Armour of God
Well-Known Member
Well it begins with my birth in 1988. Prior to that, I don't recall what I was up to; I suspect it wasn't too important. Anyways, I grew up in a non-religious home. Everyone believed in God, but none of us went to church or ever talked about religion.
In 1998, my little brother died. That event changed the course of my life and my family in many ways. Because of the circumstances surrounding my brother's death, my grandparents took custody of me and we all began going to a Baptist church within a few months.
Truthfully, I hated church. I much preferred sleeping in on Sundays. I eventually told my grandparents that I didn't want to attend anymore and they eventually stopped forcing me to go. They eventually stopped going as well.
During my teenage years, I didn't think about God or religion much, if at all. That was until I began attending a private Christian school; I still didn't really buy any of it. A few years later, after I was out of school, the New Atheist movement headed by people like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, began picking up steam in the cultural zeitgeist. I thought their arguments were far more compelling than any arguments made by any Christian pastor.
From then on out, I considered myself an agnostic. The transition from agnostic to Christian was a difficult one. I was involved in a bad car accident in late 2022. With five herniated disks in my neck and a fractured sternum, I wasn't able to do much for several months.
I began drinking hard liquor in March of 2023. I can't say I didn't enjoy it. It certainly seemed like the answer to the problems I was facing in life. This lead to a spiral into nihilism; a belief that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.
Well it got to the point that I was drinking every night just to feel normal. I realized that wasn't something I could do long term, and so I stopped. Which is much harder than you think it will be. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about it.
Thankfully I had some good people on my side. Both @Angelina and @Debp helped me in more ways than I can count. I'll be forever grateful for their help and friendship.
In many ways, I was my own biggest obstacle. In my pursuit for happiness and contentment, I did not find it in anything this world has to offer. A relationship with the Lord is the only thing that made me feel content and whole again.
Looking back on my life, I can see the times in which I was being nudged in that direction, but I just wasn't ready. Just a few days ago, I decided it's now or never; I think the timing felt right. So I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and saviour.
And right now I'm enjoying some chamomile tea, oh yes.
Oh that's just beautiful man. It bought a tear to my eye until the last sentence made me laugh.
I was atheist then became agnostic before turning the God so I really feel your story and enjoyed reading it.
I fell for the new atheist movement as well. The four horsemen, Dawkins, Hitchens, Harris and some other guy. I was full atheist for a while before becoming agnostic and finally turning to God.
Is there any particular arguments that made you finally believe in God?
My two favourite arguments are these
One is known as the watchmakers arguments. It says that anything that is ordered, such as a watch, must of been made by an intelligent being, the watchmaker. You can't make a watch from an explosion, only from intelligence. Same with a computer or anything that is ordered, it's made by an intelligent being. And so we see an ordered universe, earth and life so its very unlikely that it came from a random big bang and much more likely it came from an intelligent being, God.
My second favourite argument is that everywhere we look we see that life comes from life. A baby animal comes from the procreation of two other animals. A tree comes from a seed of another tree. We never see life coming from non-life. So it's highly unlikely that the first life just began randomly without life, and much more likely that it began from another life source, God.
There are other arguments, the moral argument is good too but those two are my favourites ones that really made me think and helped me in my path to God.
May Gods peace and grace
be with you my friend
There was never any doubt that there would be difficulties. It comes with the territory, but thankfully you have me and plenty of others here who are willing to walk with you on that path. Kind of exciting, really! 
