#57: Testimonial from a Former Atheist, Now Christian: Marie Wood
Hello thinker,
This month is the beginning of a new apologetics series: testimonials of former atheists who are now Christians. My prayer is that we can better understand why people are skeptical, why some come to know Christ, and what we, as believers, might learn in our evangelistic endeavors from their experiences.
Most of this material is based on the work of Dr. Jana Harmon. [1,2] Jana has a ministry, called Side B Stories, in which she talks with former atheists and discusses their journeys to faith. She also wrote the book, Atheists Finding God, in order to answer the questions: what would it take for a skeptic to become a Christian, and what did it take for those who became passionate followers of Christ? I will show short video testimonials of some of these converts and summarize what we might learn.
I am also starting something new in my apologetics notes. In addition to the usual textual discourse, I discuss the topic in video form. So, for those who prefer to see and listen (vs. reading . . . especially on computer or cell phone screens!), you can choose to view/listen to the message instead. The link to the Youtube video version of this note is provided above under the title.
This month we examine the story of Marie Wood. She describes her journey as “Losing Faith, Finding True Belief.” The video of her testimony is here: https://sidebstories.com/videos/.
Marie grew up in a practicing Roman Catholic family and loved church as a child. Being an inquisitive child, though, she asked lots of questions. And as, unfortunately, is often the case, many of her questions were not answered. At one point you hear Marie recall her parents pushing back and saying, “No, honey, God doesn’t want us to have reasons for what we believe, he wants a pure faith.” Not surprisingly, this marked the time when she began compartmentalizing her faith; that is, she separated her faith from intellect and reason. And that, she says, is “a recipe for atheism.”
Sometime in late high school or early college Marie turned from the Lord and embraced atheism. Her college’s secular, naturalistic approach to to her majors – biology and psychology – only reinforced her decision.
But God did not let Marie go. She met her husband, David, in college and he helped lead her back to the Truth. They discussed and debated evolution and evidence for Christianity, and she began reading apologetic books. After much time discussing, reading, and reflecting, she experienced remorse and pain, and admitted sobbing at one point when she recognized the sin in her life. This was a significant step towards conversion. David then invited her to church where she received Christ.
Marie’s conversion was emotional and intellectually exciting because it “invigorated the life of the mind” which, she admits, was critical to her faith.
But, she says, life was not always easy for her after her conversion. She was on “a road being with Christ in the school of suffering” but learned that there is no dark place where the love of God cannot find her.
Her advice for atheists? “I hope you keep investigating and ask questions with an open heart and open mind. That you study the life of Christ - I dare you not to fall in love with him. And read those gospels and study the arguments [for God] . . . from design, the historical resurrection, and spend time with Christians who take their faith seriously who truly love God with their hearts, their souls, and their minds.”
What might we learn from Marie’s experience? First, we Christians must answer questions about our faith – especially from children and teens. Never tell them, as her parents did, that reasons for faith are unnecessary. Reasons for faith are fundamental to our understanding of the Christian worldview and necessary for responding to non-believers’ questions. And second, the perception among many skeptics is that Christians do not have reasons for their faith – it’s fundamentally a blind, irrational belief system. When we cannot or do not respond to challenging and fair questions, we only reinforce the culture’s perceptions.
Like Marie, we must “always . . . [be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us and do this with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15).
In Christ,
Doug
[1] Jana Harmon is a Teaching Fellow for C.S. Lewis Institute Atlanta, serves on the Atlanta Advisory Board, and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Cultural Apologetics at Biola University. Her doctoral research studied the religious conversion of atheists to Christianity looking at the perspectives and stories of 50 former Atheists. She views apologetics through a practical, evangelistic lens. She is the host of Side B Stories podcast for the C.S. Lewis Institute. Jana received her Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham, England.
[2] Dr. Harmon’s ministry is called, Side B Stories, and her website is: https://sidebstories.com. You will find the videos I highlight in my notes there as well as over 50 podcast interviews of former skeptics (now Christians).
