GOD Dots
Atheists who became big believers
By Jim Day You know, I get a lot of people who say they can’t believe in God because they believe in science. When I tell them that God created science, they generally scoff. But the harder one looks at science, the more plausible the idea of a Creator. It seems the hardest people to reach are people who feel they’re too smart to believe. They find excuses to intellectually reject God. People like Stephen Hawking or Carl Sagan. As a matter of fact, of the top 50 atheists in the world (according to TheBestSchools.com), 25 of them are distinguished professors and the other 25 make their living by being atheists. Well, technically, 18 are authors, who write about atheism. Then there’s the literary agent who represents atheist authors, a rapper who has atheistic songs, a professional blogger who blogs about atheism, an actor, an attorney who files lawsuits to remove God from our money, a humanist (whatever that is), and one professional atheist (seriously, he doesn’t have a regular job). But 25 of them are distinguished professors! Now, you might be thinking, “What’s this got to do with God Dots?” Good question and we are going to get there. … You see, in my humble opinion, these folks aren’t very smart at all. Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. – Romans 1:21 (NKJV) And there are thousands of God Dot stories from people like this who had no faith structure at all, or who walked away from their faith, who were futile in their thoughts and had dark hearts, but then had a “divine appointment.” People like Don Winget, University Distinguished Teaching Professor, University of Texas at Austin. Don is the author of 334 research works with 7,625 citations and 3,742 reads. He grew up in the church, but in his teens he decided that God did not exist. He says, “I started out arguing and then debating. I studied the Bible quite a bit as a child. I knew Scripture and that made me dangerous in debates. I had a list of 50 examples where I thought the Bible was contradictory that I would use. I would often bring these up and considered myself a ‘fire-breathing atheist.’” Here’s more of his story in his words: My wife and I had 5 kids. She was a cultural Christian and when I challenged her faith, she became an atheist.
But sometime later, it became obvious to us that our two oldest boys didn’t have any real spiritual or moral compass. My wife and I spent a great deal of time talking and worrying about this. Neither of us gained a spiritual or moral compass at school – that happened by going to church in our childhood. Because of this, we decided that we needed to find some religion of the world and use that to guide our kids and get involved. We didn’t want to just dump them and drive off. We realized, though, that we would have to find someplace to get connected. In our minds, this religion had to at least be plausible. So once again, my wife and I both started investigating different world religions. With my background in anthropology, what we were looking for was a religion that wasn’t archeologically falsifiable. In the midst of this search, we began looking for places for our youngest son to go to daycare. The only one we found that would take him was a Christian church. When we ran into the pastor, we realized that this is someone we could talk to about Christianity. That pastor was one of Don’s God Dots. He recommended some books to read: “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ.” Lee Strobel’s book cites archeological and other non-biblical evidence for Christ. One could argue that C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel were two more God Dots. Over time, Don returned to the Lord. This reminds me of a little piece of Scripture. Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. – Proverbs 22:6 (NKJV) Another person who comes to mind is William J. Murray III, son of infamous atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, who filed a lawsuit that ended compulsory Bible reading in schools. The family business was atheism. This son of America’s high-profile atheist, evolutionist and religionhater read Taylor Caldwell’s book “Dear and Glorious Physician,” about Luke, one of the Bible’s Gospel writers. William rushed out at 3 o’clock one morning in a desperate search for a Bible. He found one in an all-night store. He said that as he read about why Jesus Christ had lived and died, it finally put meaning into his life. “I got down on my knees and repented of my sins and asked Jesus Christ into my life as Lord and Savior,” he said.
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God Bless The U.S.A.! 22 July / August 2020 | Christian Living
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