I'm Christian Because I Need a Crutch and I'm Brainwashed
I cannot understand how atheists are able to ignore the spiritual realm as if it doesn't exist. They explain away miracles and supernatural events as if these thousands of occurrences over many years are all just random. I've had hundreds of answers to prayer in my life, but atheists tell me they're all coincidences.
One of the most frequent arguments I hear against my faith is that I believe in God because I'm "weak" and need some kind of support. Really? Me? Weak? I may be horribly flawed, but I wouldn't describe myself as weak, after all the loudmouthed articles I've written, which I take a lot of heat for every week. I am flawed just like anyone else, prone to sin and doing things that don't measure up to God's standards of holiness, so why would I want or need some religion that tells me I can't cheat, lie, etc., ever?
Although I was raised in a Christian home, I've discovered that it's not easy living a Christian life. You're never going to be very cool or popular; for the most part, Hollywood and being a musical star with their scanty clothing and drug-using lifestyles is off limits for Christians today. As the culture becomes more and more degenerate, it's a daily battle to not cave in to it - to obey God rather than man.
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I love science, and I love to debate, so I've spent many years reading books about Christianity, evolution and related subjects by scientists and brilliant academics. Many like C.S. Lewis, began their quest for truth as atheists seeking to disprove Christianity, but changed their minds the more they researched. I understand that most people believe in God based on faith alone, but I wanted to give intelligent reasons for the faith I held. Josh McDowell and the late Dr. D. James Kennedy have been two of the most influential thinkers in this area for me.
After years of reading all I could on the subject, I discovered that a few interpretations of certain Bible verses over the years might have reached relatively minute differing conclusions. Maybe the earth isn't literally 6,000 years old, it may be older (2nd Peter 3:8 says that one day to us is like 1,000 years to God), and that the Bible was actually very forward thinking when it came to women's equality. It's fascinating that Jesus first appeared to a woman, Mary Magdalene, after His resurrection, telling her to go tell his disciples that He had risen. Even basic Biblical doctrine, no matter how conservative/fundamentalist, disagrees here.
It doesn't matter how many billions of Christians there are in the world, nor how intelligent and well-read they are, the other side keeps insisting we're all brainwashed and need a crutch. The Christian faith is being pushed out of the public sphere more than ever today, as liberals in most parts of life - academia, government and the judiciary - try to squelch it. At the same time, Christians are standing up for Christ against powerful opposition, pushing back, often after great personal sacrifice.
There is a devout Satanist movement out there, which actively engages the dark side of the spiritual realm, including Satan and demons, and it is growing in size. How do atheists explain that away? Satanists hate God, and want to defeat Him, but they at least don't try to pretend the supernatural world doesn't exist, because they don't ignore it. Explain away tarot cards, wiccans, and Ouija boards "rationally."
The intellectual Christian C.S. Lewis, who many - including myself - consider the greatest writer of all time, next to the Holy Spirit-inspired writers of the Bible, was a devout atheist for many years until he couldn't escape the evidence any longer. He has said he was he was brought into Christianity like a prodigal, "kicking, struggling, resentful, and darting his eyes in every direction for a chance to escape … That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England."
Lewis had been a close friend of the science fiction writer J.R. Tolkein - Lewis also wrote many brilliant sci-fi books, including the Lion, the Witch and Wardrobe Narnia series - and started an Inklings intellectual discussion group with Tolkein at Oxford. Tolkein was ecstatic to see his friend convert, although he would have preferred he choose Catholicism over Anglicanism. Lewis remained neutral when it came to sectarianism.
It reminds me of the liberal and atheist commentator Kirsten Powers on Fox News, who recently became a Christian. She told Christianity Today, "I'll never forget standing outside that apartment on the Upper East Side and saying to myself, 'It's true. It's completely true.' The world looked entirely different, like a veil had been lifted off it. I had not an iota of doubt. I was filled with indescribable joy...The horror of the prospect of being a devout Christian crept back in almost immediately. I spent the next few months doing my best to wrestle away from God. It was pointless. Everywhere I turned, there he was. Slowly there was less fear and more joy. The Hound of Heaven had pursued me and caught me - whether I liked it or not."
Why do I need a "crutch?" I don't. I only believe in God because the evidence is so overwhelming; as someone with half a brain, I can't ignore it. I guess if I wanted to live a self-centered, hedonistic life, ignoring others around me who are suffering, I could ignore all the signs that Jesus/God/Holy Ghost exists. I'd love to sound like the "scientific, morally superior and super cool" one to all my peers, and spend most of my time partying and bettering myself, without doing anything for others in need. What an easy life that would be, especially if I were to become the typical narcissistic Hollywood star with all the fans. Who wouldn't want that? But that's not where the evidence leads; claiming otherwise is really ignoring all the evidence - which, as the opposing side ironically says about us, isn't very scientific, but instead, "narrow minded, judgmental and condescending."
