I've seen several of these kinds of stories, where someone attempts to disprove God and ends up being converted. And it is usually the highly intelligent, the academic minded, but always those who are not closed minded. When they examine the evidence with a purely rational and intellectually honest way they tend to become convinced. The atheist will condemn the religious as mindless sheep, following unquestioning along, believing whatever fairytale they are told. They cannot conceive that anyone with a rational mind could not belive the way they do. But in fact there are a great many highly educated and intelligent people who have come to rationally accept the truth of the gospel. ‘Militant’ atheist NBA employee driven to disprove God ends up proving Him, converting to Christianity
Ones “Faith” in an All Mighty Being, is a personal understanding… But when it has proven itself, over and over, in many different life experiences, and situations, it takes on a value of inspired TRUTH.. Then after many revealed Truths, the communications become Devine Personal Revelation, and True Friendship between one’s self and ones God… and it can’t be taught, or understood, by another person…It can only be Testified Too by that individual…
It all started for me in questioning, "Why am I Here?" "What is my purpose" I was adopted as an infant by a loving wonderful couple who raised me as their own. I have accepted that to be Divine Intervention. At 5 years old, I nearly drowned in a pond stupidly on a raft built out of junk from which I fell. Water was over my head deep, boots filled with water, I could not swim, but a voice inside said remain calm and drift to the bottom then push off. Again, Divine Intervention. Later that same summer, I was stung by a honey bee and reacted allergically. The systemic reaction put me into anaphylactic shock, it was a weekend, my parents met our family doctor at his office and after several injections of epinephrine, I managed to recover. The doctor was supposed to go on a camping trip with his family but one of his children had an ear infection so they decided to stay home. I have always seen that as Divine Intervention. I finished school, survived a stint in the military, got married and raised a family. My daughter is the product of my wife's previous marriage and was two when her mother and I married. I have always loved her as my own and she is now married to a wonderful man and have twin daughters, now both 17. My son joined the Marine Corps and earned his EGA just before 9/11. He deployed to Iraq and returned to us a changed man. He gained control of his demons and is now a successful chef in a fine dining restaurant. Without God's help, I don't believe any of this would have happened...
The closer we look into quantum physics and the deeper we get into time space theory, the more it directs us to what can best be defined as not just problematic, but intelligent design on a level which is extremely difficult to ascertain and quantify. To think that all matter blinked into existence in less than a second is almost impossible, but the math suggests this is precisely what occurred. We can say that the universe is expanding, just as our consciousness is aware and these thoughts lead us to find more answers along the way. The truly fascinating aspect of the mysteries within the microcosm at the subatomic level and its measurement problem is still an unknown variable to us. A light photon could already have its final position marked at the time of its creation from any distance --from the other side of the universe. It's the little things like this that can truly humble a person. On the side of religion, that being the possibility of a divine creator, most of these scientific theories tend to lead us closer to the possibility of proving a consciousness that may very well be all encompassing. It becomes very difficult to strip away the foundations behind religion in this matter. I do not subscribe to the many practices of religion, mostly because they are filtered through the minds of people and therefore subject to our many faults and delusions and failures, but the basic tenets of what exists still remains. There is so much beauty and wonder with this reality and it is perfectly paired and integrated with every aspect of all existence in a way which seemingly appears impossible. As for the macrocosm and our society, it's the Christian base that holds our traditional authority and maintains a crucial role. If we degrade this vital part of our heritage, we risk falling victim to every edict of transient cause, and this is dangerous. I will always support the freedom of religion, it is an incredibly important foundation to our republic.
And that is one reason I have always held you in high regard buddy. You do not let conciet hinder your intellect. You are intellectually honest enough to recognize that there may be other interpretations and beliefs and you respect that. A rare trait in most people.
Not to change the subject but I didn't want to start a whole new thread. The wife and I went out to see a movie last night. We went to see this psychological thriller called "Nefarious ". I had read some reviews of it. It wasn't the one we went it see but that one was sold out so this was our second choice. It wasn't a great movie but it was very good. Great acting but the theme was what really made it for me. It was very much reminiscent of CS Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. To see our world through the eyes of a demonic entity was eerie. Or possibly through the eyes of a tormented, unstable mind. I won't give any spoilers. One review said it had appeal for people of faith as well as those of more skeptical minds. I found that true.
