Interviewing a Christian Philosophy Professor Who Spent 25 years as an Atheist

1. John tells his story (0:05)

2. Did you consider other religions? (6:13)

3. How did Jordan Peterson inspire your conversion? (6:44)

4. How was your life during your time spent as an atheist? (9:31)

5. How did you perceive Christians when you were an atheist? (11:22)

6. Philosophical arguments for God don’t work? (16:55)

7. Are there any other modern-day philosophers you enjoy reading/listening to? (12:25)

8. Have you had doubts since your conversion back? (22:40)

9. Did you have any atheists or Christians reach out to you after your interview on Premier Unbelievable? (25:08)

10. Method when interacting with atheists (27:24)

11. Is atheism a belief that there is no God or a lack of belief in God? (34:07)

12. What advice would you have for atheists or agnostics who are searching or questioning their worldview? (37:26)

13. Supernatural encounters? (40:17)

14. What are your thoughts on aliens? (42:24)

15. What have you learned since running your podcast The Christian Atheist about Christianity, religion, atheism, worldviews, etc. (43:59)

John Wise grew up a Christian and went to Bible college to become a pastor. Soon after his graduation from Bible College he fell away from the Christian faith and spent 25 years as an atheist before coming back to Christianity in 2019. John received his undergraduate degree in theology from Lancaster Bible College as well as his PhD from the University of California, Irvine in 2004. He has been teaching for over 20 years. The answers John provides are too detailed to construct in writing, so I provided a video along with timestamps for each question above.

This was one of my favorite interviews. John was fantastic and incredibly insightful. This was quite an interesting testimony, and it’s reassuring to hear stories of Christ-followers who believed, fell away, and then came back. In my opinion, it is incredibly necessary for all people to question their worldview. I strongly believe every Christian should question why they believe what they believe, especially those who grew up in the faith. It allows you to study and explore it deeply which will therefore make it stronger in the long run. Also, I would be very curious to see how a discussion would go between John and Jason, the atheist we had in May. Lastly, I have to be honest, John humbled me with his answer to my question about where he stands on the existence of aliens and how he conveyed that we should never put God in a box. I have done that a time or two when it came to wrestling with the implications of alien life on Christianity. His answer was something I needed to hear. 

You can find more about John and his podcasts here! 

Questions John answered that didn’t make it in the video:

1. Most unpopular opinion about Christianity? 

I think the church today, even the evangelical church, is in a state of compromise with the reigning world-system. I teach two courses online, one on ethics and one on introductory logic and critical thinking. Invariably I have a number of students who identify themselves as Christians. However, as the course proceeds it is clear that they are not holding to the fundamental ethical and doctrinal truths of the faith. I understand this compromise, as the whole culture has mounted an assault on Christian thinking as irrational, naive, and even immoral. Thus, the words of Isaiah have been fulfilled in our time:

Woe to those who call evil good

    and good evil,

who put darkness for light

    and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

    and sweet for bitter!

The inversion of value in our culture has been almost complete. We are now undermining truth, rationality and science itself by choosing to believe in fantasies like having a choice of genders, and an evolutionary theory that is coming apart at the seams as we speak. The reality today is no longer the arbiter of science, just as God is no longer the giver of Law and morality. Inference to the best explanation is out the window in favor of “inference to our chosen explanation.” As I try to lay out in my podcast, a great deal of this goes back to the revolutionary philosophical viewpoints of G W F Hegel at the beginning of the 19th century.

… which leads me to a second point: Christians have no reason to run scared from critics. That which we believe is the most scientifically grounded and logically coherent worldview that has ever existed. This is not to say that atheists and materialists are irrational. They are not. They are, in fact, hyper-rational. They have substituted a powerful intellectual story for the careful, balanced and empirically bounded rational scientific exploration of God’s creation that Christianity fostered in the Western world.

2. Thoughts on Free Will vs Predeterminism? 

One of the first steps I made which enabled my turn back to Christ in 2019 was the acceptance of paradox. In some way or another man is both free and determined, just as Jesus is both God (all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily) and man (finite, localized in time and place, etc.) My own limited experience, knowledge, and reason can't fathom how this is the case, only that it is. Having faith in the God of the universe means that reason and truth are defined by Him, not us.

Do you not know?

 Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

 and his understanding no one can fathom.

There is a scientific parallel. In quantum mechanics we learn that an electron (or any elementary particle) is both a wave and a particle - a particle when it is observed and a wave when it is not. Try making sense of that. It is just a fact which must be accepted.

Additional resources provided by John:

BOOKS:

PARADISE LOST: The Machinery of Evil ... https://a.co/d/dO66hPa

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS: The Imploding of an Atheist Professor's Worldview ... https://a.co/d/dqmK8CT

KO-FI

https://ko-fi.com/thechristianatheist

PODCASTING LINKS

The Christian Atheist  https://pod.link/thechristianatheist

Simple Gifts  https://pod.link/SimpleGifts

YOUTUBE LINKS

Youtube Channel ... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoP2ZgGD5EsYBlfRgtnTb5w

The Christian Atheist Playlist:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS9AH1236qO8ElJNcPhAWCFRo_VaDPuiI

No Compromise Playlist:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLS9AH1236qO-xEEfBcBP39ip0UJtCpP9R

WEBSITES

https://wisewordsforyouroccasion.wordpress.com

https://wisephotographyforyou.wordpress.com

FACEBOOK

https://www.facebook.com/JnJWiseWords/

https://www.facebook.com/WisePhotographyforYou/

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MATT MATIAS: MemeLord Monday

PODCAST: https://pod.link/1493807770/episode/fcde32dac75993b012b2dd28d296afc4

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MICHAEL WISEMAN: The Bible Says What

PODCAST: https://pod.link/1383942979/episode/ea23eb46cd88913a4a46baa2c74a7189

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JUSTIN BREIERLY: Unapologetic and Unbelievable

PODCAST PART 1: https://pod.link/1622170986/episode/90c28d21c681152b1faa21fa524a4408

PODCAST PART 2: https://pod.link/1622170986/episode/fa267da73d1bfe72e7ca88f0958ee3e8

YOUTUBE: 

JANA HARMON: Side B Stories

PODCAST: https://pod.link/1534623418/episode/6ba983e473e78d69f6e956b85ad721c1

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DAVID C. SMALLEY:

PODCAST: https://pod.link/493845276/episode/bd8e388a2b0de4e6fdb3a53a60d2db44

TOM JUMP

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/live/lXs_i7bzirw?feature=share

KEN CHINN:

JOHN CHRISTY

https://pod.link/1313312271/episode/67cb55023062db117550e2ba61a72b37

SHEA @GOTQUESTIONS.ORG