What I wish I knew as an atheist
It’s just a coping mechanism. Christians only invent a God because they need to feel loved and don’t get it on Earth. Believers blindly trust an outdated book which doesn’t hold up to science or objective history. That sums up what the Christian faith is, right?
That’s certainly what I thought. As a militant atheist, I dismissed Christianity because I studied science and saw media portrayals of what Christians seemed to hold true. And it all seemed like a load of bull. But a year ago I met someone who took the time of day to sit down and discuss what he believed, why he believed it, and why all my questions about his and my beliefs were not only valid, but answerable. I found this infinitely valuable as my objections to the faith were slowly and gently exposed as illogical, relativistic and worthy of a lot more weighty thought than I had presupposed.
So now, dear readers, though the wealth of words required to allow full discernment of Christianity and its importance in our lives cannot be fulfilled in a one page article, I delight in inviting you to read what I believe and contact me with the resultant questions.
Christianity, despite popular thought, is not some subjective religion. It isn’t just a tingly feeling or the sprinkling of water on your head as a baby, at least not in its true (and consequently only acceptable) form. Christianity is not a human-devised religion dedicated to the job of reconciling God to humanity and humanity to itself. It is about the reality that I do bad things, you do bad things and my Christian friends do bad things. And because God is just and fair, when we fail to live as He designed us to live, He who is righteous and perfect must execute fair punishment (which is something we would demand of any upstanding judge).
But here is the good news: despite our constantly destructive actions which affect us and each other, God loves us and created us to be in a beautiful relationship with Him. He who is madly in love with us wants us back and He has made a way for that to be possible. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the astonishing announcement that God is real and he has done the whole work of our reconciliation without a scrap of human assistance. This was all accomplished in the person of Christ.
This is not about our emotions or our actions to earn our worth. It is about the objective actuality that Christ did it all for us 2000 years ago. A claim that can be supported or dismissed with historical evidence. Faith, like anything else, is putting my trust into something. I put my trust in science’s results, my boyfriend’s loyalty, gravity’s infallibility, and these faiths are only as good as their subject. So, is there any merit in my trust in Christ?
When the Bible makes a claim about what Jesus did, it should be supported with eyewitness accounts and reliable historical transcription methods. Christianity is the only religion which offers a wealth of eyewitness evidence. In fact there are more reports of Christ’s life, death and resurrection than any other historical document in all of human history—with over 5000 more copies than that of the second most attested-to historical document: Homer’s Iliad! This is only one of the pieces of evidence which allowed my reason and logic to change my worldview from atheism to Christianity, and I can only hope that in the small amount of words on this little page you have seen the majesty and goodness of God through the finished work of Christ. Please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions, as well as doing the balanced research to determine what faith-based system is objectively true in this world!