Winston wrote: ↑February 25th, 2014, 11:31 am
Title: Four Extraordinary Aspects of Christianity That Atheists Can't Explain.
How can Christianity be untrue yet so powerful and transforming? My struggle as a deconvert.
Ever since I
deconverted from the Christian faith in 1992, I've been grappling with an issue or paradox that I can't seem to make sense out of. Let me explain.
Using basic logic and reason, one can easily find lots of reasons in Atheistic and Anti-Christian literature and articles to use as a basis for disbelieving in Christianity. There are so many contradictions, logical problems, moral inconsistencies, absurdities in Christian doctrine, and lack of evidence to support the Bible's claims (or what Christian fundamentalists claim that the Bible says). Using logic to take apart the claims of Christians is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel, if one really wants to do it.
There are so many valid criticisms of Christianity and the Bible that make sense and cannot be explained away. In fact, I've listed many of them in
my article here. These are all apparent to an objective rational clear thinking mind that has not been brainwashed by the belief that the Bible must be inerrant and the highest authority, being the word of God.
Yet in spite of all this, there still seems to be something very real about Christianity that is transformative and powerful as well which has stood the test of time. One can personally feel the power and realness of it (at least I do). Even as a non-Christian, one has to appreciate and admire that. So I think Atheists are wrong and narrow-minded to dismiss the value of Christianity as a whole. Consider the following verifiable major aspects of Christianity that attest to its real and transformative power throughout the ages and even now.
1. Christianity definitely has the power to transform lives. It has helped many people throughout history til now. There are countless testimonials of people who were broken and at the end of their rope, but after becoming born again Christians, found strength and salvation that brought them back to life. I know of many such people, have met them, and was one myself.
There are even accounts of people who were about to commit suicide but didn't after they found Christ, or found a Bible in a motel drawer and became saved after opening it. So it can even be said Christianity has saved lives and prevented suicides. In contrast, you will never hear stories of suicidal people at the end of their rope who found hope and strength in Atheist literature that saved their lives.
So it does seem that these sincere devout Christians are connecting to some kind of REAL power, whether externally or internally, which has a great transformative effect. I don't think it can be explained psychologically by mere placebo. It seems to be either spiritual, metaphysical, interdimensional, or divine in nature. So how do you explain that?
However, this isn't unique to Christianity. Other religions have transformed lives too. Islam, Mormonism, and even Buddhism has adherents who claim to have been helped or changed for the better by them. So how do you explain that? Christians can't explain this so they can only say that Satan can work behind other religions to fool people, but that is an obvious cop out that proves nothing.
2. Devout authentic Christians radiate a glow and energy about them that is different than secular people. There is something different in their eyes and vibe that sets them apart from average non-religious people in urban life who are materialistic, live for money and status, and have no inner life. If you've been around them, you know what I mean. It's like there is a foundation of righteousness and virtues within them that the secular person lacks. In particular, Mormons are known for their "Mormon glow" that radiates a clean and wholesome appearance. (Google "Mormon glow" and you will see references to this)
Now, I am not referring to any random person who calls himself a Christian, since anyone can pay lip service to being a Christian without living like one. I'm referring to the sincere devout Christian who carries a Bible, has many Bible verses memorized, generally lives according to the principles of his/her faith (not perfectly of course, but generally), and also has some type of "glow" about them. Thus, I think it would be logical to surmise that something very real must have transformed them like this. I don't think something totally false or unreal could do that.
3. Authentic experiences of miracles and answered prayer are common in Christian communities. There are many documented cases of miracles that defy conventional explanation, if one wants to find them. And every devout Christian can cite examples in his/her life of answered prayers that do not seem to be mere coincidence. Even I can.
For example, when I was 14, I was the only Christian in my family so did not have Christian friends to hang out with or even a church to go to. So one night I prayed and asked God to help me find Christian friends for fellowship and to have a church to go to. The next day or two, an old classmate of mine that I knew in 6th and 7th grade named called me. I had not heard from him in almost a year and there was no reason for him to call me. We had no business to discuss. He did not even know why he was calling me. It seemed like an unseen hand was making this happen.
After we made small talk for a while and caught up, I told him that I was listening to Christian radio. Then he asked if I was a Christian and told me that he was too. I told him that I had been since I was 9 but didn't take it seriously until now and had just rejuvenated my faith over the summer. But that I was a lone Christian with no church to go to. He then invited me to his community church.
Soon I went on a hayride with his Church Youth Group at night and then played miniature golf with them afterward. The people at the Youth Group were very warm, genuine and friendly, as if they had good souls. They were nothing like the mean, vile, hostile, rude teens at my school that made me feel vulnerable and uncomfortable everyday. It was refreshing to be around such people. It validated my faith and told me that there must be something to it. And it gave me the meaning in my life that I desperately needed. So for the next two years, I had a church to go to, and Christian friends to have fellowship with.
That's one example of an answered prayer I experienced. Every devout Christian has stories of answered prayer like this, that range from the mundane to the extraordinary. As you read, my prayer was answered almost the very next day by a classmate I hadn't heard from in a long time, who called me for no reason. And this did not seem like a coincidence at all. Old casual friends or acquaintances do not usually call me for no reason after not seeing me in a long time. As a Christian, somehow you just knew when a prayer was answered. I know that sounds subjective, but it was true and made my faith ever more real.
A pattern I noticed as a Christian is that prayers tend to be answered most often when one prays for things that are aligned with God's will. So people who pray for what they are supposed to, will get them answered most of the time. But prayers for things just to fulfill your greedy or selfish desires are usually unanswered. In my example, I was praying for the former of course.
Again, I'm sure that stories of answered prayer are not unique to Christianity. Believers of other religions and faiths have them too, if you want to find and interview them, or read their literature and testimonials. So how can we make sense of that?
4. Since its beginning, Christianity has spread throughout the world on an unprecedented scale that is inexplicable. Even historians marvel at this and have trouble explaining it. How can a small cult in Judea persecuted under Roman rule eventually become the world's biggest religion? This can't be explained just by the Roman Emperor Constantine making Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th Century AD. Many Roman Emperors have promoted other religions and pagan deities, yet they did not spread as Christianity did. It seemed as though Christianity was meant to spread as it did, as though it were destined to be. No Atheist can explain this sufficiently.
See the documentaries "
Christianity: The First 1000 Years" and "
Christianity: The Second 1000 years" and you will be impressed.
Something that is unreal and powerless could not spread globally like that on an unprecedented scale. Only something with real power and destiny behind it could do that. So how can you explain that? Of course, the same could be said for Islam too, which also spread like wildfire, and is the world's second most popular religion.
