I must say that during my life I believe that I have only met one or two real atheists. I have met a number of people who say they are athiesitic, but in fact the truth is that they are really agnostics. In other words, they are not really sure what they believe, or sometimes they even avoid talking about eternal matters such as life after death because of fear. I heard someone say some time ago that a true atheist is a person who reads and studies the Bible, and does the same with books on evolution, Darwinism and other theories, after which, they make a solid decision to not believe Gods word. The people I am speaking of may have read 'Chariots of the Gods' or similar books but have not taken the time to read the bible. You can in my opinion only become a true atheistic person by thoroughly reading and studying the scriptures and then many of the opposing theories. This would then be followed by making a reasoned decision on what they choose to believe.
In our first couple of years as christians my wife’s parents had some married friends that they used to meet with. The wife was a follower of Christ, whereas the husband actually was a real atheist and had done all of what I have already stated. In fact, he had read the bible from cover to cover on a number of occasions. He had a strong interest in science and was well versed in writings on evolution and similar theories. Although our beliefs were very different we got on well.
Through our conversations I learned that he had experienced a difficult childhood. A tragedy occurred when his twin brother died in a house fire while he managed to escape. His mother eventually left the home as she was unable to cope. This made him very hard and he would attempt to disprove the gospel at pretty much any opportunity. We met a number of times over the period of about a year or so. Always within a short time we would be in deep discussions and debates. On a couple of occasions these debates got quite heated with raised voices.
We would have a verbal tennis match where he would say things like “There is no evidence that God exists”. I would reply “Just look at creation” and give lots examples of how the world had to be designed just like the seed example I gave earlier in this book. I would say, “Take for instance the human lung, I have read that if you were to lay one out with all its parts and sections it would fill a tennis court”. He would agree that it was right but would put it down to the big bang theory or something similar. He would say that “God doesn’t exist”. I would explain “Well the bible says you are a fool”. Proverbs 14.1 The fool says in his heart there is no God (NIV).
These types of heated exchanges would often go on for ages. It is quite amusing when I think back about it because we actually used to look forward to meeting so that we could have another go at each other.
One day we were in my mother-in-law's kitchen having another very heated discussion, when he said confidently, “Do you know that there is only chromosome less in a monkey than there is in man”? I answered “Yes I do”. He carried on “So that must prove the apes evolved into human beings”. I thought about what he had said for a few seconds and replied “I will tell you why there is one less
chromosome in a monkey. It is because God made it that way”. He stared at me and said nothing for a few moments and we then carried on our talking.
A few weeks later I heard that he had actually started attending church with his wife and had become a Christian. I didn’t put it down to anything that I had said, and just rejoiced in the wonderful news. We lost contact with him for a while, until one day he turned up on our doorstep with a colleague from his church. He was now involved in an evangelistic team working in the Welsh valleys and was sold out for God. Fantastic I thought. We sat in my lounge and I asked the question “Tell me, what happened to make you want to go to church and accept Christ”? He replied, “Do you remember the time when we were in your mother-in-law's kitchen and I talked to you about the chromosome difference between a man and a monkey”?. “Yes” I replied. He continued, “Well, what you said about God designing a monkey wouldn’t go away. So that evening at home I got out my bible and started to read it within a short time I realised that the Bible was true and I gave my life to Christ”.
Talk about make my day!
Really good blog....
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