My first post expressed the purpose of this blog, which is to explain why I believe in Jesus. My second post summarized what I mean by “believe”, and starting at this post, I will detail the reasons I put my trust in the unseeable God.
Did my childhood experiences encourage me to believe in Christianity?
Not at all. I grew up in Hong Kong, which people often say is the place where the west meets the east, and I think this is fairly accurate. When I was a child I witnessed the presence of Christianity, which is widely perceived as an indicator of western culture. Lots of schools were built by churches, and I was told that these churches distributed free rice to the poor. In this sense, Christianity seemed to give people a good impression. However, despite the community outreach of various Christian organizations, countless people did not willingly embrace Christianity in their lives. My father was a good example.
My father was an atheist, that is, he did not believe in the existence of God or spirits. Despite life’s ups and downs, my father never gave thanks to any god or goddess, nor did he blame any supernatural beings when misfortune befell him. During this time, although the most popular religions in Hong Kong were the worship of ancestors or gods from the traditional Toes, my father did not believe in any power greater than man.
Despite his lack of belief, my father assured me that he would respect whatever religion I chose, but I knew his reassurance was merely perfunctory. He found it ridiculous that any rational person would believe in religion. He called me a “Jesus’ ghost” when I professed my belief and attempted to share my faith. In fact, he would challenge me and say that if I really believed in an Almighty God, then I should sleep among the graves for a night, and only then would he respect my beliefs.
No, I was not brave enough to take this challenge; I was scared.
I admired my father when I was a child. If he had been a Christian, I think it would have been very likely that I would have become a Christian when I was young.
