The Holy Spirit Highlighter, Part 1

People read Bible verses all the time and that’s cool. But every now and then – once in awhile – one will LEAP off the page and attack me.

I call that “The Holy Spirit Highlighter.”

Today, the story of a highlighter day for me.

My younger brother went from card-carrying Christian to agnostic about 7 years ago. He came close to becoming an atheist for awhile and he was dragging me with him. It was profoundly disturbing. For a time it looked like he might be right.

This provoked me to delve into the science end of the world, and answer the question: “Is God necessary for the kind of world we live in to exist? Especially living things?”

Eventually this led to a talk I give called “If you can read this, I can prove God exists.” You can watch it here.

I knew this would eventually attract the ire of the atheist community, and sure enough it did. One day a guy pulled me into a public debate on the world’s largest atheist discussion board, Infidels. The guys at infidels are angry, belligerent and corrosive. Nasty and disrespectful. And there was about 30 of them and one of me.

I remember having breakfast with John Fancher and literally whining to him: John, I really really do NOT want to do this. Please, anything but THIS.

John’s like, “Well Perry, I think you’ve got your work cut out for you.”

So there I was, totally outnumbered but slogging it out, responding to questions and arguing my position every week. As debates go, it was a fight to the death. This went on for months. I was anxious and nervous and obsessing about it all the time.

One day I was reading Jeremiah 1 and the following verses LEAPED off the page at me:

“Get up and get dressed.
Go out and tell them everything I tell you to say.
Do not be afraid of them,
or I will make you look foolish in front of them.

For see, today I have made you strong
like a fortified city that cannot be captured,
like an iron pillar or a bronze wall.
You will stand against the whole land—
the kings, officials, priests, and people of Judah.

They will fight you, but they will fail.
For I am with you, and I will take care of you.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Perry, this is for you, right now. Just DO it.

I spent the next few months memorizing this passage and internalizing it. Gradually my queasiness faded. More confidence came. “You are strong, like an iron pillar or a brass wall…”

That was four years ago.

That debate is still going on now. The thread is still open and nobody has brought anything new to the table in probably 3 years. And they’re mad as hornets. Cuz they’re backed into a corner and they can’t refute my argument. (I haven’t actually posted in a couple of years. But new people keep coming and rehashing the same old stuff.)

Today that debate about the information in DNA is the longest-running, most-viewed thread in the history of the largest atheist website in the world. If you’re interested, there’s a summary and link to the whole thing here:

www.cosmicfingerprints.com/infidels

God has a sense of humor, doesn’t He?

Fear not. Because when God gives you a job to do, He equips you.

Perry Marshall