Prompt: Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
Christianity is something that has always been a part of my life. I was born to two devout Christian parents, who raised me as a devout Christian myself. I was taught all the core values of Christianity, went to church every Sunday, and learned every basic concept of the story of Jesus and God. I entered high school safe, firm, and confident in my faith, and (so I thought) ready to defend it.
Needless to say, I was wrong. When I entered high school I entered a world that was not just hostile to my belief, but had gathered numerous convincing arguments against it and general problems with it. Over the span of my freshman year my belief which I had thought to be sturdy was shaken very deeply. As the assertions of my peers began to seep under my skin I developed very serious doubts about my faith. I questioned how a good and all-powerful God could allow such evil as we all witness to exist in the world. I questioned how we could really be sure that Jesus had performed miracles, had been crucified, and had risen from the grave. I questioned why God seemed so absent in my life. By the time I reached my junior year I was almost completely unsure of where I stood. My old Christian faith had spent the last two years having massive holes poked in it, but on the other hand atheism was completely unappealing to me; it carried with it an air of pointlessness and hopelessness that I simply detested. At the same time, I was becoming more and more engrossed in engineering and moving towards a more objective and reason-based mindset, a mindset which was no longer satisfied by the tales of love and devotion that mainstream Christianity uses to convince its followers.
Early in my junior year I received a rather remarkable book. It was titled "Mere Christianity", and written by C. S. Lewis, a man who I would say without a doubt has had more influence upon me than any other. Lewis presented to me (through the proxy of the book) one very simple and revolutionary notion: that not only is Christianity reasonable, in the right light it makes a lot more sense than any other religion, including atheism. "Mere Christianity" took a very simple approach to the problem of my doubt. It started from the beginning and walked me through the reasoning behind God's existence. I realized that even though mainstream Christianity fails in many regards, logical atheism fails in many more, particularly concerning the concept of objective morality. Not only did C. S. Lewis teach me the rational argument for God, he taught me how to think rationally, and for that I owe him everything. Thanks to C. S. Lewis, I now know how to stand up and confidently defend myself in a room full of doubters - and have done just that many times since.
Christianity is something that has always been a part of my life. I was born to two devout Christian parents, who raised me as a devout Christian myself. I was taught all the core values of Christianity, went to church every Sunday, and learned every basic concept of the story of Jesus and God. I entered high school safe, firm, and confident in my faith, and (so I thought) ready to defend it.
Needless to say, I was wrong. When I entered high school I entered a world that was not just hostile to my belief, but had gathered numerous convincing arguments against it and general problems with it. Over the span of my freshman year my belief which I had thought to be sturdy was shaken very deeply. As the assertions of my peers began to seep under my skin I developed very serious doubts about my faith. I questioned how a good and all-powerful God could allow such evil as we all witness to exist in the world. I questioned how we could really be sure that Jesus had performed miracles, had been crucified, and had risen from the grave. I questioned why God seemed so absent in my life. By the time I reached my junior year I was almost completely unsure of where I stood. My old Christian faith had spent the last two years having massive holes poked in it, but on the other hand atheism was completely unappealing to me; it carried with it an air of pointlessness and hopelessness that I simply detested. At the same time, I was becoming more and more engrossed in engineering and moving towards a more objective and reason-based mindset, a mindset which was no longer satisfied by the tales of love and devotion that mainstream Christianity uses to convince its followers.
Early in my junior year I received a rather remarkable book. It was titled "Mere Christianity", and written by C. S. Lewis, a man who I would say without a doubt has had more influence upon me than any other. Lewis presented to me (through the proxy of the book) one very simple and revolutionary notion: that not only is Christianity reasonable, in the right light it makes a lot more sense than any other religion, including atheism. "Mere Christianity" took a very simple approach to the problem of my doubt. It started from the beginning and walked me through the reasoning behind God's existence. I realized that even though mainstream Christianity fails in many regards, logical atheism fails in many more, particularly concerning the concept of objective morality. Not only did C. S. Lewis teach me the rational argument for God, he taught me how to think rationally, and for that I owe him everything. Thanks to C. S. Lewis, I now know how to stand up and confidently defend myself in a room full of doubters - and have done just that many times since.
