Believers Portal has prepared this list of some famous atheist who embraced the Christian faith and declared the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Abraham Lincoln – Served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Read the incredible story of Abraham Lincoln’s Journey From Atheism To Christianity
Gregory the Commander — was a Sasanian military leader from the House of Mihran, who converted from Zoroastrianism to Christianity. Varaz Grigor — was the Mihranid king of Caucasian Albania from 628 until his death in 638. Daisy Irani — an Indian actress in Hindi and Telugu language films.
He is a Professor of Science and Religion who became a Christian apologist. 4. Francis Collins (1950) Francis Collins is an American physician-geneticist who discovered gene diseases that led to the Human Genome Project. He investigated many faiths, and though resisted, the evidence was clear, and he converted to Christianity. 5.
Mohamed Alí Seineldín — Lebanese Argentine army colonel, he converted from Druzism to Roman Catholicism during his youth. Nada Nadim Prouty — Lebanese former intelligence professional, She was born into the Druze faith, later in life, she converted to Catholicism. St. Augustine of Hippo — was an early Christian theologian and philosopher.
Constantine was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 306 to 337 CE. He is best known for his conversion to Christianity, which, according to legend, occurred prior to his victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312.
Zenas the Lawyer (Ancient Greek: Ζηνᾶς) was a first-century Christian mentioned in Paul the Apostle's Epistle to Titus in the New Testament. In Titus 3:13, Paul writes: "Bring Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, that nothing be wanting unto them" (KJV).
Charles Grandison Finney, (born Aug. 29, 1792, Warren, Conn., U.S.—died Aug. 16, 1875, Oberlin, Ohio), American lawyer, president of Oberlin College, and a central figure in the religious revival movement of the early 19th century; he is sometimes called the first of the professional evangelists.
Saul, a Jew, later called Paul, was born in the predominately Greek city of Tarsus located in Asia Minor.
In the Bible, Lot's wife is a figure first mentioned in Genesis 19. The Book of Genesis describes how she became a pillar of salt after she looked back at Sodom.
Judging Fairly: “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly” (Leviticus 19:15). “Appoint judges and officials… [who] shall judge the people fairly. Do not pervert justice or show partiality.
Finney became a controversial figure in the Presbyterian Church. His encouragement of revivals, his emphasis on social action, and his bold and public belief that sin was voluntary were departures from the Presbyterian creed. Calvinist preacher Lyman Beecher strongly objected to Finney's ideas.
Evangelicals take the Bible seriously and believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word euangelion, meaning “the good news” or the “gospel.” Thus, the evangelical faith focuses on the “good news” of salvation brought to sinners by Jesus Christ.
Monergism is the view within Christian theology which holds that God works through the Holy Spirit to bring about the salvation of an individual through spiritual regeneration, regardless of the individual's cooperation.
But Jesus did not respond as expected. He did not congratulate the lawyer as a man of good standing. To the contrary, he buckled the lawyer's knees and threw him into a ditch. He did so by telling a story, a parable.
LukeLuke, author of the Third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles was also a physician. As he was born in Antioch he was probably Greek.
The traditional view is that the Gospel of Luke and Acts were written by the physician Luke, a companion of Paul. Many scholars believe him to be a Gentile Christian, though some scholars think Luke was a Hellenic Jew.
MatthewMatthew was a publican, or tax collector, before he was called as one of the Lord's Apostles. Because of that profession, we can guess that he was well educated and knew how to read and write, probably in several languages, including Greek.
Paul was a follower of Jesus Christ who famously converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus after persecuting the very followers of the community that he joined. However, as we will see, Paul is better described as one of the founders of the religion rather than a convert to it.
As Luke puts it, he wanted to “justify himself.” And so he asks the one question he believes will do just that: “Who is my neighbor?” He thought he knew what Jesus would answer, and he assumed that the response would shine a light on his respectability, would show him for what he was, a man on the right side of things.
Luke, author of the Third Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles was also a physician. As he was born in Antioch he was probably Greek.
David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, [email protected] Distributed by Way of Life Literature Inc.’s Fundamental Baptist Information Service, an e-mail listing for Fundamental Baptists and other fundamentalist, Bible-believing Christians.
Welcome to Famous Trials, the Web’s largest and most visited collection of original essays, trial transcripts and exhibits, maps, images, and other materials relating to the greatest trials in world history. “Famous Trials” first appeared on the Web in 1995, making this site older than about 99.97% of all websites. In 2016, the site seemed to be showing its age.
Legal scholar, Dr. Simon Greenleaf (1783–1853), decided to put Jesus’ resurrection on trial by examining the evidence. Greenleaf helped to put the Harvard Law School on the map.
A bove all other books combined, the Bible has been hated, vilified, ridiculed, criticized, restricted, banned, and destroyed, but it has been to no avail. As one rightly said, “We might as well put our shoulder to the burning wheel of the sun, and try to stop it on its flaming course, as attempt to stop the circulation of the Bible” (Sidney Collett, All about the Bible, p. 63).
Jennifer Fulwiler, Leah Libresco and Holly Ordway – Three Powerful women whose intellectual journey led to their conversion from atheism to Christianity.
Steve Tillman – Former atheist leader who did everything to suppress the idea of God. Dezmond Boudreaux – “The whole time I was searching for peace and truth, but could never find it.” “When I found Christ, that’s when I truly found what I was looking for.”. – Dezmond.
Paul Ernest – Former Atheist Scholar , Paul Ernest has always been a deep thinker. Whether it was science or philosophy, he was the one constantly asking “Why” and “How?”. Alexis Mason – A former Militant Atheist. Steve Tillman – Former atheist leader who did everything to suppress the idea of God.
Prof. Sarah Irving-Stonebraker – Professor Sarah Irving-Stonebraker is a Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at Western Sydney University in Australia. In her article,“ How Oxford and Peter Singer drove me from atheism to Jesus ,” Sarah shares the incredible story that led her to Jesus Christ. Dr.
Ronald Dabdoub – As an atheist, Ronald wanted to know the truth about God. For 30 days he asked God to prove his existence with more than words. Days later, he had a vision of Jesus Christ, and that was the start of a new life for him.
Dr. Greg Lehman – One day, he finished a medical consultation with his usual “Do you have any questions?” The walk-in patient stared at him and asked: “Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as you personal Savior?”
Peter Singer is a fervent atheist and a champion of the idea that some human lives have little or no value. I am sure that if he learned he helped “drive” a fellow atheist to Jesus, he would be more than a little annoyed. See Also: Christianity Is Spreading In My Country: Iran’s Intelligence Minister Laments.
Omar ibn Said – writer and scholar of Islam, enslaved and deported from present-day Senegal to the United States in 1807, formally converted to Christianity in 1820, though appears to have remained at least partially Muslim. Begum Samru – powerful lady of north India, ruling a large area from Sardhana, Uttar Pradesh.
Skanderbeg – Albanian military leader; was forcibly converted to Islam from Christianity, but reverted to Christianity later in life. Maria Aurora von Spiegel (born Fatima) – Turkish mistress of Augustus II the Strong and the wife of a Polish noble.
Some 2,000 European Jews converted to Christianity every year during the 19th century, but in the 1890s the number was running closer to 3,000 per year—1,000 in Austria Hungary (Galizian Poland), 1,000 in Russia (Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania), 500 in Germany (Posen), and the remainder in the English world.
List of converts to Christianity from Judaism. The Jewish Encyclopedia gives some statistics on conversion of Jews to Protestantism, to Roman Catholicism, and to Orthodox Christianity (which it calls erroneously Greek Catholicism; Greek or Byzantine Catholics are under the See of Rome, not in the Orthodox Church).
Utameshgaray of Kazan – Khan of Kazan Khanate; was forced to convert to Christianity following the Siege of Kazan
Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad – Egyptian former Muslim sheikh whose theological discourse with a Christian led him to conduct an intensive study of Christian Scripture, after which he converted to Christianity in January 2005
Qays al-Ghassani – a Christian Arab of the 10 century, from Najran, southern Arabia. He converted to Islam in his youth. He later reverted to Christianity and became a monk. He was tried at Ramla for apostacy but refused to return to Islam and was beheaded.
Some 2,000 European Jews converted to Christianity every year during the 19th century, but in the 1890s the number was running closer to 3,000 per year—1,000 in Austria Hungary (Galizian Poland), 1,000 in Russia (Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Lithuania), 500 in Germany (Posen), and the remainder in the English world.
Aurelius and Natalia (died 852) – Christian martyrs who were put to death during the reign of Abd ar-Rahman II, Emir of Córdoba, and are counted among the Martyrs of Córdoba; Aurelius was the son of a Muslim father and a Christian mother. He was also secretly a follower of Christianity, as was his wife Natalia, who was also the child of a Muslim father.
George XI of Kartli – Georgian monarch who ruled Eastern Georgia from 1676 to 1688 and again from 1703 to 1709; an Eastern Orthodox Christian, he converted to Islam prior to his appointment as governor of Qandahar; later converted to Roman Catholicism
Naveed Afzal Haq – Pakistani-American charged for the July 2006 Seattle Jewish Federation shooting; converted to Christianity in December 2005 but reverted to Islam by the time of the shooting
Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad – Egyptian former Muslim sheikh whose theological discourse with a Christian led him to conduct an intensive study of Christian Scripture, after which he converted to Christianity in January 2005
Qays al-Ghassani – a Christian Arab of the 10 century, from Najran, southern Arabia. He converted to Islam in his youth. He later reverted to Christianity and became a monk. He was tried at Ramla for apostacy but refused to return to Islam and was beheaded.
Umar ibn Hafsun – leader of anti-Ummayad dynasty forces in southern Iberia; converted to Christianity with his sons and ruled over several mountain valleys for nearly forty years, having the castle Bobastro as his residence
Lee's transformational story really begins the day his wife falls in love with another man: Jesus. Lee's First Thought When Wife Becomes Christian: "Divorce". "Leslie became a Christian and Lee thought his world was ending. She dropped a bomb on him, right.
Leslie Refuses to Stop Praying Until Lee Finds the God She Found. But instead of walking out, he launched an investigation. Beyond medicine and science, though, it was the prayer of his wife that led him to the answers he needed. She refused to stop praying until her husband found the God she had found.
Her faith put him on a two-year investigation to prove that her faith was a work of fiction. He never could have predicted how that journey would end and the real life tale is now a major motion picture.
The director of the movie, Jonathan Gunn, says that what drew him to the Strobels was the fact that their story was a love story.
Chicago Tribune Newsroom Recreated in Atlanta. Lee and Leslie's real life unfolded in the Windy City, Chicago. But production for the Case For Christ film happened in the Atlanta area -- what's often called the "Hollywood of the South.".
The Case for Christ story becomes major motion picture . 5386457658001. The Case For Christ: Story of Atheist-Turned-Christian Hits Big Screen. ATLANTA – Lee Strobel was an atheist -- and sworn enemy of religion -- when his wife became a Christian. Her faith put him on a two-year investigation to prove that her faith was a work of fiction.
Millions read Lee Strobel's The Case for Christ, and now the best-selling book is a movie.
John Eccles was a neurophysiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology Medicine. A devout Catholic who believed in divine providence over materialistic happenings of biological evolution.
Alister McGrath is a historian, biochemist scientist who believed in evolution. He is a Professor of Science and Religion who became a Christian apologist.
Lee Strobel is an investigative journalist. He was an atheist and tried to prove the Bible is not true. The evidence he acquired changed his mind, and became a Christian.
Rosalind Picard was raised as an atheist and converted as a young adult. She is a scholar and inventor who founded the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT. She received the highest professional honors accorded an engineer.
Simon Greenleaf was a chief founder of Harvard Law School, refers to Christianity as a silly myth. After being challenged by students based on history and evidence, he became a believer in Jesus.
John Gurdon is a developmental biologist, known for his research in nuclear transplantation and cloning. A Nobel prize for Physiology Medicine. He considered himself agnostic but later referred to himself as a liberal-minded Christian.
Mohamed Alí Seineldín — a Lebanese Argentine army colonel, he converted from Druzism to Roman Catholicism during his youth. Nada Nadim Prouty — Lebanese former intelligence professional, She was born into the Druze faith, later in life, she converted to Catholicism.
Theophobos — was an Iranian commander of the Khurramites who converted to Christianity. Tiridates III of Armenia — he proclaimed Christianity as the state religion of Armenia in 301, making the Armenian kingdom the first state to embrace Christianity officially. Yazdin — was an influential Iranian aristocrat.
Abi-Lamma clan — prominent noble Levantine family and clan, converted from the Druze faith to Christianity. Khazen family — prominent noble Levantine family and clan based in Keserwan District, they converted to the Maronite Church. Selwa Roosevelt — Chief of Protocol of the United States for almost seven years from 1982-1989—longer ...
Babowai — was Catholicos of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and Patriarch of the Church of the East from 457 to 484, during the reign of the Sassanid King Peroz I. Bademus — was a rich, noble citizen from Persia, who founded a monastery nearby.
Nadir Dinshaw — was a British Parsi philanthropist, businessman and accountant, he converted from Zoroastrianism to Christianity in the early 1960s.
After what she referred to as a sinful lifestyle, and a search in different faiths, she became a Christian and rejected several things from her former musical career.
Selwa Roosevelt — Chief of Protocol of the United States for almost seven years from 1982-1989—longer than anyone has ever served in that position, she is from Lebanese Druze background, and converted to Methodism.
In A.D. 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian issued an edict to stop Christians from worshipping Jesus Christ and to destroy their Scriptures. Every official in the empire was ordered to raze the churches to the ground and burn every Bible found in their districts (Stanley Greenslade, Cambridge History of the Bible).
Instead, he wrote a book containing evidence that Paul was indeed converted and that his conversion is evidence that Jesus rose from the dead. The book was titled Observations on the Conversion and Apostleship of St. Paul (1747).
Lyttleton observed that from an earthly perspective Paul had absolutely nothing to gain and everything to lose by testifying that he had seen the risen Christ.
One of Greenleaf’s points is that nothing but the resurrection itself can explain the dramatic change in Christ’s disciples and their willingness to suffer and die for their testimony.
The laws of every country were against the teachings of His disciples. The interests and passions of all the rulers and great men in the world were against them. The fashion of the world was against them.
In 1778 the French infidel Voltaire boasted that in 100 years Christianity would cease to exist, but within 50 years the Geneva Bible Society used his press and house to publish Bibles (Geisler and Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, 1986, pp. 123, 124).
Supposing therefore that Christ did not rise from the Dead, it is certain, according to all human probability, there could never have been any such thing at all as Christianity, or it must have been stifled soon after its birth.
Harvard Law Professor Coverts To Christianity After Trying To Disprove Resurrection Of Jesus. Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853) was the acclaimed Royall Professor of Law at Harvard University. He was one of the most celebrated legal minds in American history with one of his works, Treatise on the Law of Evidence, still being considered “the greatest ...
Clement of Rome (writing around 95 AD) attests to the persecution and martyrdom of both Peter and Paul. Therefore, according to the criterion of independent attestation, that the disciples and Paul underwent a radical change of heart and mind is widely considered historical. As Greenleaf himself observed:
As a professed atheist, and while teaching law at Harvard, Greenleaf stated to his class that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a legend (2). This was obvious for him given that miracles were impossible.
The disciples feared that they would meet the same fate as Jesus did if they were found to be associated with him, which they were for a full three years. According to our gospel testimony we are told that they went into hiding behind locked doors following the crucifixion (John 20:19), they were also afraid to publicly talk about Jesus (John 7:13), and during Jesus’ arrest they fled (Mark 14:50; Matthew 26:56).
Stephen was stoned to death after his witness before the Sanhedrin (Acts 6–8). The first statewide persecution of Christians is reported as being under Nero in 64 AD as reported by Tacitus (Annals 15.44:2–5) and Suetonius (Nero 16.2). Although persecution was sporadic and local, from this point forward Christians could be arrested and killed for proclaiming the name of Jesus. According to Revelation John is said to be in Patmos where he was possibly exiled to (1:9).
For example, it is true that the historical evidence for the alleged deaths of some of the disciples is shak y at best and thus lacks apologetic value. However, there is evidence for the deaths of at least some early, and very important, Christians. Historically speaking we can be confident of the martyrdoms of the Apostle Paul, Stephen, Peter, James (brother of John) and James (brother of Jesus) for their proclamation of the risen Jesus.
We need to clarify this statement. For instance, I fully agree that the historical evidence for the resurrection is compelling. However, I’d definitely contend that it’s going too far to claim that it is the best attested fact of ancient history. As I argued the evidence for the resurrection is sufficient enough to ground reasonable belief, and on that end I agree with Greenleaf.