what is the best way to turn an athiest into a believer?

Question

my friend is an athiest. i dont want to see him go to hell. hes pretty openminded. what would you say and do specifically ,to make him believe?

i want to hear stories, not just opinions

hes also not a super athiest. he was a christian at one time but had some bad expereices with it.

he had bad expereince with some other christians at my church. he believe some christian in my church are assholes and fake. i agree with him on some of these people. but i didnt change me as much as it did him.

Answer 1

It's good that you care about your friend, but you can never 'make' someone have faith or belief. He must have some good morals and ethics for you to like him, so just trust that he will turn out well. Although I'm not religious, I like to think that if there were a God, he wouldn't see good people damned. Think Ghandi or the Dalai Llama, for example.

Answer 2

I have friend who is the same way. I would never stop being her friend or anything. The funny thing is she used to go to church with me a long time ago. I totally accept her decision and everything. I mean this probably doesn't answer your question but her opinion and beliefs are of her own choosing. Deep down I wish I could persuade her to think differently but there is only so much you can do. Well, best wishes but remember that is your friends perspective and/or opinion so be careful not to jeopardize your friendship. I can understand where you are coming from and in away you might feel kinda hopeless, you just want to help your friend see what you see and feel what you feel but you have to think about if your friend needs help.

Answer 3

There is a limit to what you can do. You can only take the horse to the water but you can not make it drink. Only God can change a person. Your concern and good intentions will be rewarded. Tell him the truth and leave the decision to him. Perhaps the greatest thing you could do is to pray for Him.

"This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him" (1John 5:14-15).

God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1Timothy 2:4; 2Peter 3:9; Revelation 2:21).

Answer 4

Many people who become Atheists have had a life changing experience that proved to them that atheist beliefs are logical, and aren't likely to be swayed by anything other than brain washing. If they are raised as Athiests, it would probably be even more difficult, as they may see most religions as ridiculous.

Just as an example, I decided my beliefs in Atheism when I was about 11, and I am now 18. There is no possible way to prove anything to me, unless I see a spirit or something of that sort.

I'm not saying its impossible, and its worth a try. Christians lead happy lives, and my beliefs don't exactly give me hope and motivation.

Answer 5

I am a non-thist. I only no of one person that has been swayed from Atheism to religion. Even that person only became a Deist. He still admits he thinks most religions are hogwash.

To convert your friend you must acomplish the following.

1. Show him a need for a deity at all. He will probly not buy into the bible right away since he has already rejected it once. Be vague. Use the apeal on a kind (not all good) and powerful (not all powerful) diety. If you try to use an all powerful all good god he will most likely use an argument of the existance of evil.

2. Show that said diety could efect his life. Avoid logical imposibilities like round triangles. You might not know what I am talking about but as an Atheist he should. Maybe a form of subconsience minipulation would work for an example to give him.

3. Show that said diety would want to efect his life. Companionship, wanting to feel useful, ect... If your friend is a Humanist this should not be hard.

4. Now would be a good time to show the posibilty of said diety existing. I would use a multi-dimensional being example. This would allow the diety to not be efected by our universe but still make changes to our univers. Some Atheists use a similar argument for the creation of our universe in the multiverse theory. It is a long shot but it might work.

If you get him to agree with all of that he will be a Deist. But since you want him to be a Christian you have to sell him on alot more.

1. Is the religion moral. (avoid history) If he brings up the crusades or anything bring up Comunist Russia. Tell him no one is perfect. He will bring up parts of the bible that are not moral. Do not show him a part of the bible that contridicts it. This would be working against what you are trying to achive. He should understand that morals are objective. Appeal to this. Tell him that times/society were diffrent.

2. Next you have to show him that the bible is credible. Avoid a literal translation. If he brings up evolution show him that in Gen 1 it says that the animals came from the earth. Show evidence that Matthew was written only 60 years after Jesus died. Again, at all cost avoid a literal translation. If he reads it literaly he will pick it to peices.

3. Show him the religion is benificial. Show him the things your church does as a comunity. Let everyone know he is not a christian and let him come to see how your religion helps each other. DO NOT let anyone else try to preach to him. It will insult his intelgence and probly chase him off faster than an animal sacrafice.

4. Show him that the religion is plausable. Nothing in the religion will be capable of contridicting what is known about the world arround us. I don't know what to tell you for this one. Perhaps you and your priest could think of something.

5. Faith. This is the hardest to sell him on. And IMHO the most absurd part. Not only do you need to show why your god is invisible to us but also give due cause for such a position to be taken.

Things to avoid when talking to him, evil, sin, omni-(whatever), logical imposibilities, freewill, prayer, rapture, burning in hell, creationism, using God in every sentance.

Before you talk to him about it you should understand his position. I could help you with this but I would need to know more about him. Like is he a Humanist, Naturalist, Unitirian, Strong/Weak Atheist? Does he enjoy debate or is he shy of talking about his position at all?

After knowing about his position you will need a plan. I perfer Q&A for converting people to non-theism. Let him ask all the questions he wants and answer them to HIS satasisfaction. Once he is exhausted his questions ask yours and do not let him ask any more untill you are done with yours.

Answer 6

If he is logical enough, you will never be able to convert him.

The only way to convince me, another non-believer, would be to prove that god exists, at least beyond a shadow of a doubt. You are in a losing battle there though.

God tends to exist in the dark corners, outside of the realm of human knowledge. As science progresses, it shines the light on an ever further widening realm of reality, pushing god farther, and farther back into the darkness.

Sense, you obviously, not only want to convert your atheist friend into a believer in god, but also into a believer in the Christian flavor of deism, you will have to convince him that the Bible is the unnerrant word of an unerrant god.

Being that Bibles do not fall from the sky, or grow naturally from the ground, but rather have to be written and produced by humans, it is not likely that an atheist, unless gullible, will be able to be convinced of such things.

Your fighting an losing battle, unless your friend is gullible.

Take care.
:-)

Answer 7

Live a life of service to God so well that you friend will never deny that the One and True God is living in you.

Look around the web for "Does God exist" there is a web site that is real good at this question.

As for a testimony I have tried but I also have never given up hope. So I remember them in prayer.
It is said "there are no atheist in hell"
It is also said that it takes more faith to believe in nothing than to believe in something" also "Atheism is a faith based religion in which those who practice it gather in the church of higher learning and reject what their own sense tell them.
Try this though. Ask your friend since he knows a little of the bible who it was that cause him to fall away was it people, or was it his own expections of God that were not met? in other words "Who let him down." Talk to him as a friend and love Him as God first loved you ...flaws and all.

Answer 8

if he's open minded, have a discussion on what makes him not believe, don.t focus so much on religion, but the creator.some atheist necessarily don't have a real problem with God, but the religious aspect of it all may be the problem. The different churches, how Jesus did this, the whole money buy in & many others. I love God, but religion is not my fortay. You don't need a group to go to hell, you can get there on own. Talk it over with, you may be surprise. But above respect his beleif & others.

Answer 9

Victor, I suggest you get hold of a copy of the book "Does God Believe In Atheists?" by John Blanchard. At over 600 pages in length it will give YOU much ammunition with which to make him think. John Blanchard also has some videos and audio material you might like to check out. He is one of the foremost Christian apologetics speakers. See the link below for more details.

Answer 10

You can't change your friend's mind by yourself. He needs prayer and the Holy Spirit needs to convict your friend. Ask God to reveal Himself to your friend, to show him that he needs God. God needs to work in your friend's life until your friend comes to a point where he realizes that he is lost without God. What you can do, however, is keep praying for him and get him to read the book "The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel. It is a book giving evidence for Christ from the personal experience of an atheist. It's a really good book, has tons of hard core evidence. Keep praying for your friend and believe God for a miracle! I'm glad that your so concerned for your friend - the world needs more people like you - remember, the Bible says: "The fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." So don't give up. God Bless You!