So as you all know, last night Reverend Jon Weyer came and gave a talk at Purdue called Kicking the Christian Strawman: What Christians are really like. It was nice to have Jon come to Purdue, since we met at the Secular Student Alliance conference and have chatting since then. It was really interesting, especially to us atheists who weren’t raised in Christian households. I kind of live in a self-reinforcing atheist bubble here at Purdue, so it was great to hear what Christians were really like from an actual Christian, not a raving atheist.
During the course of the night, he went a bit into why he believes what he believes. I have to say, this was the most enlightening part. A member asked about people who take the Bible literally, and his response was the first answer I’ve heard that finally made sense. That parts of the Bible are meant to be metaphorical, but they aren’t just arbitrarily choosing what parts they like – that there are contextual clues to help us figure that out.
The more he talked, the more…I don’t know, it felt like something had clicked. Like that spiritual experience everyone says they feel? Like how they say if you just open your mind a little you’ll see the way? I…felt that. Maybe I hadn’t felt it all along because I was raised atheist, but I realized that Christianity isn’t all about people riding on dinosaurs and Jesus performing magic tricks.
…I dunno, I’m feeling pretty confused right now. I need to do some introspection before posting any more. It’s just strange – for the first time ever, I had that nagging feeling in my gut that maybe this God stuff is right.