Why am I a Christian?



                Probably one of the most common questions I am asked is “Why are you a Christian?” If this question had been asked of me a few years ago, and I might not have had a very convincing answer. I might have qualified for the accusation of Peter Singer, that of children blindly following the faith of their parents. I had never really examined other worldviews, but I found a challenge to my own worldview in an atheist classmate of mine. We had a discussion about pros and cons of each of our worldviews, and I found for the first time a challenge to my own worldview. My classmate presented argument after argument in quick succession and I didn’t have many answers for them. I left that discussion with my faith shaken, and almost broken. I fell into a depression for a while, and after much prayer and inner analysis, I decided to put my faith to the test and see if it was true. This would be my first exposure to Christian apologetics.
                The beginning of this journey would start with my analysis of the cornerstone of my faith, and that is the historicity of the person of Jesus Christ. This would lead me to Lee Strobel, and his book, The Case for Christ. The book is Lee’s own journey from atheism to Christianity. He interviews some of the top professors and speakers in Christianity and asks questions regarding faith and whether Christianity is true or not. If you are interested in Christianity, or are a Christian looking for a good read that will help answer some questions, I would recommend this book to you as well. Now that I had established for myself that the Bible was at least reliable in terms of the gospel of Christ, what about the rest of the Bible and the conflicts with science?
                This question would lead me to Oxford professor John Lennox. He is renowned for his debates with the New Atheists Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Lennox is one of the best speakers when it comes to the interface of science and religion, and he is one of my personal favorite speakers to listen to. Lennox has also written books answering the New Atheists as well as a book that is a response to Stephen Hawking’s book The Grand Design.
                To continue into more philosophical questions, I turned to Dr. William Lane Craig and Dr. Ravi Zacharias. William Lane Craig is a professor at the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and has debated the likes of Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. Dr. Craig revived interest in the Kalam Cosmological Argument, which is an argument that lays the groundwork for the existence of God based of the assumptions of everything having a cause for existence, including the universe that we occupy. Dr. Zacharias, as far as I am aware, has not debated any of the New Atheists, but I still regard him as one of the best Christian speakers that I have had the pleasure of listening to. Dr. Zacharias speaks on many topics, and leads Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM).
                So while this definitely looks like an advertisement for other Christian apologists, this is part of what made me what I am, and I thought that a more general look at each person would hopefully prompt you to go and read/listen to these speakers and give your opinions. I believe that I found these people as an answer to the prayers I sent to God to help me with my doubt in myself and in Him. I would hope that you would check out some of these speakers and others, so that you would have multiple people to listen to and hopefully provoke thoughts about your worldview. God Bless you and have a good night.

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