Rabu, 05 Agustus 2015

Atheist engineer became ‘radicalized Christian’

Atheist engineer became ‘radicalized Christian’
By Mark Ellis, Special to ASSIST News Service
Barbara and Shaun Mark EllisSOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS - August 4, 2015) -- In his youth, he was already a firmly committed atheist, and his career path as a computer scientist only reinforced his views, but his wife’s flat tire one day in their Ford truck prompted a change in direction.
“I decided on my own at 18 that God didn’t exist,” says Wallace “Shaun” Shaunfield, who designed computer chips for Westinghouse, Texas Instruments, and Honeywell during his career as a computer scientist.
His wife Barbara, a devout Nazarene, broke up with him five times before they finally married.
After they moved from Dallas to Boerne, Texas, Barbara realized she had to drive an hour to get to the closest Nazarene Church. “She religiously got up and went to church on Sunday and I religiously stayed home,” Shaun recounts.
“I never darkened the door of a church except for a wedding or funeral,” he adds.
One Sunday morning on her lengthy commute to the worship service, their Ford F250 blew a tire. Barbara sat on the side of the road, crying and praying for assistance.
She finally got help with the tire, but when she returned home several hours later, she unloaded on Shaun. “I’m not going to do this anymore,” she declared.
“I’m going to start over at the Methodist Church nearby, but I’m not going alone. You have to go with me.”
Shaun was apologetic and agreed to go with her on Sundays.
After a few weeks in church, a strange thought entered his mind as he sat in the pews: Maybe I’ve been wrong all these years…maybe I should take an objective look at my unbelief.
He read Lee Strobel’s book, The Case for Faith, which dealt with many of his rationalistic objections.
One hot August night he couldn’t sleep. He got up at 3 a.m., went outside on the porch and sat down in a porch swing in the moonlight. He began to take inventory of what he had learned.
Photo caption: Barbara and Shaun.
About the writer: Mark Ellis is a senior correspondent for the ASSIST News Service and also the founder of www.Godreports.com, a website that shares stories, testimonies and videos from the church around the world to build interest and involvement in world missions.
** You may republish this and any of our ANS stories with attribution to the ASSIST News Service (www.assistnews.net

Tidak ada komentar: