Any educated atheist turned believers?

Question

I'm always interested in the stories of non-believers being "born again". But I've found very similar, sort of vulnerable qualities in almost all cases. They usually know next to nothing about the Bible until they open it up in the time of trouble, where they find it's not what they expected, and actually fills a void in their lives.

Then in Christian Ed class, I learned of a new video series we would be starting, and I was genuinely interested to hear a life story. But his position before turning Christian was similar in that he claimed the Bible was "boring, untrue, and irrelevant", without any real reason and no prior knowledge.

So what I'm looking for is the story of someone who knew the Bible, was fluid in both sciences and the Bible, and considered themselves with reason, an atheist. And then, after this, somehow came to be a Christian or religious person. I fully expect irrelevant comments that don't answer my request at all, but I'd appreciate the story of someone like this.

I know religious to atheism conversions are common - a good majority of friends and myself have that same story, and there are plenty of obvious reasons to do so. What I'm looking for is the opposite - atheism to religious.

Answer 1

In my youth I was VERY educated in the Bible. At 16 I walked away from the church and God and was Agnostic then when I hit bottom ATHEIST. Then I went to College and received An AS in Gerontology.

Some where along the way I became interested in Wicca. Now I realize that my problem never was because of God but the pain I had suffered was at the hands of men that called themselves "Christians". Don't get me wrong I chose to walk away. I am very grateful for God allowing me to learn the lessons I have learned.

After all those years of self inflected separation I have found my way back to God. I have never known such happiness!

Blessings!

Answer 2

I was raised Christian until I was 17...
then at that time of my life , religion/God etc made no sense for me
things just werent adding up , my questions just werent being answered
I remained Atheist for about 12 years ... but during that time I had experiences ( paranormal ) that I was trying to brush aside or making excuses for..
in joining a psychic chat room , simply out of mere interest on the subject , I started to attend development class ... all the while remaining skeptical
it wasn't long before everything I had experienced started to make sense and in a matter of months I was receiving spirit and giving spirit readings
I am now Spiritualist , although I use the term based on that fact that the religion is closest to my own beliefs...
but I am open to many aspects from all belief systems

Answer 3

Read "The Case for a Creator" by Lee Strobel. It has many stories like what you are looking for. Lee Strobel also happens to be an educated man who was an atheist and became a Christian. He set out to prove Christianity false and ended up a believer.

Answer 4

Probably the most famous in recent decades was the son of Madalyn Murray O'Hair:

In 1980, her son William converted to Christianity and was born again at a Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas, where he took up work as a preacher. This led to a permanent estrangement between mother and son. As she put it,

"One could call this a postnatal abortion on the part of a mother, I guess; I repudiate him entirely and completely for now and all times...He is beyond human forgiveness."

O'Hair, of course, was the spiritual founder of RS style zealous atheism.

Answer 5

A believer in what? Islam? Zoroastrianism? Pagan polytheism? Wicca? Aliens? Astrology? Water memory? Homeopathy?

Answer 6

Francis Collins of Genentech isn't exactly what you'd call born again, but he's recenty claimed to believe in a god of sorts.

There was a flap over Anthony Flew. I seem to recall he made a partial retraction about his conversion.

Answer 7

Nope other way around for me. I knew and still remember the bible quite well, but find it to be totally different if you just read it rather than when you read it with "spiritual blinders" on. I don't know how anyone reading it from an objective sense would ever follow it - not to mention the lack of evidence for it.

Answer 8

You might want to look up "Alistair McGrath" who claims to have been an atheist once but who is now a believer. He is an Oxford Professor. I think he was probably more agnostic and wanting to believe, myself.

Apart from him, the only non-believers who found Jesus have been in prison, drug addicts or otherwise very vulnerable.

Answer 9

Lee Strobel was a former atheist turned christian, his book the "case for christ" might interest you, it is on dvd format aswell. he set out to debunk christianity and ended up becoming one.

Answer 10

I see the bible as false doctrine after years of research, now I am a believer in God but the bible is still ridiculous.

Several years ago I had an unusual experience concerning an uncle, a distant relative who lived over a thousand miles away.

While driving my car I suddenly felt the unmistakable presence of this relative that I hardly even knew. He was more like someone I had heard about than someone I knew. It was very strange; it felt as though I was momentarily lifted right out of my physical body. I seemed to be suspended somehow beyond space and time, bathed in a love so intense It felt like I could have just disappear into it at any moment if It would have let me. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it seemed to last forever at the same time. I realize how crazy this must sound. The experience was so strong that at first I was afraid I was loosing my grip on reality. I finally managed to chalk it up to an over active imagination.

Three days later I got a call from my aunt telling me that this uncle we are talking about had gone into a coma and died the day I had the experience. It felt like ice water had been poured down my back when she told me this. I had lost any real ideas of God or faith and had become somewhat of an atheist. Needless to say this experience caused me to rethink some of the conclusions I had come to.

I feel blessed to now understand that even in our darkest confusion something loves us so much that it went out of its way to assist me and bring me back to a state of absolute certainty about Gods love for us.
During the experience it seemed like there was a vast amount of information that I was somehow allowed access to. One thing that I came away from this experience understanding beyond any shadow of a doubt was that any Idea that God is unhappy with us or would judge or allow us to be punished for any reason is simply impossible.

I can’t explain the love I felt with words. They simply don’t make words big enough or complete enough to do this. The only way I can begin to convey this love to you is to say that there was simply nothing else there. Nothing but love. No hint of judgment, no displeasure of any sort. It is as though God sees us as being as perfect as we were the day we were created. It is only in our confused idea of ourselves that we seem to have changed.

I hope this is of some help to you. Good luck. Love and blessings.

Your brother don