Growing up in a small town, I clearly remember being disillusioned with Christianity overall. As an avid reader, I read my Bible faithfully, but soon found the Bible “contradicting” itself. What made it worse was that what I read, what was preached from the pulpit, and how Christians overall lived their lives, did not line up. I remember having so many questions, but nobody seemed to have any answers. Eventually I walked away from Christianity, in fact I only went to church because I had to, not because I wanted to. It was during my last few years in high school that I started looking into other religions. I desperately wanted to know, if there truly was a god, and if so who or what was this god, and how do I connect with this god. I looked into all kinds of different religions, I considered becoming a Muslim, or a Buddhist, even a Satanist. But none of these – or any other religions for that matter – seemed to be what I so desperately wanted.
I joined the SANDF after high school, and I quickly got caught up in the “typical” Army lifestyle. Life was all about me, myself, and I, and I fully immersed myself into this new found freedom. I no longer had parents forcing me to go to church, no one expecting me to look or act the part of a good Christian. I quickly reached a stage in my life where I questioned whether the Bible truly was the Word of God, if there even was someone called Jesus who lived, and died, only to be ressurected three days later. Looking back I realised that I didn’t question God per se, I however did question the inerrancy of the Bible, the validity of Jesus being the Son of God who left the comfort of heaven, who was born like one of us, who walked amongst us, who lived like one of us, and eventually died like a common criminal. All because people like me needed to be saved, saved from what? Life as a young adult was great, I didn’t do anything that was considered to be illegal, wrong, or even immoral by anyone’s standard except Christians. In fact I became so disillusioned by Christianity that I wanted nothing to do with Christianity at all. Christians to me represented a movement of oppression. The Bible was nothing but a historical questionable book. A book that contradicted itself in way too many places.
But, I still had my list of questions. One Wednesday morning, and unfortunately we had to attend, I was “politely” forced to attend a Chaplain’s meeting being led by a well known pentecostal pastor. And in one sermon, he basically answered all of the questions I had. While he concluded his message with a heartfelt prayer, I got up walked to the front where he was, and when he said “amen,” there I was, but a few centimeters standing in front of him, looking him straight in the eyes. I told him that I needed to speak to him, but as it turned out he had to be somewhere else in a couple of minutes, but he did tell me that if I was willing there would be someone who would meet with me later that evening. That evening I encountered and surrendered my life to Jesus.
But here’s the thing. What eventually changed my life, what made me believe, what got my attention, wasn’t a book called the Bible, nor was it a movement called the Church, it was a historical event. If you’ve watched documentaries like Bill Maher’s “Religulous,” you’ll question whether the Church as a movement even is the real McCoy. Books like Sam Harris’s “Letter to a Christian nation,” will make you question the Bible. And listening to intellectuals like Richard Dawkins, to name but one of many, will give you enough food for thought to at least question your beliefs, your faith, your religion, your very reason for hope. That’s why I’m so greatful when someone gave me a little book, written by Paul Little, called “Know what you believe.” Reading that book lead me to read other books on apologetics, and those books eventually changed my life for the best.
I soon discovered books written by people who started out trying to prove that Christianity was a farce, that there was no truth to it, and like Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:19; If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But as I read Josh McDowell’s “More than a carpenter,” Lee Strobel’s “Case for Christ,” Francis Collins’s “The language of God,” J. Warner Wallace’s “Cold-case Christianity, Gary Habermas and Michael Licona’s “The case for the resurrection of Jesus, and Frank Morison’s “Who moved the stone?,” I realised something important. Something that would end up changing even saving my life.
You see a few years ago, I was diagnosed with a sickness called Cushing’s that’s caused by a small tumor in the brain. After two failed brain surgeries, Doctors basically gave up all hope, I was told that the only alternative was a double adrenalectomy. Unfortunately the second surgery didn’t go according to plan, and I still struggled with Cushing’s, knowing that with Cushing’s I only had about five more years – if I’m lucky – to live.
But what kept me going throughout all of these trying times wasn’t the Bible, it wasn’t Christianity, but like those men who wrote all those books discovered, history has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that, Jesus truly lived, truly died, and truly rose from the dead. In fact reading their books pointed me to so many resources, I discovered that there is more evidence to corroborate Jesus to be a historical figure, someone who died exactly like it was recorded in the Bible, and that He truly rose from the dead three days later. Discovering the fact that history proved what Christians believed for so many years. Discovering that history supported the Biblical accounts of Jesus’s life, gave me enough reason to believe that no matter what, God is real! I ended up tethering my faith, not in a book, neither because of a movement, but to a historical event. That event, changed my life, and the lives of thousands and thousands of other people. That event sparked a movement, called the Church, Christianity per se. And in the early years of this movement, the second half of what we call the Bible, God’s Word, was produced.
I know that history, even present day events, proves Christianity isn’t flawless. And it’s easy to get the ignorant to question the inerrancy of the Bible. But one thing no one can deny, simply because it’s a historical fact, is that Jesus truly lived, He was who He claimed to be – the Son of God – He died on a cross as it was predicted hundreds of years before He was born, and that He rose from the dead three days later. And that’s why I’m a Christian. That’s what has kept me going through all of my highs and lows. Because that event, sparked a movement, that eventually was used by God, to produce the most amazing book of all, the inerrant Word of God.