an atheist misses Jesus
I found this fascinating story of an evangelist turned atheist, and his end-of-life perspective on Jesus.
In the late 1940s, Charles Templeton was a close friend and preaching associate of Billy Graham. He effectively preached the gospel to large crowds in major arenas. However, intellectual doubts began to nag at him. He questioned the truth of Scripture and other core Christian beliefs. He finally abandoned his faith and made an unsuccessful attempt to persuade Billy to do the same. He felt sorry for Billy and commented, “He committed intellectual suicide by closing his mind.” Templeton resigned from the ministry and became a novelist and news commentator. He also wrote a critique of the Christian faith, Farewell to God: My Reasons for Rejecting the Christian Faith.
Journalist Lee Strobel interviewed him for his book, The Case for Faith. Templeton was 83 and suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. He revealed some of the reasons he left the faith:
I started considering the plagues that sweep across parts of the planet and indiscriminately kill—more often than not, painfully—all kinds of people, the ordinary, the decent, and the rotten. And it just became crystal clear to me that it is not possible for an intelligent person to believe that there is a deity who loves.
Lee Strobel then asked him about Jesus and was surprised at the response. Templeton believed Jesus lived but never really considered himself to be God:
He was the greatest human being who has ever lived. He was a moral genius. His ethical sense was unique. He was the intrinsically wisest person that I’ve ever encountered in my life or in my readings. He’s the most important thing in my life. I know it may sound strange, but I have to say I adore him! Everything good I know, everything decent I know, everything pure I know, I learned from Jesus. He is the most important human being who has ever existed. And if I may put it this way, I miss Him.
Templeton’s eyes filled with tears and he wept freely. He refused to say more.
How very touching that in the end he wept over Jesus and how much he missed Him, oh that the head would listen to the heart and be at peace.
To those of us who believe in the eternal security of the believer (once saved, always saved) the question is: “Charles Templeton may have left God but did God leave him?
Once you come to know Christ, your freedom to choose doesn’t end there. You are free to choose or reject Christ at any time before or after you accept Him. God has promised never to leave us, but it does make it very clear in Hebrews Chapter 10 what happens if we choose to reject Him after coming to know the truth. “It will be better for that man never to have known the truth.” There is no such thing as eternal security. We need to replenish our spiritual strength and faith in God daily during these wicked days. Satan got to Charles and he fell for it. Satan convinced him God could not exist because of the all the evil in the world…he lost faith, he didn’t hang on to God’s promises, didn’t take God at His Word and therefore called God a liar. Basically, isn’t that the exact trick he played on Eve in the garden of Eden? He didn’t believe we’re in a spiritual war – especially AFTER knowing Christ (Eph 6). Satan throws the darts of doubt, WE choose whether they’ll stick in us and fester or whether we pull them out and keep fighting the good fight. God says “for the man who doubts, don’t let him expect anything from God”. I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes!
When I first heard this story of Charles Templeton I cried, I creid because our enemy triumph over him filling his mind with doubts. Not that I have never doubted, but my transformation when I received Jesus in my heart is real, I called myself an athiest but in reality I was just mad at religion with it’s rules and rituals. But God is His infinite mercy brought me to the knowledge of the truth and the truth has set me free. Free from religion and free to question Him and His Word not in doubt and unbelief, but to be able to look for the answer to the questions that troubled Mr. Templeton and sad to say many Christians. Because I know the Bible is truth and since it is, anything that seems to contradict His Word is wrong and it is just a matter of time until I find where we are wrong, since He never is(Daddy knows best). Anyway I thought I place my small comments in hope that I can bring encouragement to someone who is looking for answers.
Ivan, beautifully said. I saw the Case for Faith and I was in fear and trembling over it. A very holy fear and trembling. God so loved Charles Templeton…
I can’t help to think those tears shed were from God to Charles.