MSI Press Blog

  This week editor's choice:   Blest Atheist by Elizabeth Mahlou Book Description: As a young child, outraged by the hypocrisy she finds in a church that does nothing to alleviate the physical and sexual abuse she experiences on a regular basis, Beth delivers an accusatory youth sermon and gets her family expelled from the church. Having locked the door on God, Beth goes on to raise a family of seven children, learn 17 languages, and enjoy a career that takes her to NASA, Washington, and 24 countries. All the time, however, God keeps knocking at the door, protecting and blessing her, which she realizes only decades later. Ultimately, Beth finds God in a very simple yet most unusual way. A very human story, Blest Atheist encompasses the greatest literary themes of all time – alienation, redemption, and even the miraculous. The author’s life experiences, both tragic and tremendous, result in a spiritual journey containing significant ups and downs that ultimately yield gr...

  C.S. Lewis didn’t stumble into faith; he reasoned his way toward it — and then something deeper happened. He began as a convinced atheist, shaped by war and loss, skeptical of anything unseen. But over time, his intellect led him to a crossroads. He realized that his longing for meaning — what he called Joy — pointed to something beyond himself. Logic opened the door; experience walked him through it. Lewis described his conversion not as a sudden revelation but as a surrender: “I gave in, and admitted that God was God.” That moment wasn’t triumph — it was transformation. He moved from resistance to recognition, from argument to awe. And in that shift, his life’s direction changed — his writing, his friendships, his sense of purpose. Transformation often begins where certainty ends. For Lewis, it wasn’t emotion that led him to God, but the realization that reason itself pointed toward the divine. It’s a reminder that faith can begin not in belief, but in the honest search for tr...

  How Hypocrisy in a Christian Home Can Push a Child Toward Atheism When children witness a stark gap between professed Christian values and lived behavior, especially from parents or authority figures, it can deeply undermine their trust in both the messenger and the message. This dissonance often shapes their long-term spiritual orientation. 1. Moral Incoherence and Cognitive Dissonance Children are sensitive to inconsistency. When they hear teachings about love, humility, and forgiveness but observe cruelty, arrogance, or manipulation, they may experience cognitive dissonance: If Christianity teaches goodness, why do my parents act this way? Is the religion itself flawed, or just the people who claim it? Some resolve this tension by rejecting the entire framework as hypocritical or morally incoherent. 2. Loss of Credibility in Religious Authority Parents often serve as a child’s first spiritual guides. When their behavior contradicts their teachings, it can erode the ...