (This is what they believe and is my best attempt to summarize it while not mocking the belief).
That’s crazy stuff, but when you falsely believe you know the Truth and you are in an epistemological bubble you can’t get out using their own paradigms; you need context, relations, history, and common sense in order to pop out of the bubble.
I do wish that Warnock would have had a response from his brother on how he explained the Garden of Eden, Noah, talking donkeys and snakes, and so on and told me what those justifications were, or how a moral God orders killing 10000 Edomites, raping their virgins, allowing slavery and so on. Go ahead, hold up the Bible and say it’s God’s holy word.
Warnock’s book is a great response to that garbage. And please don’t tell me the New Testament preempts the Old because Jesus, because it is the same God between the two and that it is in the New that the threat of eternal damnation is given, not the Old.
Warnock starts to understand the humanness of it all after having discovering Bart Ehrman. Once the special-pleading gets noted the human invention of it all gets understood. I never could get past the fact that everything humans do is flawed because we are in general screwed up and selfish and the Bible itself was written by humans despite what Chuck Smith (from ‘Jesus Revolution’) said.
It takes superstitious humans to write such an immoral, illogical, and convoluted book, and takes those same humans to embrace it, add to the canon haphazardly as it suited their whim. Read Bart Ehrman and see how humans created the mess.
There is a connection between Bible believers and MAGA. Warnock mentions it, but I can’t wrap my head around it. Those in the movement love Trump at an 85% level. I don’t fully get the reason why. For them, they love the sinner but hate the sin, while all the time judging them as not worthy of consideration.
Sin is something they make-up and divides us into tribes. Trump does that too. I know they think Trump loves them, but he is a narcissist that is incapable of loving anything since only he exists in his own mind and everyone else are just objects to be manipulated by him.
Good for Warnock getting out of that world and thanks for writing an entertaining book.
Dave Warnock understood the irony as he told his story and this memoir shows how someone can get conned while his background of the 1970s accepted the absurdities as the default truth and Time Magazine would have on its cover ‘Jesus Revolution’ is happening and it is a good thing.
This book is the long unwinding of that Bible quote. Every one wants love and kindness to permeate the world. Dave Warnock did. I do. It’s sounds wonderful. But, who among us wants to believe with an implicit threat behind the assertion since if you don’t believe you will you not have heavenly eternal life, but, rather, you will be damned forever-and-a-day.
Also, as Paul defends his uniquely derived version of original sin of Adam and Eve, and God came down in the guise of his son and had to be tortured in-order for us to be given that promise and with an implicit threat if we turn down His own sacrifice to Himself for our sins through his vicarious suffering, and Paul knows it is true because a spirit told him so. (This is what they believe and is my best attempt to summarize it while not mocking the belief).
That’s crazy stuff, but when you falsely believe you know the Truth and you are in an epistemological bubble you can’t get out using their own paradigms; you need context, relations, history, and common sense in order to pop out of the bubble.
I do wish that Warnock would have had a response from his brother on how he explained the Garden of Eden, Noah, talking donkeys and snakes, and so on and told me what those justifications were, or how a moral God orders killing 10000 Edomites, raping their virgins, allowing slavery and so on. Go ahead, hold up the Bible and say it’s God’s holy word.
Warnock’s book is a great response to that garbage. And please don’t tell me the New Testament preempts the Old because Jesus, because it is the same God between the two and that it is in the New that the threat of eternal damnation is given, not the Old.
Warnock starts to understand the humanness of it all after having discovering Bart Ehrman. Once the special-pleading gets noted the human invention of it all gets understood. I never could get past the fact that everything humans do is flawed because we are in general screwed up and selfish and the Bible itself was written by humans despite what Chuck Smith (from ‘Jesus Revolution’) said.
It takes superstitious humans to write such an immoral, illogical, and convoluted book, and takes those same humans to embrace it, add to the canon haphazardly as it suited their whim. Read Bart Ehrman and see how humans created the mess.
There is a connection between Bible believers and MAGA. Warnock mentions it, but I can’t wrap my head around it. Those in the movement love Trump at an 85% level. I don’t fully get the reason why. For them, they love the sinner but hate the sin, while all the time judging them as not worthy of consideration.
Sin is something they make-up and divides us into tribes. Trump does that too. I know they think Trump loves them, but he is a narcissist that is incapable of loving anything since only he exists in his own mind and everyone else are just objects to be manipulated by him.
Good for Warnock getting out of that world and thanks for writing an entertaining book.
April 26, 2022
What an honor it is that I met Dave in 2019 as I was navigating my own deconversion process. This book is truly special in so many ways. Deconversion is messy and fraught, but when we find community it can be healing. Dave's approach on how to Carpe the Fucking Diem is important and necessary approach to living the one life we know we have, believer or not. Thanks Dave for this beautiful book. A must read.
March 25, 2023
Wow! Wow! Wow! I find myself speechless, unable to find words worthy of this review. Validating, is definitely a word I would use for the emotion I felt while reading this book. My heart leaped! It shouted “I feel so seen” & “I am not alone” Raw, honest, extremely vulnerable are others which I can add to this list. I may not relate to everything Dave experienced, I wasn’t a pastor. I wasn’t in a position of leading a large congregation. But my husband & I did lead youth for many many years. We did this with fire & passion. We were the 10% giving our 150%, our everything to our God our students & church. Sold out for Jesus. For the mission of saving souls. For the gospel. It was our top priority everywhere we went, an all consuming fire. This memoir is one of the best I have read in the ex-evangelical genre. Beautiful yet heart wrenching story of loss, betrayal, life & death. And of hope for a future after the after. With chapters so heart wrenching, I had to give pause pause, not sure I could go on as my heart broke for Dave & his family. His is story shook me to my very core. No matter where you are in the faith journey this is an important read. Stories change us. Stories pour empathy & compassion into our hearts. Listening to others with kindness, even if we don’t agree is something we lack in our society, but it is what shows maturity. This book is one of a kind. I will be sharing it with others who wander after leaving church, the faith & ministry because I understand there is no greater loneliness than leaving your life’s greatest love & passion. The loss of feeling so betrayed & lied to. The losses are many & the winding roads are lonely. Dave shows us it doesn’t have to be this way. Waiting with great anticipation for his next book.
March 1, 2023
It must have been back in late-2019/early-2020 when I first heard Dave Warnock's story on The Thinking Atheist podcast with Seth Andrews. At that time, Warnock's diagnosis was a noted point of conversation in this (and similar podcasts at the time). It was about this same time that I was truly confronting how I would deal with the issue of Death With Dignity - not only as physician newly employed in the state of Washington where Death With Dignity is legal, but also as a person with a worldview recently turned on its head through deconstructing the fundamentalism in which I had been raised.
As a Hospice medical directer, I have seen many people die with ALS - as with most neurodegenerative conditions, the effects are brutal. Because it was at this point in his story that I first heard of him, I found Dave Warnock's story intriguing. Over the years I have followed him online and finally had a chance to hear him tell his story in his own words. His has been an example to watch at a distance, navigation of this dire diagnosis within his experience as a former evangelical pastor. Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, his story is one of humanity - passion, pain, insecurity, love, and determination - concluding in the beauty of connectedness with others.
This book had all my emotions, in ways never quite reached in Seth Andrews' Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason, or Dan Barker's Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists. Dave is a master storyteller - his story is raw and personal, inspirational and beautiful - in the midst of the hardcore realities.
I look forward to reading any future books he chooses to share with us.
Rating 5/5 ("it was amazing")
12 hrs and 33 mins / ~405 pages
Audiobook / Kindle
As a Hospice medical directer, I have seen many people die with ALS - as with most neurodegenerative conditions, the effects are brutal. Because it was at this point in his story that I first heard of him, I found Dave Warnock's story intriguing. Over the years I have followed him online and finally had a chance to hear him tell his story in his own words. His has been an example to watch at a distance, navigation of this dire diagnosis within his experience as a former evangelical pastor. Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, his story is one of humanity - passion, pain, insecurity, love, and determination - concluding in the beauty of connectedness with others.
This book had all my emotions, in ways never quite reached in Seth Andrews' Deconverted: A Journey from Religion to Reason, or Dan Barker's Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists. Dave is a master storyteller - his story is raw and personal, inspirational and beautiful - in the midst of the hardcore realities.
I look forward to reading any future books he chooses to share with us.
Rating 5/5 ("it was amazing")
12 hrs and 33 mins / ~405 pages
Audiobook / Kindle
January 2, 2023
The the big thing everyone wants to know when encountering stories like Dave’s is whether or not it’s genuine... how sincere it is. And when such a story concerns one’s departure from faith, add to it whether or not they had ever actually—truly—believed in the first place.
To each of these questions, I can affirm the answer is a strong and unequivocal YES. As you read his story, you’ll see over and over again how Dave believed so truly, so strongly, so confidently in his god that he literally left and sacrificed everything else in life in order to follow the call of ministry that he was sure he had received.
As someone who’s known Dave personally for seven years, I’ve seen him agonize over much of the torture and trauma that emerged as a result of his honesty and transparency. On top of losing family and community and career and identity, and now with his ALS diagnosis, Dave’s journey has been less than an easy one. And yet— And! Yet! Dave’s story remains one of the most inspirational I’ve seen (in person or in a book!) as he has stepped forward not only to seize each and every moment he has left in his own life but to also encourage others around the world to do the same with theirs.
But of course, even the most powerful story can be impossible to read if it’s not told well. And here we see Dave is a phenomenal storyteller—and writer! His gripping moment-by-moment accounting is certainly among the most enthralling deconversion stories I’ve ever encountered. It is an absolute rollercoaster that will have you feeling all the feels. Anger, sadness, exuberance, thrill, devastation, and more.
Pick up Dave’s memoir and one thing’s for sure. It will leave its mark on you for quite some time to come.
To each of these questions, I can affirm the answer is a strong and unequivocal YES. As you read his story, you’ll see over and over again how Dave believed so truly, so strongly, so confidently in his god that he literally left and sacrificed everything else in life in order to follow the call of ministry that he was sure he had received.
As someone who’s known Dave personally for seven years, I’ve seen him agonize over much of the torture and trauma that emerged as a result of his honesty and transparency. On top of losing family and community and career and identity, and now with his ALS diagnosis, Dave’s journey has been less than an easy one. And yet— And! Yet! Dave’s story remains one of the most inspirational I’ve seen (in person or in a book!) as he has stepped forward not only to seize each and every moment he has left in his own life but to also encourage others around the world to do the same with theirs.
But of course, even the most powerful story can be impossible to read if it’s not told well. And here we see Dave is a phenomenal storyteller—and writer! His gripping moment-by-moment accounting is certainly among the most enthralling deconversion stories I’ve ever encountered. It is an absolute rollercoaster that will have you feeling all the feels. Anger, sadness, exuberance, thrill, devastation, and more.
Pick up Dave’s memoir and one thing’s for sure. It will leave its mark on you for quite some time to come.
May 10, 2025
It seems many of the readers of Dave’s book are people who, like him, were committed Christians and lost their faith, or maybe never had faith and found Dave online. I read this book because I knew Dave decades ago…I worked at “Brookwood” with him as he met his wife, who was a good friend, and began that part of his life. So I watched much of the content of this book happen, until they moved to Tennessee. This was a heartbreaking book for me. It shows the damage toxic faith leaves in its wake. I am so sad for Dave and his family. He found community, but he didn’t find it in the church, which is where you “should” find it. My grandmother had a plaque on her kitchen wall when I was growing up. It said, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. Dave is doing that. He seems to be choosing to be better rather than bitter. I commend him for that. And for sharing his story. The people who twist scripture and seek control to make themselves feel more important should be exposed.
March 20, 2022
Once I started reading this book, I could not put it down. As soon as I finished this book, I immediately wanted to read it all over again. Dave story is an important one that would resonate with anyone who has tried to find their place in this world, regardless of their religious beliefs. Dave's already fantastic story truly comes alive with his amazing writing, and I still finding myself thinking about some of the imagery he used to make the reader feel like they were right there with him.
If you've ever felt lost, this book is a fantastic reminder that you're not alone, life is short, and you should always live authentically. I laughed. I cried. 10/10, I will be recommending this book to everyone I know: believers and unbelievers.
If you've ever felt lost, this book is a fantastic reminder that you're not alone, life is short, and you should always live authentically. I laughed. I cried. 10/10, I will be recommending this book to everyone I know: believers and unbelievers.
November 10, 2024
I enjoyed this book on several levels. Most interesting was the view it offered of really conservative Evangelicalism in Southern USA. It was utterly unlike the much more liberal evangelicalism I grew up with in Canada. I resonated with Warnock’s struggle to account for unanswered prayer and an unresponsive God. I was repelled by the antics of his fellow religionists. I was sad for his first wife, who does not get much positive press here, even though she does seem to be really long suffering. My own journey out of anything like traditional Christianity was much different than Warnock’s, but I do “get” the emotional and spiritual difficulty he describes.
April 2, 2022
It's been a long time since I have read a book from "cover to Cover" in one sitting.
It's also been a long time since I have been deeply, emotionally affected by a book as well.
Dave's journey to understand his life's purpose and to find peace with one's self is quite powerful....very raw....full of emotion....
Finding one's peace isn't peaceful....and Dave's journey through his doubt with religion wasn't peaceful.
Some of us have our own story regarding deconversion.....and Dave's story is quite powerful....
Thank you for sharing your story.......and that you have found Peace and comfort
It's also been a long time since I have been deeply, emotionally affected by a book as well.
Dave's journey to understand his life's purpose and to find peace with one's self is quite powerful....very raw....full of emotion....
Finding one's peace isn't peaceful....and Dave's journey through his doubt with religion wasn't peaceful.
Some of us have our own story regarding deconversion.....and Dave's story is quite powerful....
Thank you for sharing your story.......and that you have found Peace and comfort
June 25, 2023
This book... man, what a read.
Going in, I knew only a bit about Dave Warnock. I've heard his story in snippets on various podcasts, and he seemed a genuinely good guy.
This is his story.
I tore through this book unlike anything else lately. The writing is on point, bringing right to when and where he was, and the story resonated deeply with my own. I'm not saying that his autobiography here is my biography, but some of the parallels were striking.
Phenomenal read, and highly recommended to anyone reading this.
Going in, I knew only a bit about Dave Warnock. I've heard his story in snippets on various podcasts, and he seemed a genuinely good guy.
This is his story.
I tore through this book unlike anything else lately. The writing is on point, bringing right to when and where he was, and the story resonated deeply with my own. I'm not saying that his autobiography here is my biography, but some of the parallels were striking.
Phenomenal read, and highly recommended to anyone reading this.
September 15, 2023
I finished this book last week and I have been trying to find something meaningful to say to express how deeply this affected me. It's a beautiful self-effacing memoir that makes you feel for all of the characters and care about what happens to them. This book is a book about deconversion and losing faith that doesn't de-humanize those who remain. It offers great insights that are meaningful to me and I imagine would be even more so than those wise experiences with religion ran as deep a the author's. Highly recommended for anyone!
August 13, 2022
I first heard Dave on the Atheist Experience. His approach to callers is matter-of-fact, empathetic, but with a no BS attitude. When I heard him describe this book one time (maybe it was with the Cog Dis guys), I could hear it in his voice that he wanted to tell his story - and not let anyone else tell it. And that’s what you’re going to get here. Easy to read, brutally honest, heartfelt.
Can’t wait to read the next one, DOL.
Can’t wait to read the next one, DOL.
May 25, 2022
I felt like an honored guest in Dave’s life to have the privilege of hearing his story in his own words so intimately expressed as his life unfolded across many decades. The emotional journey is authentic, nuanced and compassionate. As someone who also deconverted from Christianity, there were so many experiences and trains of thought that I found myself relating to as I read a long.
February 27, 2022
Comforting for those of us struggling
I truly enjoyed this book, as I navigate deconstruction myself. So glad he took the time to write it, with his limited time diagnosis.
I truly enjoyed this book, as I navigate deconstruction myself. So glad he took the time to write it, with his limited time diagnosis.
March 27, 2022
Heartbreaking and Beautiful.
December 18, 2024
This book means everything to me! It hits so close to home.
March 18, 2023
Extremely worthwhile book!!
Powerful book. Well written, and quite unique in the genre of autobiographies from religious leaders who have lost their faith. The author speaks with honesty and unpretentious metaphors and anecdotes about many of the damaging consequences of evangelicalism. There are deep and profound intersections with matters of family and death. There is restraint at times, but also raw emotion frequently is unleashed. It is a moving and poignant book, deserving of a very large audience. It is a gift, really... The gift of a man's life, freely shared.
Powerful book. Well written, and quite unique in the genre of autobiographies from religious leaders who have lost their faith. The author speaks with honesty and unpretentious metaphors and anecdotes about many of the damaging consequences of evangelicalism. There are deep and profound intersections with matters of family and death. There is restraint at times, but also raw emotion frequently is unleashed. It is a moving and poignant book, deserving of a very large audience. It is a gift, really... The gift of a man's life, freely shared.
May 3, 2024
I knew the gist of Warnock's story from his online presence on Youtube, but it was great to read the whole thing!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews