Are atheists ever persuaded to become Christians through rational discourse and intellectual reasoning? In Jordan Mongeโs case, thatโs exactly what happened. Monge describes her early life as follows.
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ค. ๐๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ 4, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ถ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ: โ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ?โ ๐๐บ ๐ข๐จ๐ฆย 11, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ โ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด.โ ๐๐บ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ.
When Monge was older and studying at Harvard University, she met a Christian who, for the first time in her life, could rationally explain to her why Christianity made sense. She describes the friendship she developed as follows.
๐๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฌ ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ. ๐๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ญ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ด, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ต๐ฉ๐ถ๐ด, ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ท๐ข๐ณ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅโ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฏ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ด, ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ด; ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฆโ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ-๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ญ.
Monge explained that Porter was not like the other Christians she had met. He didnโt shy away from her toughest questions and objections. In fact, he seemed to thrive on them.
๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด... ๐๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ โ๐๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ช๐ต๐ฉโ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏโ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต.
After an extensive period of searching, questioning, and thinking, Mongeโs journey finally ended. On Easter Sunday in 2009, she surrendered her life to Christ and was baptized.ย
Do atheists ever change their minds? They certainly do. And Monge is but one example of that.
Learn More
External Website: https://jordanmonge.com/
Reference
Jordan Monge, โMy Harvard Jesus Moment,โ ChristianityToday.com, April 4, 2013, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/atheists-dilemma.html.
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