it brought me to tears

The other day all the guys were over, as usual on wednesday nights, playing halo2. I was soooo bored and had no TV to watch and no one to hang out with so i grabbed a book that i have had for about 6 years that has just been collecting dust on my book shelf. i went in the bedroom and began to read. I had no idea how this book would affect me within the first few pages of the introduction. Im sure most of you have heard of the book, Case for Faith, by Lee Strobel. For those of you who dont know what the book is about ill give you a quick overview. Basically the book tries to answer questions and give us a substantial case against the intellects of this world and therefore support Faith. The introduction discusses a time when the author goes to a former minster and former journalist named Charles Templeton. Strobel discusses how Templeton was once a friend and colleague of Billy Graham. There was a point in Templetons life when the questions and doubts of this world overwhelmed him and he began to question the existence of and all loving God. He put a hault to his ministry and actually wrote a book called Farewell to God: My Reasons for rejecting the Christian Faith. From a minister to an agnostic this man went, and he began to attmpt pullin Mr. Graham in the same direction. To make a long story short, the obvious is that Mr. Graham stood on his faith and is not an agnostic as you all know. Charles Templeton stated that he wasnt an atheist; he says the difference between an atheist and an agnostic is that he isnt saying there is no God, he is saying he can not tell you if there is or isnt. It broke my heart to read about this man who in Strobel's words, "wanted to soar to God, but his intellects kept him tied down." Is it possible for faith and reason to coexist? Does it really take a person doing away with reason to have faith?

Strobel goes on to describe his visit and interview with the 83 year old Templeton with alzheimers. Templeton tells Strobel of a time when he saw an african american woman on the front of a magazine, holding her dead baby. There was a drought and it had killed many people and children. Templeton says it was at this point that he questioned whether or not a loving God existed because how could He if He made the rain, yet didnt allow it to rain for these people. He said that this began a snowball effect of all the evil that had happened in the world until he began to believe that the evil and a loving God could not coexist. Templeton said he would love to believe that a loving God existed, especially as he is dying and getting ready to face death, he would like to believe he would meet this God face to face, but it would be denying the brain he was given and for him, it was impossible to believe it.

This is where it got interesting for me. Strobel then asked Templeton about Jesus. He stated that he believed Jesus lived and that he was the greatest human being to ever exist. Templeton said, "he was a moral genious. his ethical sense was unique and he ws the intrinsically wisest person that i ve ever encountered in my life or in my readings...what could one say about him except that this was a form of greatness?" he went on to say that "he adored him" and that he was the most important thing in his life. Everything good and right and decent he learned from Jesus. he sort of stopped speaking and redirected his thoughts and then he uttered these words, "If I may put it this way...i miss him." with that, tears began to flood down his face and his shoulders bobbed.

It broke my heart and brought me to tears to see that this mans intellect had torn him away from the greatest thing he has ever known. it showed me that doubts and reason can truly take over your heart if you allow them to. I believe that reason and faith can co exist and that many people go throughout their lives in disbelief of this fact.

Christian theism must be rejected by any person with even a shred of respect for reason.
~George H. Smith, atheist

"Humans are inherently religious beings, created to be in relationship with God - and if they reject God, they don't stop being religious; they simply find some other ultimate principle upon which to base their lives." - Nancy Pearcey