This blog post presents five challenges from a former pastor turned atheist to Christians, urging them to engage in honest inquiry, deepen their convictions, and prioritize compassion in their actions. It emphasizes the importance of personal agency, rigorous study, and living out one's beliefs in a way that positively impacts others.
Believe it or not, my target audience isn't Christians. It's the curious—those questioning their current or former faith, exploring our human capacity, and imagining what we might build together in this world. Yet, I know many of you tuning in are devout believers, and that's okay. Today, I'm speaking to you. Here’s what I, as a former pastor turned atheist, hope to see from the Christians who watch my channel. Whether you stand firm in belief or are simply curious, my hope is that these ideas challenge you to build convictions and a community that truly stand on solid ground.
First and foremost, I don’t want you to be convinced that God or Jesus is not real. Those are my views, and I don’t feel the need to force them on anyone. I want to lay everything on the table: I’m not here to prove that God or Jesus isn’t real. I’m simply offering my perspective, inviting you to listen, consider, and decide for yourself. Our worldviews and the beliefs we hold most dear ought to be ours, not trophies we collect from others. My goal isn’t to win by knocking down your faith. Rather, I want to share what I’ve learned, then step back and let you weigh it for yourself.
True conviction isn’t contagious. You can’t catch it like a cold. Real belief is something each of us cultivates through our own reasoning and experience. I can tell you why I believe or don’t believe, but I can’t nor do I wish to make you believe the same way. Your journey is yours alone. It’s like brewing coffee; I can hand you the beans, but you still have to do the brewing yourself.
What I do want from Christians is for them to be convicted about their lack of study and to realize they have been disingenuous with their faith. Many of us have never seriously studied the foundations of our faith, and that neglect should make us uneasy. How many beliefs do you hold simply because someone else told you they were true? True conviction demands intellectual accountability.
I want Christians to feel discomfort when they realize they’ve never examined the texts and traditions they claim to revere. Without that self-audit, how can you be sure your faith isn’t built on assumption? A belief in God or anything significant can only be sincere if it’s earned through honest, deliberate investigation. Inherited faith is easy; tested faith is rare. My plea is simple: don’t assume. Investigate.
To move from inherited assumption to informed conviction, every serious believer should at least explore these five domains:
If you haven’t at least dipped into each of these areas, can you still honestly say your belief is your own? This is a direct call for intellectual honesty. We must square our confidence with the work that it demands. Without study, faith is an untested hypothesis.
The third thing I want from Christians is to be compelled to be better Christians. I challenge you to ground your faith in study, experience, and measurable results, bringing real utility beyond slogans and outdated talking points. What if your faith could survive the most rigorous test and then flourish?
Too often, belief is a matter of inherited slogans. I’m calling on Christians to root their convictions in three pillars:
True faith should produce tangible good. It’s one thing to quote “love your neighbor”; it’s another to love everybody. Faith that only inspires platitudes is empty. I want to see religions working not as propaganda but as a force for measurable, lasting positive change.
Next, I want Christians to care about what they claim their God cares about—people. If Christians prioritize people the way they claim their God does, what would change? If your God is defined by compassion, why do so many of your actions relegate human flourishing to a footnote?
Believing in a loving God isn’t enough; you must embody that love. Compassion isn’t a sermon topic; it’s a posture of the mind made visible in our hands and feet. When was the last time you sat with someone in genuine pain without an agenda, just to listen and understand? If there is no understanding, there can never be empathy.
Helping others can’t be a checkbox on a Sunday; it has to drive how you vote, how you spend, and how you speak in this world. You wouldn’t buy groceries and then lock them in the pantry. So why acquire compassion and leave it unshared? Are your community investments guided by doctrine or by the real urgent needs of your neighbors?
Finally, if you’re still a believer, I want you to prove me wrong. Do your due diligence to demonstrate that there is a God who is all-loving and all-powerful. Commit to digging into the evidence and the arguments. No shortcuts, no inherited talking points. Do you have the courage to question every assumption and follow the evidence wherever it may lead?
Faith built on habit is fragile. I’m demanding due diligence. Study theology, history, philosophy, and science. Test every claim about divine power and love. Don’t settle for surface-level apologetics. Only then can you say you’ve truly done your homework.
If evidence won’t settle the question, maybe it’s time for you to be the answer. Embody the very qualities you attribute to that God: love, compassion, integrity, so vividly that your life becomes a living testimony of the possibilities of humanity.
Today, we walked through five vital invitations:
These aren’t five separate demands but one seamless path. Start by valuing agency. Move through inquiry. Let your convictions lead to action. Center real human flourishing. And finally, dare to show and challenge what your worldview truly delivers.
If you take only one thing away, let it be this: Own your beliefs. Test them deeply. Live them boldly. And hold your convictions up to the light of reason and compassion. That is the only life worth living and the only life I or anyone else should call a victory.
