I became a Christian as a hard core naturalist after very skeptically but sincerely saying a salvation prayer.  There was no evidence of any change in my thinking, how I felt, the course of events in my life, or anything else, but I continued to be a (sort of) Christian, trying a different church every few months for the next couple years.  I never read the bible or prayed. I remained deeply committed to naturalism and science. I don’t know how or why I persisted in thinking I should go to church for that time. I somehow knew God existed, but had no evidence of any kind.  I wanted to know Him, but had no idea why this desire persisted in spite of my skepticism for a couple years.

A hired carpenter was working on my home helping me ready it for sale. I complemented him on his work and his reply was “that’s because I do it for Him” (pointing upward).  I immediately began asking him about his faith, what he believed, what church he attended, etc.  He invited me to his church, so I went, and began attending weekly, then three times per week.

Some weeks later I was praying alone at home when my hands started to tremble and a few second later God spoke to me in my thoughts as clearly as if it was in my ears (the content of the message isn’t relevant) , I burst into laughter, fell on the floor and spent a couple minutes rolled in laughter (the message wasn’t remotely funny). That experience, which occurred in solitude during prayer, has never happened again, was extremely out of character, and would have been very embarrassing if seen. I rarely mention it to other people.  It obliterated my belief in naturalism and transformed me from a practicing Christian to a steadfast unshakable believer.  I consider it internal proof that God exists because the experience was in extreme contrast to anything else I've experienced in my life.

Another couple of years later a skeptic said to me that nobody even knew if Jesus actually existed.  This was very unsettling, since I still have a very skeptical and logical mind.  I found Frank Turek’s site and downloaded some of the MP3s.  I launched into a study of apologetics studying it hours daily for several years now.  I recently began teaching it for my church.

The forgoing very abridged version of my testimony includes three major turning points in my faith:

1)      I’m at a loss to understand why saying the salvation prayer caused me to believe in God persistently despite my life long belief that science could explain everything and an extreme skeptical attitude about anything else paranormal or supernatural (this is a whole story by itself).  There was zero evidence that God had in any way moved in my life. I had no expectation of being blessed by God, I never thought about afterlife, and had no apparent motivation for believing.  With months between even church attendances I can’t explain why I didn’t reject the existence of God, but I couldn’t let it go.

2)      I’m a pretty humorless and science-minded person, even still.  A laughing fit was about the most outrageous and improbable thing I could imagine.  This event solidly cemented my belief in God and caused my faith to come alive.

3)      My interest in apologetics is unlike any other interest in my life. It has been more persistent, more continuous, and more natural (less conscious or planned), than any interest I had in college or any hobby I’ve had.  I gave little consideration to the ultimate use for what I was learning. The knowledge I acquired was pretty much something I enjoyed in solitude until very recently.  

I believe that each of the three events above was possibly divinely driven, though this didn't occur to me until some time after the fact.  I realize that the above testimony probably gives some people cause to dismiss me as a nut, or even demonized. I wish crashtestdummy wasn't watching this board. I hope this data is useful to someone.  Here goes, pushing "post message".

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Originally Posted by CrashTestAuto

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Originally Posted by KeithS
 

I wish crashtestdummy wasn't watching this board. I hope this data is useful to someone.  Here goes, pushing "post message".

I prefer CrashTestAuto actually Or just Crash.

1. The message I was given used an external reference "you don't need..." rather than an internal one "I don't need...". I always think in the first person, as I hope you do.
2. If I'd have had only had the attack of laughing, I'd have to conclude I had some kind of mental episode, albeit a pleasant one. For the record I don't have any theology about holy laughing and didn't know there was such a thing at the time when it happened to me. I very rarely  tell people that it happened to me. Mainly because not long ago I would have assumed the person was unstable rather than believe the person had a real encounter.  Nobody on here knows me personally, so I'm less uncomfortable about mentioning it.
3. The case would be weaker also if I was not praying at the time when the laughter occurred. The prayer was different too, it was the first time I'd prayed a prayer that was entirely heartfelt prayer and thanksgiving.  
4. There was a tie-in also with the book I was reading just prior to the prayer.
5. The experience didn't really stop with the end of the laughter. I had a feeling of calm elation for the rest of the day.