A Personal Testimony: How ABR Influenced My Walk With God -- By: Reagan Barnett

Journal: Bible and Spade (Second Run)
Volume: BSPADE 26:3 (Summer 2013)
Article: A Personal Testimony: How ABR Influenced My Walk With God
Author: Reagan Barnett


A Personal Testimony: How ABR Influenced My Walk With God

Reagan Barnett

It was my senior year, and like every other student I was anticipating my up-coming college career. I also felt confident that God had shown me my calling, and I was grateful for that. But it had not happened overnight. My journey had begun the summer before my junior year of high school. I came to know the Lord on August 18, 2002 at the age of sixteen, and while I wish I could say that from that point on I trusted and followed God with no questions, I cannot. In fact, my new faith created many new questions for me. I wondered about things like science versus religion, how the Bible fit into history, and the reliability of our modern Bible. I was especially confused about archaeological and historical issues. How could one man build an ark and save so many different species of animals? What about all of the other people groups that existed back then? Weren’t there people that existed before Adam? Are there any records of the biblical characters I’m reading about? I didn’t like believing in something that I had no explanation for, and even though in my heart I knew God existed whether I understood or not, I needed to keep searching.

For the next year I read book after book that appeared to line up with the Bible. I became so interested in learning more that, when I visited Liberty University as a possible college choice, I decided to study religion there. I had no idea where it would take me in life, but I felt confidant in my choice. However, I was still completely oblivious to the claims of the Bible.

Then in my final year of high school I entered my A.P. English class. English was never my favorite subject, and when I learned that we had to write a research paper on a piece of literature, I was less than thrilled. Then I remembered that one of the books I had been reading referred to the Bible as one of the “greatest pieces of literature in history.” Well, this seemed like a great way to get out of writing a typical English paper, so I asked my teacher if I could write mine on the authenticity of the Bible. I went to a Christian school, so of course she said yes. What I didn’t expect was for that paper, which I was looking at as an easy out, to become a very large part of my life.

I began researching and compiling relevant sources when I came across an article by Dr. Bryant Wood on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. I remember reading it and being completely enthralled with the amount of information they were able to gather from an archaeological site. I had never read a real academic article prior to that, and I wanted to learn more. I searched out Bryant Wood online and found that he worked with Associates for Biblical Research. I then began reading articles by other ABR associates, such as Brian Janeway, Charles Al...

You must have a subscription and be logged in to read the entire article.
Click here to subscribe
visitor : : uid: ()