So, how DOES an Atheist become a Christian?

I would love to tell you it was some sudden revelation, a vision, Jesus coming to me in a dream, etc., but unfortunately it's not as "simple", or "quick" as that.

My journey was actually a lot slower, based on reading, thinking, talking with others, watching YouTube videos, and coming to the slow realisation that for what I believed in to be true, then the only answer was there has to be a God!

But let's not get ahead of ourselves here...

For many decades (I'm 50 years old as I write this), I had been atheist, and a confirmed atheist at that. I definitely did not believe in God or religion, and I had no intention of changing. However, I was respectful of those who did have a faith (for any religion) - I certainly was not a Richard Dawkins or Stephen Fry, berating those who promoted religion.

What I did believe, and tried to live my life by was a positive mental attitude. That is by being positive, and doing good deeds for others, and not being negative, then good things would come my way. In itself, this sounds perfectly plausible, and why would you want to go through your life with a negative attitude anyway?

Over the years I built up quite a number of books on the topic of positive mental attitude (PMA).

Just a few of my PMA-related books

So, from at least my twenties I had tried to live my life positively, and while that was fine, I still found I wasn't getting all the good things that these books were saying I would. Something still felt it was missing.

One thing I noticed with reading these, however, is how often they would either quote the Bible directly, or use phrases that obviously alluded to Bible passages.

For example, The Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz, has many phrases that, while they weren't directly from the Bible, you could certainly see the influence there. 

Here's just one:

In the very first chapter of The Magic of Thinking Big it says: "But you can move a mountain with belief. You can win success by believing you can succeed".

Does that not sound like Jesus saying to his disciples: "For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you." (Matthew 17:20 - ESV)?

There are lots through the book that are like this, they may not quote the Bible directly, but you can definitely see the influence.

Earlier this year (2020), I was reading Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking, which is a little different. Norman Vincent Peale was an American Minister in America, from 1922 through most of the 20th Century. Therefore, understandably, his book was filled with passages direct from the Bible. I will admit, the previous times I had tried to read it, I had found it hard to get past how religious-centric it was, and would often give up. But this time, something was different. There was something about the book which I found more compelling, and I even found myself copying down some of the more motivational, and positive passages into a notebook.

As I read more, I started think more about the passages that had been taken from the Bible, those like (I am putting the following quotes in more modern language, where required, because otherwise they can be difficult to follow):

"I can do all things through Christ which strengthen me" (Philippians 4:13)

"I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours" (Mark 11:24)

"If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31)

Plus, The Power of Positive Thinking was full of stories and examples of how faith had helped people in all sorts of situations and areas of their life.

Although I found I then read this book through, spending time with it each morning, I didn't think that was anything to do with faith. 

But something else was happening as well, my belief in what I had learned about positive mental attitude was changing. Some of the books I had read seemed to suggest that having a positive mental attitude meant that some cosmic force would work for your good; it was the universe aligning the planets or whatever... oh, come on! I might believe in PMA, but I wasn't going to fall for that. Even if that were the case, why would some cosmic force be at all concerned in a person on one planet in a universe of billions of planets, infinite stars, and so on. Really? No, I don't think so...

But hang on...! A cosmic force, controlling the universe... hmmm... is that a suggestion of some sentient being?

I have a friend who has a very strong faith and, because she knew I was respectful of people's beliefs, she agreed to chat with me about her faith and how, both in her personal and business life, she had found God had helped her. She told me about times when money was tight, and she would pray, and suddenly three new graphic design contracts would come her way; how even with things like losing her keys, God would help find them...

Okay, I believed that she believed that, but I still wasn't convinced. 

Thinking about the PMA books I had read, and how they had so often quoted, directly or indirectly, the Bible, isn't it at least right that I should try reading the Bible for myself? I downloaded the Youversion Bible app from bible.com and started to read some of the parts of the Bible. My friend had suggested I started to read the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and so I spent some time quietly reading through these. 

As time went on, I came to the realisation, that:

a) I still believed in a positive mental attitude;  but

b) for the things that are supposed to happen for those with PMA, can only be true if God is real. 

Ergo, I still believed in the positive mental attitude therefore, I must believe in God!

So, on the 10th June, 2020, I finally admitted to myself, and others, that I had found my faith - or I guess God had found me, one of his lost sheep.  

And since then, so much has changed and, yes, I have found God has helped me, or spoken to me, just like my friend said He does for her.

Remembering how she had said that God had helped her, I thought about my own situation. I work for myself, and due to Coronavirus, my work had dropped significantly, in fact I'd had nothing for weeks. So, following my friend's example, one morning during prayers I asked for God's help with work... by lunch time I had two new contracts come in from a client, and work has been steady ever since - including new clients as well as regulars.

I've also had instances where God has given me a warning to do something, or that I need to be somewhere. 

So, there it is... a long journey from being atheist to becoming a Christian!

The next step for me is to be Baptised. When I was little my parents agreed that I wouldn't be baptised, as that would be a decision for me to make when I was old enough. And so, in a couple of weeks' time, at 50 years old, I will be baptised!

See my next blog post: God is My Focus