Anchs,
Well, I've never gone forward at one of thos rally thingies, but I suspect the same thing happened to those who id.
I encountered Christ; pure and simple.
Is it rational?
Who cares?
Surely the better question would be, “is it true?” wouldn’t it?
“Is it rational?” is still a good question mind, only I think you’ve misapplied it: it’s not, “is an encounter with Jesus rational?”; rather it’s, “is the belief that I did have an encounter with Jesus rational?” and – if you’re going to live your life by the answer – then yes I’d have though you would care.
For those of us who HAVE encountered Him, though, the relationship is real.
See above. Why would you conclude that you’ve done any such thing?
That doesn't mean surrendering my marbles for ' woo-woo' stuf; nor does it mean ceasing to use the mind what's left of it - that God gave me, eitherr.
Well…
I'll take one of those kids who went forward at Ayrshire 1980 as an example.
She was twelve when she made a commitment; probably a childhood fantasy....but if it is, she maintains that 'fantasy' today.
She'ss a lecturer in physics at Glasgow Uni now...and still as commited to Christ as the day she went forward.
Which is precisely why religions try to get them early (“cradle catholics” and all that). Profound religious beliefs (it doesn’t matter much which beliefs they happen to be) formed before the critical faculties form go deep into the limbic system, they become instinctive rather than reasoned and so are exceptionally hard to lose in later life. That incidentally is why those who can do it are often reported to be traumatised by the experience.
On my knees in my bedroom....surprised and a bit shocked, since I'd been an atheist for the previous five years.
Doesn’t work. Why would an atheist be on his knees at all?
OK:
Having reluctantly read bits of Scripture...and tried hard to deny the existence of God, I had to admit to myself the possibility of His being, and Christ being who He said He was.
On that possibility, I prayed.
Having seen smushy Hollywood stuff showing folk on their knees, I knelt in silence.
My prayer?
Not very churchy language.
"God, if You're there, do something in me."
He did.
I begun to feel an awarness of presence - an awarness which has not left me to this day. So, after ten minutes, I said
"OK...I acknowledge that you exist. I want to know more of you, and I surrender.
So I waved the white flag there and then.
That’s interesting as it sets out very clearly why the narrative is so flawed. Let’s deconstruct it to see why:
Having reluctantly read bits of Scripture...
OK, so you had the cultural knowledge of one belief system in particular already in place, and thus there was something for confirmation bias to feed on
a priori.
…and tried hard to deny the existence of God,…
That’s not what atheism entails. “Denying the existence of God” implies you thought there was a god to be “denied” in the first place (ie, Vlad’s “gododging” nonsense in other words). Atheism merely limits itself though to finding the arguments for god to be hopeless – no more, no less.
I had to admit to myself the possibility of His being, and Christ being who He said He was. On that possibility, I prayed.
“Possibility” is undeniable, but that’s true of anything – gods, leprechauns, the Loch Ness Monster, whatever. Why then would an atheist have “prayed” to the one to which he happened to be most enculturated?
Having seen smushy Hollywood stuff showing folk on their knees, I knelt in silence.
My prayer?
Not very churchy language.
"God, if You're there, do something in me."
He did.
Whoa there! It’s a huge leap from “an experience happened” to “He did” with none of the hard yards of reason or evidence to get you from one to the other. Why did the narrative of “He did” appeal to you more than the various alternative (but less solipsistically thrilling) alternatives?
I begun to feel an awarness of presence - an awarness which has not left me to this day.
Lots of issues there. Many report the same thing about different “presences” of any manner of ghosts, spooks, ghoulies, deities and various whatnots that you’d think to be false. What makes you right and them wrong? How too did you go about eliminating the several physiological explanations for this experience so as to be sure that there was a “something” external to you rather than just a mind-induced episode?
So,…
Noooooo! (See above.)
… after ten minutes, I said
"OK...I acknowledge that you exist. I want to know more of you, and I surrender.
So I waved the white flag there and then.
Why “surrender” to a belief? This reads to me at least as a surrender of your critical faculties rather than a surrender to a god, with a hint of Stockholm syndrome in the mix too.
This is why your story is interesting I think: it adds to the mountain of reasons some of us see to conclude that people believe in god(s) for very bad reasons.
