by Theodore Wright.
 

During the time I was an agnostic, between the ages of 18 through 21 years, after I was an atheist from the ages of 15 through 18 years, I considered there was the possibility of some god hiding behind one of those stars or planets out there. I could have died as passenger in an auto accident I was in at the age of 18 years. They do truly say “There are no atheists in foxholes”. Yet, I still needed and expected PROOF.

I expected nothing less than proof that there was a God from the many people who would approach me about their faiths in my college days early in the decade of the 1980s. I also needed to test for which god was really true if there was one. My objection to Christianity, during that time, was actually based upon a passage in the Holy Bible. Yes, I did read start reading the New Testament during that time along with my examination of other religious holy books and diverse mystical writings.
 

The Bible passage I based my objection to Christianity was from Matthew chapter 28…

11 Now while they were going, behold, some of the guard came into the city and reported to the chief priests all the things that had happened. 12 When they had assembled with the elders and consulted together, they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, 13 saying, “Tell them, ‘His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept.’ 14 And if this comes to the governor’s ears, we will appease him and make you secure.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were instructed; and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day. – Matthew 28:11-15 (NKJV)

This was where I thought there was the plot to falsely prove Jesus Christ. I did not believe the Roman guards were actually bribed. I believed that the disciples actually stole the dead body of Jesus Christ and merely claimed the He was risen from the dead.
 

When I was 21 years old, in May of 1983, I heard a couple of born-again Christians testify that the proof of Christianity was based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Therefore, I was then out to disprove what I thought was the false proof of Christianity. I was then given, by a born-again Christian young woman, a book titled “The Resurrection Factor” by Josh McDowell.
 

I indeed read this book and immediately looked up my objection to Christianity. I read from this book, however, was for this to have happened that the guards would have had to have been sleeping. This is while they would be penalized with death for sleeping under Roman law. The Roman guards would have had to ALL been sleeping while the disciples of Christ quietly sneak by. Then, the disciples would have next had to roll a boulder of the weight of 2 to 2 & 1/2 tons uphill to uncover the entrance to the tomb without waking any one of the sleeping guards. For if one was awoken, they all would have awakened. Then go in, and steal the body of Jesus Christ without anyone noticing. I considered that such was infeasible. Besides, if the guards were really all sleeping, how did they know it was the disciples stealing Jesus’ body?
 

Afterwards, I looked up in this book other potential theories I had to why Jesus Christ was not risen from the dead and found them equally lacking feasiblity. It was my conclusion that Jesus Christ was, in fact, bodily risen from the dead. Yet, I did not put my trusting faith in Him to save me as yet because I did not know how. I had a knowledge about God and Jesus, just as practically everyone else did in the old Presbyterian church had, which I used to attend as a teenager. What I did not have, as well as they, was a trusting faith in Jesus. I had merely a head knowledge of Jesus.
 

When I was desperate from my recognizing the downfall of my sinful lifestyle, I called on Jesus with my calling out to Him, “Lord, I can’t do anything right.” He spoke to me, not out loud by in my head, saying, “That’s right. You can’t do anything right. You have to let Me do it for you.” I knew it was Jesus because I did not think thoughts like that addressing myself to let myself “do it” for me. I cried out to Jesus, “Lord, don’t let me drink myself crazy.“. He then delivered me on the spot. I had no withdrawl symptoms from the addiction I had to alcohol.
 

Jesus Christ also made other changes in my life, turning me from sin, when I simply trusted Him and asked Him. He moved rather quickly. This was blowing my rational mind. I said to myself, “Ted, get yourself straight. What really happened?” I then examined what could be other explanations for the changes in my life. I already disproved a wide number of other religious faiths before I was a Christian. So, I ran over the facts again saying, “Jesus Christ is risen from the dead: Proven fact of history.” Next, I said, “Jesus Christ changed my life: No other explanation holds up.”
 

I realized that Jesus Christ really changed my life but this still seemed very strange to me. So I asked myself this question, “So what does this mean?” This was a tough question for me, so I sat down with my head on top of my fist, thinking long on this. I then sat up and said, “Conclusion: Death is defeated!” Then I snapped my fingers and said, “No wonder the apostles were unafraid to go to their deaths with the testimony of Jesus Christ. They knew what they had. They knew they had eternal life!”

This is what led me to share the gospel of the free gift of eternal life and forgiveness of all sins through trusting faith in Jesus Christ with others for I had the proof of facts and the reality of a changed life. God also continued working with me, both speaking with me and doing His miraculous moving throughout my life since.

 
If you are curious to know about discussions I had,
then feel free to read the Recollections of my religious search and skepticism.