Why I Believe:My Journey from Skepticto... Well, Where I Am Today

Before we dive into the science, the historical evidence, and the prophecies that literally broke my brain, I want to lay down one foundation that matters more than most people realize: the word "God," for example, along with every other word in every language, is human-made.

Every word you're reading right now is a human-made word. Think about that for a second. Humans created language. Humans wrote the Bible.

I'm pointing this out because words... and the way we interpret them... have been the catalyst for millions, maybe even billions, of deaths throughout history. Religious wars. Theological debates that turned violent. People killing each other over the definition of a word.

So when I use words in this article, I need you to look past the literal word itself and try to understand the deeper meaning I'm pointing to. Don't get hung up on my exact phrasing. Focus on the concept.

Science Accepts Believing Things That Can't Be Measured

Think about it this way: scientists readily acknowledge the existence of dark matter and dark energy. We can't see them. We can't touch them. We can't directly measure them. But we know they exist because of their observable effects on the universe. NASA describes dark matter as about 27% of the universe, and dark energy as about 68%, meaning the stuff we see and touch is only about 5%.

Why is dark energy, which NASA openly says we don't know much about, yet it makes up about 68% of the universe, considered scientifically valid, but an intelligent creator is not?

Here's my question: why is the concept of an intelligent creator treated differently? We can observe the effects of this intelligence everywhere:

• DNA code that functions like software
• Mathematical constants calibrated to impossible precision
• The universe having a beginning
• Consciousness itself (which science still can't explain)

Where We're Headed

The Bible is a collection of 66 books written by over 40 different authors across 1,500 years. And here's what makes this remarkable: these authors lived in different time periods, different countries, different continents. Many of them didn't know each other. They didn't know the other books even existed yet.

Think about what the world was like when these books were written: No internet. No phones. No postal service. No printing press. No way to mass-produce documents. People traveled by foot, donkey, or boat. Most people couldn't read or write. Books had to be hand-copied one at a time.

Yet somehow, these 40+ authors, many of whom never met, never communicated, and lived centuries apart, wrote books that reference the same events, the same themes, and the same prophecies with overwhelming consistency.

Here's the thing about being skeptical: you can't just accept the conclusion. You have to work backward through every single assumption until you get to something you can actually verify.

So when people told me, "Jesus is the way to God," my brain immediately started throwing up questions like confetti at a parade. Why Jesus? Why not Buddha? Why not Muhammad? Why Christianity over literally every other religion in human history?

So I started with the biggest question of all: Is there even a God?

The DNA Thing That Broke My Brain

You probably learned about DNA in high school biology (or at least watched a crime show where they talked about it). But here's what I didn't fully appreciate back then: DNA is literally a code. It's a set of instructions that tells your body how to build every single part of you.

According to physicist and Nobel laureate Francis Crick, one of the co-discoverers of DNA structure, the odds of getting the right sequence of proteins for even a single functioning cell by random chance is something like 1 in 10^40,000. That's a 1 with forty THOUSAND zeros after it. For context, there are only about 10^80 atoms in the entire observable universe.

It's kind of like if you dumped a box of Scrabble letters on the floor and they spelled out the entire works of Shakespeare. Sure, it's technically possible. But come on. Someone arranged those letters.

The Goldilocks Universe

We're floating on a ball of dirt and water in space, orbiting a star at exactly the right distance for liquid water to exist. Not too close (we'd fry). Not too far (we'd freeze). Our planet has the perfect atmosphere, the right amount of gravity, a magnetic field that protects us from solar radiation, and about a thousand other factors that all have to be precisely calibrated for life to exist.

Scientists call this the "fine-tuning problem." For example, if the gravitational constant were off by just 1 part in 10^60, stars wouldn't form.

Let me put that in perspective: imagine you have a ruler that stretches across the entire observable universe—that's 93 billion light-years. Now imagine making a mark on that ruler that's off by just one inch. That's the level of precision we're talking about with gravity.

The Universe Had a Beginning

In 1929, astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered that galaxies are moving away from each other. This means the universe is getting bigger. Which means if you run the clock backward, everything was once squished together at a single point.

Scientists call this the Big Bang. Even atheist scientists accept this. The universe had a beginning.

But here's the philosophical pickle: if the universe had a beginning, what caused it?Something can't come from nothing. You either have to accept that something existed eternally that brought everything else into existence, or you have to believe the universe popped into existence from literally nothing for no reason.

That first option? That sounds a lot like what people have been calling "God" for thousands of years.

Okay, so step one is complete: The scientific evidence strongly suggests an intelligent creator exists. DNA doesn't write itself. The universe is too precisely calibrated to be random. Everything had to have a beginning, which means something eternal started it all.

Now for step two: If there's an intelligent designer who created everything, the next logical question is: did that designer leave us any clues about how we're supposed to live?

The Manuscript Evidence

Here's a fun fact that surprised me: we have more manuscript evidence (ancient handwritten copies) for the New Testament than for any other ancient text. Period.

And I'm not just talking about religious texts. I mean ANY ancient document. Including the history books you learned from in school.

The New Testament has 24,000+ manuscripts vs. the next closest ancient text (Homer) with only 643. Yet nobody questions whether Caesar wrote about the Gallic Wars with only 10 copies.

If you apply the same historical standards to the Bible that you apply to every other ancient text, there's no contest. The New Testament is the most well-documented ancient manuscript in human history. By a landslide.

40+ Authors, 1,500 Years, No Communication

The Bible wasn't written by one person in one sitting. It was written by over 40 different authors across 1,500+ years, in three different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), on three different continents (Africa, Asia, and Europe).

These authors included kings, peasants, philosophers, fishermen, a tax collector, a doctor, a rabbi, and a cupbearer to a king. They lived in different time periods, different cultures, and many of them never met each other or read each other's writings.

Now here's where it gets wild: these authors had NO way to communicate with each other or coordinate their writings. No Internet. No phones. Not even telegraph or mail systems. No printing press. Most people couldn't read. Travel was brutal.

And yet, when you put all 66 books of the Bible together, they tell one unified story with consistent themes, hundreds of cross-references, and no contradictions in the core message.

Think about that. Imagine trying to get 40 different authors from different countries, cultures, and time periods, spread across 1,500 years, to write individual books that, when combined, tell one coherent story with hundreds of internal references that all line up perfectly.

With modern technology, internet, video calls, shared documents, instant messaging, you STILL couldn't pull this off. I've worked on projects with just 5 people using email and Slack, and we couldn't keep everything consistent.

But these 40+ authors did it without any of that. Zero communication. Zero coordination. Centuries apart.

Lots of religions have prophecies. But most of them are vague enough that you can interpret them however you want. (Looking at you, Nostradamus.)

But the Bible contains hundreds of specific, detailed predictions that were written down centuries before they came true. And I'm not talking about vague stuff.

Prophecy #1: Where the Messiah Would Be Born

Prophecy #2: How the Messiah Would Die

Here's the mind-blowing part: Crucifixion wasn't even invented until around 400 BC by the Persians. David wrote Psalm 22 around 1000 BC—600 years before crucifixion was even invented.

Prophecy #3: Betrayed for 30 Pieces of Silver

Look at all the specific details that had to come true:

• Betrayed for exactly 30 pieces of silver (not 25, not 35, exactly 30)
• The betrayer would throw the money back (not keep it)
• The money would be given to a potter (not a farmer, not a merchant, specifically a potter)
• All of this would happen at the temple

The Math Doesn't Lie

These are just 3 examples out of over 300 prophecies about the Messiah in the Old Testament.

A mathematician named Peter Stoner calculated the probability of just 8 of these prophecies coming true by accident. His answer: 1 in 10^17 (that's 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000).

Here's how he explained that number: Imagine you cover the entire state of Texas two feet deep in silver dollars. Now, mark one of them with a big X. Blindfold someone, drop them anywhere in Texas, and tell them to walk around and pick up one coin.

The odds of them picking up the marked coin on their first try? That's the same as 8 of these prophecies coming true by accident.

Now remember: there are over 300 prophecies about the Messiah. The odds of 48 of them being fulfilled by one person? 1 in 10^157.

Okay, so the science points to a creator. The historical evidence points to the Bible. But here's the question that really matters to me: does any of this actually make a difference in people's lives?

Because you can have all the evidence in the world, but if following this path doesn't produce real, tangible results, then what's the point?

The Radio Analogy

I've come to think about faith kind of like a radio. Stay with me here.

Radio waves are constantly traveling through the air around you right now. Music, talk shows, news broadcasts—they're all there, invisible, passing through the room you're sitting in. But you can't hear any of them unless you do two things:

1. 1First, you have to turn on the radio. If it's off, you'll never hear anything, no matter how many radio waves are flying past your head.
2. 2Second, you have to tune into the right frequency. If you're listening to 101.5 FM, you're not going to hear what's being broadcast on 95.7 FM. You have to be tuned in.

This is exactly how I see faith. The Bible says in Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." God is knocking. But you have to open the door.

My Honest Truth

When I opened myself up to following Christ—not just going through religious motions, but actually trying to live according to what the Bible teaches—things started changing.

I've personally experienced miracles. Real, tangible, unexplainable stuff that shouldn't have worked out but did. Relationships that were completely broken got healed. Situations that felt impossible got resolved. I've been in different countries around the world where God was the only resource I had, and He showed up in ways that still blow my mind.

Now, before you think this is some prosperity gospel thing where I'm going to tell you that faith makes you rich and happy all the time, let me be very clear: I've also had a LOT of bad stuff happen.

People have betrayed me. Stabbed me in the back. I've had horrendous things happen to people I love—people who dedicated their lives to God and Jesus. Good people. Faithful people. And I've sat there thinking, "This isn't fair."

I've been through more in my life than most people go through in a lifetime. And I'm not exaggerating.

But here's what I know: under the beliefs I've held, I've experienced a life that's been rich and rewarding despite all the hardships.

Even if I'm wrong about everything (which I don't think I am), no one can take those experiences away from me. They're real. They happened. My life is better because of them.

The Difference I've Seen

I've spent a lot of time observing this: if you take a group of people who take their walk with Christ seriously and compare them to a group of people who say God doesn't exist, you'll see drastic differences in their lives.

Now, some people will say, "That's just because of community," or "That's because religious people have social support." And sure, those things help. Community matters. Support systems matter.

But I think there's something more going on. When you look at people who have genuinely explored the spiritual side, who have opened themselves up to God and tried to follow His ways, you see something different. You see lives that are rich in ways that go beyond material success. You see peace that doesn't make sense given their circumstances. You see joy that isn't dependent on how much money they have or how smooth life is going.

Alright, let's bring this full circle and connect all the dots.

Remember way back at the beginning when I said I was going to reverse-engineer this whole thing? Here's how all the pieces fit together:

Is my faith perfect? Nope. Do I have all the answers? Definitely not. Do I still have questions? Absolutely.

But the evidence is there. The results are real. And the invitation is open.

The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." That's the promise. Seek, and you'll find.

The door is there. God is knocking. The only question is: are you willing to open it?

Why Jodi and I Built JesusChat

This is exactly why we built JesusChat.

We wanted to create a platform that helps people go on their own journey of discovery. Whether you're a skeptic who's curious (like I was), a seeker who's exploring, or someone who's already on this path and wants to go deeper, JesusChat is here for you.

We use AI to make the Bible accessible and understandable. To help you dig into the evidence. To answer your questions. To guide you through your own investigation.

Because here's the thing: you don't have to take my word for any of this. You can explore it yourself. You can ask your own questions. You can seek your own answers.

And maybe, just maybe, you'll find what I found: something real. Something that works. Something worth believing in.