Why I am a Christian!

by Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

PREFACE

 Bertrand Russell helped change my life through the statements he made and the books he wrote:  Especially the one titled, Why I Am Not a Christian! His death affected me as well!  It occurred on Feb. 2, 1970.  As I studied the eulogies that flowed from the lips of fellow philosophers and the typewriters of journalists, I decided to write this book, WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN!

It all seemed so ridiculous to me, having read his statements for years, to see his ignominious end.  Russell died at the age of 99, a lost soul going into eternity to meet God all alone, away from his fellow agnostics and philosophers, the glare of T.V. cameras and friendly newspaper reporters.

Bertrand Russell - like all other agnostics and atheists - will have to face Jesus Christ at the Eternal Judgment Bar, like a blithering idiot, trying to explain his silly philosophical bent to the God of the universe and Saviour of Mankind!

When the news of his death reached me, I immediately prepared a radio message for release across the nation.  It was titled: ‘England's Wisest Fool is Dead’!

ENGLAND’S WISEST FOOL!

To have had access to the Holy Bible as well as writings of some of the finest Christians of all time - Martin Luther, John Wesley, John Bunyan, and Charles Spurgeon, and still champion the kind of ideology and philosophy that he did, seemed sad to me.  Especially, since Almighty God had endowed him with a brilliant mind and ample opportunities to develop and illuminate it!

How could a man live almost a century and reject Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Fountain Head of Wisdom, the Pearl of great price, the Prince of Peace, and Giver of Eternal Life?  To do so, a person would have to be extremely dull intellectually or blinded spiritually by evil spirits, whose satanic duty it is to destroy men’s souls in hell!

 

Since Bertrand Russell was a brilliant man, I deduced that like millions of others across the world, he must have been deceived.  St. Paul writes of Satan, "blinding the eyes of those who refuse to receive this gospel...so that they will be damned!" (2 Thess. 2:12)

RUSSELL EXUDED HOPELESSNESS!

Bertrand Russell stated: “The life of man is a long march through the night, surrounded by invisible foes, tortured by weariness and pain, towards a goal that few can hope to reach and where none can tarry long. One by one, as they march, our comrades vanish from our sight, seized by the silent orders of omnipotent death.

“Brief and powerless is man's life, on his and all his race the slow, sure doom falls, pitiless and dark. Blind to good and evil, reckless of destruction, omnipotent matter rolls on its relentless way. For man, condemned today to lose his dearest, tomorrow himself to pass through the gates of darkness, it remains only to cherish, ere yet the blow falls, the lofty thoughts that ennoble his little day.”

SHAW & WELLS REJECTED ATHEISM!

Writers H.G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw were brilliant men who had left God out of their lives! They built their beliefs on the sinking, shifting sands of exalted humanism, and their lofty ideologies came crashing down around their ears. In the end, both Wells and Shaw wrote of their disillusionment with atheism and the fallacy of their belief in science as a near end-all religion!

Wells' final literary work oozed of hopelessness and is indeed a testament to the failings of his earlier projections of building a utopian world based on the inherent goodness in mankind! It has correctly been called "a scream of despair." He had given up all hope for humanity! 

George W. Shaw (1856–1950) winner of 1925 Nobel Prize in literature stated: “I am ready to admit after contemplating the world and human nature for 60 years, that I see no way out of the world’s miseries but by the way that would be found by Christ’s will.”

What a marvelous testimony to the overwhelming power of the Gospel that eclipses all human abilities and frailties throughout all times and ages!

He stated: “The science to which I pinned my faith is bankrupt. Its counsels, which should have established the millennium, have led directly to the suicide of Europe. I believed them once. In their name I helped to destroy the faith of millions. And now they look at me and witness the great tragedy of an atheist who has lost his faith."

Oh, the futility of atheism! Shaw died as a believer in Jesus Christ! For more than 60 years I have studied the Bible and served in the Christian ministry, and yet I can say with all sincerity and fairness, that God is reliable, and the Bible is relevant! And that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and humanity’s only hope for time and eternity!

WITHOUT DOUBT, CHRIST IS COMPETENT, ABLE AND WILLING TO GRANT ANSWERS TO OUR PRAYERS, EVEN IN THIS DARK HOUR OF HUMAN HISTORY!

Make no mistake about the fact that the Holy Spirit is actively working today in the lives of all who put their trust in Jesus Christ.  He continues to faithfully call lost souls to turn back to God in repentance and faith, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins, and eternal life together with those who are redeemed and sanctified!

For many years I have studied a great deal of theological as well as philosophical, ideological, and scientific journals, and have been strengthened immensely in the faith, even by reading the liberal higher critics who seek to destroy belief in Christ's deity, the bodily resurrection of Jesus and the miracles of the Bible!

Having researched their writings, I have discovered that when you get all the facts, use the proper hermeneutical approach, taking into consideration the historical, cultural, and religious context of any Biblical passage, and diligently searching out the original texts, all apparent inconsistencies vanish like the fog before the sun! To come to this conclusion, one must be totally honest!

My statement to Mike Roberts of CHBC TV will forever be my testimony: "I'm satisfied with Jesus Christ.  God has been far too good to me.  I do not deserve all the blessings He has showered upon my life!"

I thank Professor Bertrand Russell posthumously for the challenge I received from his ill - prepared and unscientific, anti-Christian statements.

IN JESUS WE LIVE AND HAVE OUR BEING!

And I thank the Holy Spirit who prompted me to set the record straight on behalf of my good friend and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is everything He claims to be and more, the Son of the Living God and the sole Saviour of the world.  In fact, in Him we live and move and have our being! (Acts 17:28)

I had the privilege of debating Charles Templeton - Canada's leading Agnostic on the subject of the Christian Gospel, at Edmonton's CKER Night Watch a number of years ago.  A scheduled debate on Ray Torgrud's CKY TV Talk Show, Winnipeg, however, didn't get ‘off the ground’ as Templeton was unable to appear.

On one occasion I asked Mr. Templeton pointedly, "What do you think of Jesus Christ?" He answered, “Jesus Christ is the single most important influence in my life.” Then, I probed, "Is He the Son of God?"  Templeton answered: "No, he is not the Son of God!"  I asked, "Who is He then?" He replied, "A moral genius”. 

Then I dropped a bombshell: "How can a moral genius be a colossal liar?  For He said, ‘I am the Son of God!’  If He is a moral genius, He cannot be a liar and is therefore the Son of God.”

For a moment on the other end of the telephone there was a short embarrassing silence, just before Templeton began a rambling defense.  In broadcasting, we call that silence: "The moment of truth!"

In my heart I pity Charles Templeton, who preached the gospel and together with Billy Graham reached multitudes for our Lord Jesus Christ! When I debated Templeton, he called himself an agnostic. Fifteen years later when he wrote his last book, Farewell to God, he called himself an atheist!  

-To be continued.

Max Solbrekken World Mission Box 44220 RPO Garside Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6; Email: [email protected]; comehometojesus.ca; Youtube; Facebook: Donations can be made by e-Transfer. Make donations to [email protected]. May the Lord bless you!