Thursday evening at UWM we met a young man who shared with us that he was on the path of studying the brain and was hoping to go to medical college. He wants to be in the field of research.

He had grown up in a Christian home, gone to Awana and generally had a good upbringing. He admitted that when he began public school and learned the theories that they seemed to make sense to him. That led to a general dismissal of God’s word and creation. Creation teaches that God created the world and everything in it in six 24 hour days and rested on the seventh.

He put himself not in the category of an atheist but was more agnostic in his beliefs. That there was an all-powerful being, who created the world through evolution (the two can coexist according to him) and is sitting back watching everything. I asked him if there was anything specifically in the Bible that caused him to not believe it but he couldn’t really think of anything other than his study of evolution.

We had a wonderful conversation and as we talked the thought came to me that how could a person study the human body, with all it complexities and not believe that a all-powerful God, through the power of His word, create this wonderfully complex and designed universe.

As we talked, I was amazed at how much of God’s word this young man knew and God was bringing back to his memory. As I took him through the commandments, he admitted that he was a liar, a thief, a blasphemer and adultery at heart that if there was a God who judged him, he would be guilty but when I asked him if he thought God would send him to Heaven or Hell, he said heaven because he thought God would look at his overall life not solely based on the 10 Commandments.

I shared with him that he was also guilty of breaking the second commandment, that he was making a god that he was comfortable with and that he had made himself a graven image or an idol. I shared with him that God would find him guilty and send him to hell for all eternity. I asked him if there was a God, who is a good judge, and He sent you to hell, would that concern him? It did. I then reminded him that it isn’t God’s desire to send anyone to hell but His true desire is that all are saved and come to the knowledge of truth.

That truth can only be found in Jesus Christ, who through the cross, suffered for us, died for us, was buried for us, rose from the dead for us and defeated death for us for all eternity. Jesus took the Father’s entire wrath on Himself in our place.

Finally I shared that James 2:19 says, Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. This verse reveals that mere belief, when not accompanied by repentance (Luke 13:3 I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.) and placing one’s faith in Christ (Acts 20:21 Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.) is not sufficient for salvation.

I thank him for his time and the talk that we had. I urged him to read Genesis Chapters 1-11, because that tells us we got here and why this world is in the mess that it is and the gospel of John because that is God’s answer to the mess. He agreed that the gospel of John is a good place to start. We separated friends and I’m praying for truth to reveal itself to this young man and the rest of those who we shared with that evening.