“The only way you’re going to reach places you’ve never gone, is if you trust God’s direction to do things you’ve never done.”

Germany Kent

 

The Genesis

 

by Mark Karapetyan

The way God mysteriously works in our lives, weaving the threads of life’s chapters together page by page, behind the scenes, without our knowledge, is quite honestly, humbling, and awe-inspiring.

Like a master planner, He orchestrates every detail of our lives from the moment we are born to assure that we live life, and live it fully. Like a good Sheppard, He looks after us in case we get lost or go astray.  In His grand wisdom and infinite knowledge, He directs our steps, redirects us when we take wrong turns, and ultimately shows us His plans.

Many of you can attest to this. In fact, every one of you who is a true Christian has a story to tell. Every one of you who is a genuine believer, in one way or another, at some point in your life, had an encounter with God so grand and marvelous that it made you instantly believe.

The more testimonies I hear from Christians, the more convinced I am that these stories are nothing short of miraculous events that couldn’t have happened by mere human intervention or luck. The sad reality is that the majority of us don’t realize it, and the rest of us, doubt it.

When I look back at my life, for instance, I see God’s fingerprints everywhere. Every aspect of my life has somehow been touched by His hand and influenced by His will for me. As a six- month old baby, I became very ill, and according to the doctors, I “was not going to make it.” God, however, had a different opinion. When I was a little over two years old, I was struck by a yellow pick-up truck that drove over my entire body twice-once forward, and then backward (when the driver finally realized that there was a little boy under his truck, he panicked and drove backwards). According to my mother, my face was “unrecognizable” when she rushed to the hospital to see me after hearing the news. Not a bone in my body was broken or bruised. All I had was a few loose teeth and a slight bruise on my forehead. If God didn’t save a 20 lb. child from the crushing weight of a 4500 lb. truck, then who did?

Later on, when I was much older and started attending a Christian school, I was introduced to God, Jesus, and the creation story. However, it wasn’t until the age of fourteen that one day I came home from school, bored out of my mind and, not wanting to do any homework, that I opened a little Bible with a green cover (which I still have). I started reading the Gospel of John, mainly, the story of Jesus arguing with the Pharisees about the temple tax. When I was done reading that story, I marveled at Jesus’ wisdom and I was convinced, with all of my heart, that He was the Son of God because of the fascinating answer He gave to the Pharisees. I remember going outside at once, and sharing my new faith with others, some of whom were not Christians.

I wanted so badly to convince my friends that Jesus was who He said He was. My problem was that I was unaware of the evidence, and did not know how to explain my faith. I was able to tell my friends about my faith, but I was unable to explain it thoroughly and convincingly. That day, I felt very frustrated and angry; “how could others not believe what I believe?” I wondered- for the truth was obvious to me and shining as the bright sun in the sky. I desired so badly to convince everyone around me that what I had discovered was the truth, but I was unable to bridge the gap between myself and my friends through my faith, and that disappointed me immensely. What I lacked as a young believer was not faith or courage, but reasonable evidence and apologetics.

Years passed by as I grew older and the priorities in my life changed. Unfortunately, like the prodigal son in the Bible, I chose a different path and ran after the pleasures of this world. For over two decades, the hunger in me to tell others about Christ gradually died down like charcoal that fizzles out slowly. My faith remained, but the desire and the motivation had disappeared.

God, however, had a different plan for me…

In 2013, through a series of strange events and episodes, God whispered in my ear that He wanted me to reconnect with Him and, once again, start telling others about Him and His Son. This time, however, the method would be different. Soon after, I stumbled upon “apologetics,” which I had never heard of before. The moment I understood its meaning, I immediately realized it was exactly what I had been searching for since I was 14 years old. That was my Eureka moment!

One thing lead to another. One day, I was driving through a small town outside of Washington D.C., on an isolated country road (pictured at the top of this article). I ran into one of my friends, Ben, to whom I expressed my desire to teach apologetics. We parked our vehicles and spent hours discussing what was on my mind. Like myself, my friend didn’t know what apologetics was or what it meant, since he hadn’t heard of it either. When I was done telling him about it, he agreed to help me connect with others to make it happen (he was attending a large church). It was on this road that I got the idea of starting my  apologetics journey.   

Weeks later, my friend informed me that a few other Christians were very interested in what I had to say, and that they were coming to hear me teach. On a Wednesday night, we met for the first time at my work place for my first, official apologetics class, with five students present. We sat outside in my office chairs while I used a large, green piece of paper and a sharpie to teach my first class on the topic of the Moral Argument. My friend Ben (whom I met on the country road) took that large, green paper home to keep, and didn’t tell me about it until recently.  

As time passed, I was encouraged by my friends in the class to continue teaching since they claimed that I “had the zeal to teach.”

The news quickly spread around, and many other churches heard of what was going on in this small town. I asked God to open the doors for me, and once again, God delivered. I started getting invitations from many different churches and schools to speak and teach. I couldn’t believe that I was doing exactly what I did when I was 14 years old; except this time, I was doing it professionally and more effectively.

I dove into my studies for years. I attended seminars, lectures, and apologetics academies, until one day I felt that I was confident enough to spread my knowledge to others in different places far away. That’s when I had the idea to create a personal web page where I would be able to write and teach others without the need to be with them in person. The idea of  “What if UR Wrong Apologetics” was born on May 15, 2015.

Mario, my Christian friend (and one of my students), to whom I owe a great amount of gratitude, volunteered to create and design a website for me at no charge. After weeks of hard work on his part, the web site was launched and my first topic, “what is apologetics?” was posted within hours.

Today, nearly six years after God first whispered in my ear to get back on track and continue the work I started at the age of 14, I am blessed to have the opportunity to teach the word of God in various venues, both, local, and out of state. I am also planning  international trips in the near future.

You see dear friends, God works in ways we don’t understand. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. If we trust Him with all of our hearts and minds and allow Him to guide the ships of our lives, He will make the impossible possible because to Him nothing is difficult or complicated. After all, a Being who is able to create a universe out of nothing can easily redirect a lost person’s path.

The irony of it all is that if you told me five years ago that one day I would be traveling everywhere to speak about God and teach apologetics, I would have laughed at you and your insanity, since I knew that I wasn’t qualified to do such a thing. But again, we must always remember that God chooses the common, the weak, and broken to do His work. It is often through people like me and you that He is glorified. It is when the small accomplish mega tasks, and the weak overcome powerful obstacles, or when the uneducated teaches the masses, that we can look back and be assured that God was behind it all. God doesn’t call us to represent Him based on who we are, but based on who we will become. After all, which of the characters in the Bible were mighty men?

In closing, I would like to thank God for giving me the opportunity to spread His message. Without Him, none of this would have happened. I pray that God, in His wisdom, will use this site to change many hearts and open many minds.  I would also like to thank my readers and others and inform them that What if UR Wrong Apologetic’s ultimate goal is not to force God or Jesus down anyone’s throat, but to make the reader question and wonder about his/her beliefs and faiths through systematic, logical, and reasonable thinking backed by solid evidence.

Lastly, I urge all of you to search for the truth on your own with an open mind without holding on to previous beliefs and views that you have been exposed to since childhood. Most likely, you might think that you alone have the truth.

However, what if UR wrong?        

“Pray, and let God worry.”

 Martin Luther