University – the Evangelical Road

During my childhood and my teenage years, my belief in God was based on what my parents taught me and the lives they lived and the Christian atmosphere in which I was brought up plus the fact that the vast majority of my peers and teachers identified as Christian so it was the default position.

My parents had Methodist and Baptist backgrounds but, maybe because denominational identity was much more important in the mid 20th century, they rarely went to church at all and my experience of Christian worship and community was almost non-existent.However, I hardly ever attended church, received no formal teaching about Christianity and actually knew very little of the basics.

Then, when I went to University I was introduced to an expression of Christianity which made a big impact on me. Although I was aware that some of my school colleagues professed a Christian faith, I wasn’t aware of it being something which made them different from the others. Looking back, that might simply because I didn’t look enough. Likewise, my parents’ faith, while very real, also left me with the impression of something which was very much in the background.

When I joined the Christian Union at University, I met fellow students for whom their faith was very much a prominent part of their lives. They were enthusiastic and had a desire to grow in the faith as well as pass it on to others. They spent time in Bible study and prayer, both individually and in groups. This was something I had not encountered before and which resonated with me. I felt that here were people of like mind. It was here that I found out more about the Christian faith and what it meant to be a Christian. At least, one expression of the Christian faith, often known as Evangelicalism. It is one which emphasises the inspiration and authority of the Bible and which has also taken on board a number of ways of interpreting it. Later I would find there were other followers of Jesus who expressed their faith differently.

At that time, most  people in this country identified as Christian even if they were not practising and when I went to University, I naively thought that the Christian Union would be the largest society. I soon found out differently but I met, very much for the first time, people of my own age who took their faith seriously. People who viewed the spiritual life as “real life” and the most important thing rather than the sort of pursuits which the majority of teenagers spent their time and energy on.

Students in the Christian Union explained to me in a simple, appealing way what they understood by the Gospel. Particularly the teaching that God loves us unconditionally and that the reason He came to Earth in the Person of Jesus to live with us and to die with and for us was so that we could be reconciled to God.

Up until that point I thought that, to get to Heaven, I would have to meet certain requirements, like getting a pass mark in an exam. It was a relief to know that it was He who was going to take me there despite my failings. All I had to do was ask Him and follow Him.

As well as being a relief because I was always concerned that I wouldn’t make the grade, the simplicity of the message appealed to my scientific mind which was not comfortable with uncertainty.

What also drew me to them and their beliefs was their sincerity and commitment. What they called “real life” was something beyond the immediate and beyond the next glass of beer or the next party. It was good to meet people who thought a bit like I did – I hadn’t really come across that before. Then when they told me the Christian message that God accepts everyone who wants to follow Him, things fell into place.

They emphasised the importance of praying a prayer of commitment to Jesus and of receiving forgiveness for all the mess-ups of the past. Although I was not aware of a time when I wasn’t aware of following all that I understood about Jesus, or of not being aware that I had done many things in life which I regretted, I was more than happy to affirm this in prayer.

And so, I started out on the road of conservative Evangelicalism which was a road I travelled throughout my time at University and beyond.

However, I still had very enquiring mind so, as well as developing my prayer life, I looked into how my newly strengthened beliefs fitted into what was taught by science and other disciplines.

As well as studying Physics, I had an amateur interest in things like psychology and, later, philosophy. I was aware that what they taught often clashed with my Christian belief.

So the quest continued to find out why and to seek the truth. Is there really a contradiction between faith and a scientific world view, or is that a fallacy? I have always preferred an uncomfortable truth to a comforting illusion and, if that is what the evidence showed, then I would accept that, albeit reluctantly.

So far I have found no irreconcilable contradiction.

After university, I attended a church where I heard teaching about the Faith and about Jesus in sermons and Bible study groups and was particularly drawn to prayer and the prayer groups in the church. A few years later I was baptised by total immersion at the church near where I had been brought up and the place where my parents still lived.