“Living it Up” featuring the Mustard Seed Soul Band from the album “Heart and Soul” recorded and produced by Ross Gill

Last week I promised to share some personal experiences that have convinced me that Jesus really was raised from the dead, however I trust you will forgive me if I put that on hold for one more week as there is another point relating to this topic that I wish to first highlight.

If you read my early blogs you would know that I had a fear of death and that since becoming a Christian I no longer need to have that fear as I have been promised eternal life – John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  As a Christian I have a faith that there is a God and atheists, have a faith that there is not.  Since becoming a follower of Jesus I have wanted to share my faith with others because I have wanted others to experience life and life to the full *(John 10:10) however until reading some atheist material from my atheist friend, Alan I had no idea that some atheists also wish to share their faith.

As Christian I have no fear of hell because I have the promise of Heaven, but an atheist would, no doubt,  say that he/she is  free from the fear of hell simply because he/she  does not believe that such a place exists.  An atheist would probably go on to say that he/she has freedom from the rules and regulations which he/she  perceives Christianity imposes. One of the websites to which Alan directed me is ironically titled “The Church of Truth” with a strap line “Free persons of all faiths from the tyranny of their religion.” In response I would say that I spent most of my life being a non- believer (I would not go as far as to say I was an atheist) and for the last eighteen years I have been a Christian- so I have experience of both “faiths” and have no doubt which one has given me the more freedom

There are countless testimonies of lives being dramatically changed when converting to Christianity for example www.independent.co.uk › News › UK but can the same be said of those who convert from Christianity to atheism? Notwithstanding the point made in the previous paragraph about atheists feeling free from the fear of hell and religious rules and regulations how many testimonies are there of lives that have been changed by conversion to atheism? I am reminded of a story recounted in the book “It Makes Sense.” Apparently Charles Bradlaugh, an outstanding intellectual of his day challenged a local preacher to a debate on Christianity and atheism.  The Minister, Hugh Price Hughes agreed on the condition that Bradlaugh brought with him 100 people whose lives had been changed by a commitment to atheism and if he did Hughes would bring 100 whose lives had been changed by knowing God. Hughes then reduced the number Bradlaugh needed to bring to fifty then twenty, then ten and finally one. Bradlaugh had to withdraw from the debate when he could not even manage one.

So next week some of my own personal experiences unless something even more important turns up !