PREACHER TO ATHEIST?

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The Sad Story

I WAS DOING RESEARCH when I came across a video of an atheist, who, as a younger man, had been a traveling evangelist. He was sharing his personal story of how he lost his faith and became a skeptic and then an avowed atheist. This gentleman was speaking to an audience of atheists and skeptics who appreciated his comments. They cheered at all the digs and arguments against a biblical creation, God-belief, historic and modern day Christianity. His story was like the reverse of someone coming to faith. Doubt began his journey into disbelief. I confess to having pondered some of these same thoughts at different times in my spiritual journey, though not near to the degree.

The atheistic arguments were the usual ones, and they were well reasoned. As I watched him I became fascinated in a strange sort of way. He was charming and entertaining, genuine. Some things he said were absolutely true of Christendom. I had to agree with some of his rationale. He clove an axe into areas of faith where hypocrisy and vulnerability abound, where the Christian argument shows weakness. Repeatedly, I think, it comes down to two things: a person's faith and their belief. These, then, inform the whole idea of 'God,' is there a real God? The question of God's goodness as in 'Is God really a good God?'

Then there is the problem of sin. The speaker built his argument against God and took a swing at the concept of 'original sin.' He asked the audience, "How fair is our human plight when all of humankind is damned because of one man's sin?" It goes something like this; "If original sin is true then we are part of a set-up that is to our disadvantage. How could a good God do that to the human race?"  

That is the argument against God and humans having a relationship with him. Then completing the thought, he supplied his conclusion. "A good God would not do that to the people he has made and says he loves." Those were some of the speaker’s objections to Christian and theistic beliefs, which was what originally started him on a path of doubt that grew until it blossomed into his personal choice to disbelieve its 'perceived' truth. 

Doubt is a tool used against our souls. Yet there is this; to turn away from belief in God could feel like freedom when you do not agree with the premise of belief any longer. I contend, it could also feel like a gargantuan loss. Stars would lose their brilliance. The reason for living with its form of right and wrong that promotes common decency and fair treatment of others, morality and goodness, would be absent, gone. Being close to God as his beloved child, would be nonexistent.  The loss and re-positioning of one's belief system would act as a change agent in one's life.

For me, God means too much and has been too real for me to consider him to be a misconception or an untruth.  I sense his presence and know his ministering spirit. I know joy in a greater capacity. His truth feeds my soul. Jesus is my Way, my Truth, and my Life. Easy believism is not Christianity, for to follow Christ there comes a surrendering of self to him as he becomes your Lord and Savior, and it changes you. I cannot look at something beautiful without thinking of the God who made it. I wish every could be open to the possibility of there being a God. It would change the world.

On a Side Note

Little parts of this story I have identified with in my own life, that of changing course mid-stream, although not in regard to loss of faith. In my faith journey I came to a place of stepping out in a new direction with my faith's practice when my beliefs about God had broadened, and I saw his work in people's lives in contrast to my former, more scripted, beliefs. I knew I must follow the way of the cross, the way I believe Christ lived his life and ministered to the spiritually hungry. 

My focus altered. I firmly held to the same tenants of the faith but the outworking of them in my life was became different. I had been transformed. I no longer felt confined by the structures of how others thought I had to live my faith, but I did feel alone. Many rarely look at the big picture of how the puzzle fits together. I’ve thought about the atheist's comments all day. I understand his argument, we could all go down that trail. Doubts are to be contended and reckoned with accordingly. Be aware of this side to spirituality.