How do the arguments of the New Atheists stand up when examined by the best and brightest Christian scholars? This was exactly the question that the atheist, Peter Byrom, spent time considering. Although he had grown up with minimal faith, he quickly discarded it once he was in university. And it was at university that he first encountered the works of Richard Dawkins and other New Atheist authors. Although he was initially impressed, he later discovered just how shallow their arguments really were. In the following video, he explains this process of discovery. Here are some quotes from his journey.
The interesting thing is, [as I was] looking through the Dawkin’s and the Hitchen’s work and rooting for them, that was when I started discovering Christian apologetics. I’d seen some Christians who were terrible at defending their faith… but then slowly I was weeding them out and… discovering much more robust, academically credible apologists [including John Lennox and William Lane Craig]…
I spent several years investigating Christian apologetics and seeing how the atheist’s arguments, they just weren’t working. I couldn’t use any good arguments against Christianity myself and it made me realize that, you know, I’ve run out of arguments and objections. There’s really good, solid stuff here. And so I just had to face up to the fact that all I was left with was, not wanting it to be true. And I was still pretty stubborn, I kind of carried on for a bit; still not really acting on it very much. Still just making life decisions based on being a bit more hedonistic…
There actually was a moment, I think, that really changed it. I was speaking with [Dr. William Lane Craig’s] wife, Jan, … and she actually said… “Well Pete, if you don’t think you could give absolutely everything to Jesus, don’t become a Christian, don’t do it.” And that really shook me because I thought that all Christians would just want to make people to come and join us… And she actually said ‘no’, if you can’t commit to it then don’t do it…. And that really just had to give me pause for thought and made me realize that this running away is just silly. And the arguments don’t work.
Learn More
Short Blog: Famous Atheist Changed His Mind - Antony Flew
Reference
Premier Christian Media, Confessions of a Former Atheist // Unbelievable? Conf. 2012, 2014, http://www.premier.tv/media/t/1_yey548ws.
Timestamp - 9:00 - 20:00