by Robert Van de Water
It can be difficult for a person who prides himself on his practicality and rationality to humble himself before God. People of my generation, particularly those who are still in college or graduate school, are subject to pressures and influences that make conversion to Christianity seem the height of foolishness. Let me tell you my story.
My father was raised a devout Catholic. His belief in Jesus Christ, unfortunately, was not strong enough to survive the seeming contradictions he found when he analyzed the Bible. He was trained to be skeptical as a law student at Harvard, and he could not reconcile his sense of what was rational with, among other things, the biblical account of creation. His thirst for God was undiminished, however, and he began to search for a religion that made more sense to him.
Through most of my childhood, I watched his misguided quest. From new age religion to new age religion, my father found and explored many groups unencumbered by specific beliefs about the origin of the universe. This was my "religious" upbringing, but I was also exposed to an agnostic worldview through immersion in popular culture-including the unspoken disdain for Christianity in the media. These combined influences worked in me to produce a pride and disbelief common to students and intellectuals today.
After graduating from high school, I attended Yale University. At Yale, a school founded by devoted Christians, I met many other people shaped by the same forces that had shaped me. Enlightened agnosticism was fashionable. Everyone knew that the biblical account of creation was just as fictional as the story of the origin of the Greek gods. I am ashamed to admit that I joined others in condescending to our Christian acquaintances. We would pat them on the head and say, "It's okay. Eventually you will overcome your need to believe the fairy tales in the Bible." I watched as many Christians struggled under the cross of our condescension. Some faltered and slowly stopped going to church.
In the meantime, my father began reaping the results of his wandering. His family fell apart. My brother developed problems with drugs and depression. My sister struggled similarly. My parents' marriage collapsed after 22 years. The bitter divorce left deep wounds.
I longed for something I could believe in and began to search. I immediately dismissed belief in my father's religion of preference, Unity. How could I trust in some nebulous impersonal force supposedly made up of human spirits? No factual, rational basis for such a notion was ever offered. Similarly, I discarded belief in the Bible. (I assumed it said the universe and earth were only a few thousand years old.) What kind of God would fake astronomical and geological evidence that points to an age of the universe in the billions of years?
For almost three years I searched for God. At every turn I found logical inconsistencies that made belief virtually impossible. I shared the public's misconception that the God of the Bible and the findings of science are incompatible.
Friends of mine who were raised in the faith do not understand just how difficult it is for one who has devoted years of hard work to sharpening a scientific or analytical mind to turn one's back on science and blindly accept Jesus Christ.
Such was my dilemma when some peculiar circumstances led me to pick up and read a copy of The Creator and the Cosmos. As I read, the shutters opened, and I finally understood that the truth had been right under my nose. By demonstrating the Bible's compatibility with the findings of science, the book showed me that the Bible is uniquely the Word of God. Christianity is distinct from the morass of other religions in the world. A follower of any of these other religions can say, "I know our account of origins doesn't make any sense, but you must have faith that ours is the correct view of God." Only a Christian can say, "My faith has been borne out by facts, including scientific experiments performed in the twentieth century."
When I learned that the truth of the Bible is compatible with the truths of science I've studied all my life, the single greatest obstacle to my salvation was removed, and I gave my life to Jesus Christ.
But my story does not end here. The Creator and the Cosmos allowed me to glimpse the awesome sophistication of the machinery God has used to create us and our world. This incredible work of creation makes me rejoice and celebrate that such a glorious God would sacrifice His only begotten Son for my sins, all of our sins. Whenever things get difficult, I remember just how much God has done for me, and I know He will not let all of that effort go to waste by abandoning me during a time of trial.
Robert is currently doing graduate work in chemical engineering at UCLA.