Why is it that so many people who – with all their heart and soul - set out to prove Christianity wrong…?

Question

...end up becoming some of the strongest and most influential Christian voices in the world?

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I am not one of these, but I was an atheist who became a Christian. And now, having been fully immersed within the "Christian culture" so-to-speak, I see that many Christians look to Saul of Tarsus (Paul), C.S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, and Joshua McDowell as some examples.

But even moreso are many of the "strongest" and most influential voices and most mature Christians within the church...are the ones, like the prodigal son, who strayed so far...before coming back.

Perhaps it is the HUGE "party" God throws for such people. The obedient son (like people who are Christians from a very young age)...was jealous, like, "why don't you throw this party for me?"
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In any events, it happens time and time again...
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My personal answer is that the people who drink most deeply from the fountain of God's grace are the most impacted and passionate for His glory...

They are consumed and compelled by, with, and for His love, grace, and glory...NOT by servile fear or by "obedience".

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Answer 1

Darn you yachadhoo...you keep asking these questions that spark whole new trains of thought for me...and usually when I should be concentrating on something else LOL!

I don't think I would go so far as to suggest that people who wholeheartedly seek to disprove Christianity become the most influential Christian voices, but I do think that they can play a unique role in God's plan. I think that people who become Christians at an early age and continue to grow in him can become just as influential and strong as those that started in opposition to him...however, their influence is more likely limited to people that already believe!

Your question made me recall something from my youth that strongly influences the way I raise my son (who, by the way, is coming to Christianity at a very young age). In an effort to steer me toward a Christian lifestyle, both of my parents insisted that they were both virgins when they married and that I should follow their example if I wanted to avoid all the negative consequences of disobeying God's instructions for sexual morality. However, their argument didn't ring true...how could they know or understand anything about the negative consequences if they had never experienced them? Being blessed (or cursed) with a skeptical mind, I refused to accept their assessment of consequences they had never experienced and instead turned to people that HAD experienced those consequences (mostly peers since I never found a Christian willing to discuss their sexual mistakes with a "child"!). When I (inevitably) heard others with experience tell me that my parents were wrong, I began testing those rules. Sometime after that, I learned that both my parents WERE speaking from experience...that they had lied to me because they were afraid I wouldn't respect them if I knew the truth!

The problem with people who become Christians at an early age and never walk away (like the prodigal son) is that they often have a hard time putting themselves in the shoes of someone that has strayed. I remember taking a class in college about drug and alcohol abuse in industry. The professor was an alcoholic and spent the first part of the class describing his negative experiences with drinking...a very effective message because those of us that drank could relate to some of his stories. Later he started telling us about all the things that pot smoking could do but not in the same manner...finally, one of the pot smokers in the class asked him about his experiences with marijuana and he admitted he had never smoked it. He lost all the pot smokers at that points because none of them (myself included) could identify with his speculative stories about the effects. To him, Reefer Madness was a serious film...to us, it was one of the best cult comedies ever made!

I think people that test God's instructions...whether on a small scale as a Christian or on a larger scale as someone bent on debunking Christianity...are in a MUCH better position to talk about the those instructions with people that don't believe or accept them! They speak the same language and their real experiences are far more likely to influence someone than the hypothetical scenarios painted by someone who has no experience in that area!

I agree with your conclusion about fear and obedience versus devotion motivated by awe and gratitude for the overwhelming love and grace of God. Sums up my beliefs nicely...at one time, I did believe that God wanted us to fear him to motivate obedience. It took years of testing and experimenting with his instructions for me to finally accept that God wants us to follow his instructions for our own good...that he created us and as such, he knows exactly how he designed us to work. I'm humbled by the idea that a God capable of creating all that I am and all that I see wants nothing more than that I seek his advice about what I do with the life he gave me. I serve him not out of fear but out of gratitude that he gave me the gifts to serve a larger purpose than I could possibly imagine for myself!

Answer 2

A long but sincere question. You deserve an answer. This is only how I believe. There is much of life you have yet to experience. This is not bad or wrong, it is simply fact which means nothing except as an observation. There is still much Life has to show you. How you receive it and what you do with your experiences are up to you. I can tell you that I do not believe or practice as Christianity does although I was raised a Catholic. I do have a knowingness, if you will, regarding God. God is. What this means is that God is everything we see and all things we cannot see. To better explain, God is the very Life that we are, that which is the known Universe and beyond. God is all matter and all non-matter including the space in between. God is the sound and the silence, the thought and the emptiness, the visible, invisible and that which is beyond vision. God is Life, Light and Love. Neither of these three can be taken away. They can be given away but never taken. Your ears may not yet be ready to hear such things and that is fine. You have doubts and this too is good. There is so much more than what religion has provided, yet the religion of non-religion or denying what is responsible for our very existence has voids as well. Teach yourself what is true Unconditional Love. Study other religions texts, scriptures and doctrine. Study science and all the great philosophers. God's word is indeed EVERYWHERE. Blessings

Answer 3

Because they are afraid to believe that there is a higher power. Out of all people in the world to guess, i would say, the percentage of people that didn't believe in God, guessing 20-39%? TV is an influential thing that can create an atomosphere for what are children are thinking and what they are seeing with there eyes are two different things.

I believe that all people are spiritual and we all connect on a spiritual level and the rest doesn't matter. Because we need to realise we are all connnected spiritually. Just think of Love, we all love and want to be loved, God is Love. Spirituality is Love, we are all connected. Luv all, Heather

Answer 4

I guess that question answers itself. The more you surround yourself with Christian ideas, the more you understand about it. I've never understood why people feel so strongly about trying to prove any religion wrong. Guess they need a life or something. I do know the more I read what the atheists in here post, the stronger my faith in God becomes. They are good for something after all.

Answer 5

I think it may be that they immerse themselves in the topic, and end up having their conscience pricked, and their eyes opened. After that happens the intellect is enabled to see what the unopened eyes of a God-hating world cannot, and will not see, and at that point there is little left to do but hit your knees and repent before a holy God.

Answer 6

Such as who?

Interesting. I have never heard of a christianity debunker turning out to be a strong christian although I don't doubt it has happened. I am curious if any are high profile. I would be interested in reading about their journey. I find it fascinating to read about the thought process and self discovery of one who rejects a religion they practiced and converts to another ~ or rejects religion entirely.



ETA: A warm public thank you to those who sent names and reading material recommendations.

Answer 7

I would never try to prove Christianity wrong. But I think some people inside the community need to ease up a little on other's beliefs

Answer 8

Why is it that Christians who set out to prove that god is real end up becoming some of the most influential atheists in the world?

Dan Barker springs to mind.

Oh, and if you're refering to Antony Flew, you can have him. The guy's so senile you could probably convince him that unicorns exist.

Answer 9

Examples first of all.

Second, if someone is trying to disprove christianity with all their heart and soul, they are not an atheist. They are searching for something and if they became a christian maybe they found the right thing for them.

Answer 10

It is just another example of a "power' trip some people go on. Some people want everyone to believe as they do, and simply will not rest until they have converted people to whatever they think because they think they are right.