Christ is my joy … the Bible my delight

William D. Barrick
Aug 26, 2017 · 3 min read

Justin, I read your post with interest primarily because you are my grandson and I love you unconditionally. As I read it, my heart was heavy for the burden you feel and have felt for years. As with your Grandma Mavity, I feel I must clarify for you my own faith. I came to Christ at the age of 16 after having studied many religions and bashed any Christian who dared to reject the theory of evolution. I engaged in debates against religion, against the Bible, and against what I then described in much the same way as you have.

So what made me change? First, I am convinced by the Bible itself that God never intended for any person to be unthinking or a lazy thinker. He’s the one who tells us to “gird up the loins of your mind” — to think. Second, I was not raised in a Christian family nor did I attend a Christian school. However, I saw and experienced personally how the true Christian faith changed my father, your great-grandfather. As a result of WW2 and its horrors he became a chronic alcoholic, a wife-beater, and a child abuser. When he came to Christ by faith at the age of 40, he did not come unthinking, by means of oppressive parents (his parents were not Christians until several years after he came to Christ), or religious hucksters (whom he remained adamantly opposed to even after his faith in Christ). He learned that he had forgiveness in Christ and very purposefully gave himself to obey Christ and His Word. When I saw the change in my father, I was at first horrified and immediately fearful of what people might think. It was not long, however, before I began to see that I was as much a sinner as I thought my father was and that I stood condemned before a holy God. That’s when I freed myself from my fear of rejection by jeering friends and my fear of ridicule by my secular high school teachers.

Now I am over 70 years of age and have not experienced anything or learned anything or read anything that would ever make me give up my faith. Oh, I’ve seen hypocrisy, unfaithfulness, deliberate rebellion, and even oppressive forces in some fundamentalist Christian circles. But, I have never allowed the actions (or beliefs) of a few to cause me to judge a whole group harshly. With age should come wisdom. At the same time, we betray ourselves and anything we believe if we do not continue to learn and to grow.

BTW, I read A Brief History of Time by Hawking, also — years ago. I loved it and appreciated his honesty. He said that he started out to prove that God does not exist. He ends by admitting that he has failed to do so. What really stuck with me is his description of the extremely delicate state of equilibrium in which our universe exists. Hawking admitted that he could not explain how it did not self-destruct by an infinitesimally small amount of static electric charge either plus or minus. That’s where I believe that the Creator demonstrates His perfect creative action and His preservation of all existence at the point of an amazingly significant equilibrium. Then I read Hawking’s friend, Roger Penrose, a mathematician (The Emperor’s New Clothes), who, as a non-Christian, pointed out the astounding symmetries of macro- and micro-scopic elements in our world. Another non-Christian whom I read with great benefit was Michael Behe — Darwin’s Black Box. Many Christians refuse to read such secular, non-Christian, anti-Bible scientists. I have read them and found their honesty to be admirable. These three (a physicist, a mathematician, and a micro-biologist) helped me think through the theory of evolution and the concept of intelligent design.

Well, I’ve gone on long enough. Again, I want you to know that I love you. I desire that you have a clearer understanding of where I come from in my faith — how I got there. My prayer for you is that you won’t allow yourself to become brainwashed by anyone, any group, any philosophy, or any trends — keep on thinking, testing, asking questions, searching for truth.

)
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade