I have told a lot of people about Jesus Christ over the years, and I have been blessed to meet and have fellowship with many Christians from many different walks of life, with many different expectations and experiences, yet all of us share a similar bond as Brothers in Jesus Christ, or Sisters in Christ.  There have been so many times where I've met another Christian, and we seem to instantly have a kinship, as if we've known each other all along, and we right away know and enjoy the Holy Spirit together in our conversation and communication.

Every so often, I have met people who have claimed to be an "atheist" when I've asked, or sometimes they've volunteered this information.  When I was much younger, I remember grown ups talking about atheists in hushed tones, as if they were too tall an order to really discuss with any serious ideas about how to tell them about God, and I got the impression that atheists were all very intimidating, as if they were all super-smart scientific secular jargon-spewing logical brick walls upon which conversations only could smash and fall to pieces, or that they were outright Satanists, intentionally worshipping the very real created entity named Satan, Lucifer.  As I grew a little older, I found that atheists were regular people just like anybody else, and I also found that the group of people who calls themself "atheist" today are not actually literal atheists.  Not one of them.  Not along my journey, so far.

Some folks are much easier to show them that they are not an atheist, and others take some time to convince, but anybody who is honest about what they see around them just has to acknowledge that it didn't happen by accident, especially with how much knowledge we have nowadays about how things work and how things are put together.  Watching a child play with a ball, or examining a leaf or a snowflake under a microscope, or watching a starry night sky or a bright sunrise or sunset is enough to show many people that God exists.  It is a good thing that God says in His Word that He pursues us, because most people are running away from Him right now.  

Anybody who wants to know God, it's not difficult to do so: Ask Him honestly to show up, believing, and He will.  Believe in Jesus Christ and be saved!

This became so apparent to me during one conversation with one of my friends years ago, and I challenged him to an honest conversation, one in which we would examine some things together, and have a conversation that would be friendly and honest about these things regarding God and reality and whether my friend was, indeed, a real atheist or not.  For the sake of this post and context, I'm going to abbreviate the conversation somewhat from what we really had, because I want you, the reader, to really be able to grasp the key points of what was said, because I've had this same conversation with a little bit different words so many times over the years now, and it always ends up with the so-called "atheist" either refusing to finish the conversation, or they admit that they are not, in fact, a true atheist.

My friend, we'll call him Cyrus, was a supposed hard-core atheist growing up, and this was a part of his identity, and he had some unique characteristics, one of which was how he felt like he lacked a way to get from point A to point B in any life situation.  I helped him a little, but I think he helped me a lot more in life.  Somehow, we were good friends, even though he pretended to hate people who claimed to love Jesus, but that's another story.  We spent lots of days and nights hanging out together, and having conversations about any and every topic we thought was good to talk about, and we sometimes played music  together.  He was on another level musically, supremely skilled with drums and strings and anything he touched, but, he was also able to condescend to my level sometimes so we could jam out together.

Cyrus was the first person I ever challenged with this challenge, which, Christian, I am repeating here for your benefit, and for the benefit of any so-called "atheist" that you might encounter, whom God may give you the time to have a challenging conversation with.  My friend Cyrus admitted at the end of it that he wasn't an atheist, after saying things to the effect of, "You can try all you want, but I'm never not going to be an atheist."  He in one conversation moved away from that label and admitted that he was agnostic, and later he actually began looking into truth.  I do not know whether he has rest today, because we have not seen each other for a long time, but I am sharing this story so that you might be able to adapt it in a good situation at the right time for someone else.

I told my friend I had a challenge for him one night, and that I would ask him about it the next time I saw him, and he said "ok" and then the next time we met, I had a very pertinent conversation ready.  It went something like this:

Me:  You claim to be an atheist?

Him:  Yes.

Me:  I would like to ask you some questions, which I believe will show you that atheism is not a logical belief system, if you are honest with yourself.

Him:  Ok, sure, but this has been tried time and again, and our entire scientific community agrees that religion is just the "opiate of the masses," and that man made god, and not the other way around.

Me: Well, I think that after hearing this story, you're going to have to admit that being an atheist actually requires more faith than believing in an Intelligent Designer, or believing in God.

Him: PFHWAWW HA HA!  Bring it on Bible Thumper!

Me: Ok.  So remind me, how do you explain how we all got here?  What's your story of creation?  You believe in the traditional "big bang," you believe that we all evolved from monkeys and lesser life forms, and you believe that despite how mathematically improbable it is, this planet just happens to be able to support life the way it does.  Is that about it?

Him: Yea, that about sums it up.  You've been paying attention, I see!

Me: And you believe that humans are merely animals, and that all animals and plants basically were evolved to their current point by a selective process governed by internal needs and external forces, over millions of years, right?

Him: Yup.

Me: And if I remember correctly, you also explain away the vast improbability of it all by claiming to believe something to the effect of, "With an infinite amount of possibility, of course it seems perfectly reasonable that this Earth exists." ... right?

Him: Yes, these questions are all basic third grade science.  You're telling me what I already believe.  How is this proving that God exists?

Me: We haven't quite gotten there yet, I'm just making sure that we start on good truth, because we are going to be looking at some other real truth here in just a moment.

.........

Now, I knew my friend had a real distaste for the word "truth," and he especially was against any kind of suggestion that such a thing as "absolute truth" actually exists, so I knew that by claiming that we had just said truth would cause him to reconsider some things, because he would instantly want to disagree with this.  I wanted to establish early on that we had indeed agreed to truth, and by declaring that we were beginning on the truth, and all we had done so far was discuss his beliefs, it was bringing an awareness of truth to him already, and I think he saw some of his "there is no such thing as absolute truth" arguments fade away in that moment, because he sort of hesitated for a moment, and then let it go.

It was important to discuss the point which secular scientists will state, which is in regard to "being given an infinite amount of possibilities... blah blah blah..." early on in this particular challenging conversation, for the way I approached this conversation, and for this particular challenge.  Most atheists subscribe to some sort of belief like this, to disregard the sheer impossibility that all of this creation just kind of happened together .. somehow, by saying that "with big enough numbers and possibilities we can explain anything," people decades ago and people today lie to themselves and to anybody who will believe them, about some really crucial understandings about life and reality, and it is detrimental to their progress in this life, and in the next.

Fortunately for my friend, he finished this conversation with me, and we remained friends for years afterwards, and he actually asked me some questions about Christ going forward.  This is what has happened with almost every person whom I've had this specific challenging conversation with, we have a friendly conversation, they admit that they were wrong, that they actually are not really an atheist, and then we go on about our lives and don't even bring it up again.  But, maybe twice or three times, people have decided to cut the conversation short, and not continue any more, once they get to a certain point in the questions you're about to read.

.........

Him: Alright, go ahead.

Me: You've seen an old mechanical pocketwatch before, right?

Him: Yea my Granddad has like three of them and they're upstairs in my closet.  None of them work anymore but they're expensive and a family heirloom so...

Me: Have you ever seen the inside of one?  

Him: No.

Me: I have, I've taken them apart a few times.  They're made up of tons of tiny little metal gears, and springs, and screws and nuts and glass and plastic pieces.  If you had to make a guess, how long do you think it would take for someone to put a whole pocketwatch together, piece by piece, from start to finish?

Him: I don't know, maybe 8 hours?

Me: If you had to take a guess, how many pieces would you guess are inside of any given mechanical pocketwatch?

Him: Probably at least 100, let's say 150.

Me: Ok, so it might take someone 8 hours or so to put together 150 tiny little pieces or so.  Got it.

Him: I mean, I've never taken one apart or put one together, so I'm just guessing.

Me: Yea, I know,  Here's another question: If you were to take that pocketwatch apart, separating each and every little piece from each other, and you put them all in a paper bag, do you think it's possible that that pocketwatch would ever be able to be put back together in perfect working order?

Him: Yes (with a sideways glance that my friend did when he was making up something he knew sounded bogus, but he was going with it anyway), with an infinite amount of possibilities, it is perfectly feasible to believe that that pocketwatch could make it back together.

Me: So you believe that all the little screws could screw themselves back in, and each spring could be pulled and wrapped by it's own self, and all the gears and other metal and glass and plastic pieces could all just go back together if given enough time to be randomly shaken together in a paper bag?

Him: Yes, it would take a very long time, and probably wouldn't be possible in a paper bag because it would wear out, but, yes, given enough time and infinite possibilities, and anything is possible.

Me: Alright, alright.  So let's assume that what you're saying is true, and somehow, after, what, 100 years?

Him: Oh it would take at least 1000 or 10000 years.

Me: Ok, so, after 10000 years of all these people working together, shaking this bag with all these parts in it, let's just say that it is possible that it all went together, and now there is this watch that is ready to function.  But then what?

Him: Huh?

Me:  How does it get going?  Somebody has to wind it.

.........

It was at this point that my friend, thankfully, cracked, and said, "Ok, you're right."  Again, I've shortened up this conversation some here, and of course he and I had actually had this kind of conversation numerous times, or we had been in each others' presence as it's been had with other people, and so we had a lot of background knowledge about each others' beliefs already.  There have been numerous times where I have had this almost identical sequenced conversation with people whom I had only just met, or with people whom other people had brought to me because they heard me make the challenge to say, "I have yet to meet a real atheist," and I've been able to prove all of these atheists to not be real atheists, with this simple story.

Most people have stopped and admitted that it would be impossible for the pocketwatch to be shaken and put back together, which it would be.  There simply is no possible way that an intricate pocketwatch could be randomly put together, because it requires tension and precision and movements that cannot be unintentionally formed.

Thankfully, with my friend Cyrus, he went from appearing somewhat intimidating to me, to being much less intimidating to talk to about Jesus, because it was much easier than I had assumed it would be, to highlight for him that he was not actually an atheist, because it sounds so silly to claim you believe that the Earth could just randomly come together, when you realize the intricacy of a simple pocketwatch, and realize that it could not randomly come together.  If a pocketwatch is made up of at most 100-200 pieces, and if it could not be put together by chance, then how can anybody explain that the Earth came together by chance and time and "infinite possibility?"

Yet, in the case of my friend, he persisted, and argued even more than what I put here, but the key sticking point for him was that yes, given an infinite amount of possibilities, that pocketwatch could go back together.  I knew that he would argue this, and I was prepared for it, and I let him argue each facet of this argument until he was satisfied that he had proven that point.  Then I relented, and said, "Ok, even if..." and it's at this point where anybody who is honest simply has nothing else to stand on to keep arguing.  It's at this point where anybody who cannot be honest will walk away or refuse to have any more conversation about this topic with you.

With my friend, it didn't take long for him to see the point once I asked, "Yea, but who would wind the watch?"  But there have been folks who wanted to keep arguing, and it's worth it to keep having the conversation, because at this point they are so close to the truth, and it only will take time for it to make sense to them.  Perhaps they won't acknowledge it in your presence, but you can trust that wherever you deliver the grace and truth of Jesus Christ to someone, that the Holy Spirit is up to work there, and you can trust that God will do the work.  For people who want to discuss it more, I have gone on to point out that the Earth is way more intricate than a pocketwatch, with way more parts and pieces, and that the orbit of the Earth is much more complicated than winding a simple dial on its back and letting the springs inside a pocketwatch expend all their energy in a day.  It is good to point out that there is this visible world that we are used to seeing, but there is also the microscopic world we don't usually see, and the macroscopic world out in the cosmos where explosions and other activities are happening all the time without our input or awareness.  Some people will simply get to a point where they say something like, "Well, we'll have to agree to disagree then."  And when I ask them, "What part are you disagreeing with?"  That's usually when they change the topic or walk away.

For people who have lived a long time believing that they are something or someone whom they simply cannot be, it is quite jarring for them to realize the truth, and it takes time for it to resound within them and really make a difference in their approach to life and reality.  It is important to me whenever someone gains insight and understanding of truth which they before lacked.  Maybe I haven't led many atheists directly to acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour, but I have pointed several of them in the right direction, and I am blessed to have been able to witness several so-called "atheists" stop from calling their own self this label anymore, and stop from telling others that it is their identity.  Stepping from atheism to agnosticism is a good step to make, and for those who believe that there is "a god" out there, but they're not sure which one, I tell them to keep going, they are on the right path, because indeed there is only One God, and He will lead those who want to follow Him.

9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.

10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?

12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?

13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Luke 11.9-13

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

John 1.1-14

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis 1.1-5