The Everyday Club

10/26/10    Mike, early 20's
On the IIT campus I stopped a young Asian man by asking if I could ask a few questions. I expected him to be an international student but Mike grew up in a Baptist family here in the U.S. He calls himself an agnostic, not sure what God is like, having been discouraged by the omissions of scientific evidence in the Christian apologetics he was taught. I spent some time - too much time I thought later - talking about reasons for belief in God's existence and why we can believe God's account of creation rather than man's. I  stated my position that God created a mature world - Adam was fully grown, for example - and therefore even though it may look older than it really is, we need to trust God and take him at his word. It's not that God is being deceptive - rather, he has told us exactly how he made it. Mike said he is a graduate physics student - hoping to work at a career of direct research, trusting in scientific discoveries to help make the world a better place. With his church background, I thought later, serving humanity in this way sounds to me like a "good person" backup plan just in case God does exist. I later wished I hadn't been sidetracked with all the talk about God's existence and creation. Instead I should have jumped into a more spiritual conversation, about Mike's eternal soul and how he can be in a right relationship with the God who does exist.