My name is Justin Goethe. I was born in December 1985 – the beginning of the generation that would come to be known as “The Millennials”.
Growing up, I knew all about Bethlehem, Calvary, and Doubting Thomas. I went to church camp, Vacation Bible School, and “Wednesday night preaching”.
But as I moved through high school and college, scientific ideas such as evolution and the Big Bang began to take root. It appeared that the science was conclusive – infallible even. God hadn’t created the universe. He probably didn’t even exist. We were a big cosmic coincidence.
By the time I graduated from college, I was far closer to an atheist than a Christian. At best, you could have counted me as agnostic.
In 2009, on a ski trip with my girlfriend’s family, I had a moment of chilling clarity that inspired a decade-long spiritual journey.
I was riding the chair lift and watching all the skiers and snowboarders below make their way down the mountain. Some chatted on the side of the slope. Others were helping children master their skis. They were all laughing and smiling. They all appeared to be enjoying each other and their day, and the thought occurred to me… “None of this means anything”. In a hundred years, all of these people will be dead, and no one will remember their names.
I had finally reached the logical conclusion of atheism.
If life was just a cosmic accident, then nihilism was the only philosophy that made sense. Life had no meaning or purpose. And while this was logically consistent, it seemed to be inherently wrong-headed.
Call it ego, self-centeredness, narcissism. Call it whatever you like, but even then, I knew deep down in my bones that this idea was wrong. Life had intrinsic value. Murder wasn’t wrong because society had determined that it was bad. It was objectively wrong.
I decided that, before I threw out the faith of my forefathers, I would try to relearn what it meant to be a Christian.
I have read the Bible twice. I have studied the theories of evolution and the Big Bang. I have read Aquinas and Aristotle and C.S.Lewis. I have listened to Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins along with Ben Shapiro and William Lane Craig. I have met mature Christians that inspired me and others that weren’t as far along.
Through all of this, I have come to find that I was right the first time. We are all created in God’s holy image. And as such, our life has value – intrinsic value – that is not a result of societal norms or post-Enlightenment reason.
I believe there are a lot of millennials with similar experiences to mine. I started A Millennials Divine Defense as my defense for the Divine. I hope to provide a case for not only the existence of “a god” but the God of the Bible. I hope that I might inspire others to re-explore their faith. I believe that they will find what I found .
God is real. He is just as relevant today as he has always been.
Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”
John 20:27
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