Jan was a militant environmentalist intent on saving the planet and a die-hard atheist. Meeting some Christians reminds him at first of all the wrongs done by believers in the name of religion, but soon he is presented with some ideas that shake his certainties.

<p>Jan was a militant environmentalist intent on saving the planet and a die-hard atheist. Meeting some Christians reminds him at first of all the wrongs done by believers in the name of religion, but soon he is presented with some ideas that shake his certainties.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Adverum Productions

Christopher Laubscher

Journeys Season 1

Should Christians Have Ecstatic Experiences?: Christopher’s Journey

Dan Millares

Searching for the Meaning of Life: Dan’s Journey

Cacyne Hernehult

Searching for True Love: Cacyne’s Journey

Maj Oblak

Can Faith Be Rational?: Maj’s Journey

Miikael Volkonski

I Would Never Become a Christian: Miikael’s Journey

Jan Haugg

Finding Hope for the Environment: Jan’s Journey

Conrad Whitaker

Beyond Rituals and Crucifixes: Conrad’s Journey

Samuel Jacobsen

Escape From New Age and the Paranormal: Samuel’s Journey

Grace Rose

Finding Peace at Last: A Miraculous Journey

Jonas Nygard

Hungry for More: Jonas’ Journey

Albert Jurgens

Learning to Trust the Bible: Albert’s Journey

Chris Berger

Existential U-turn: Chris’s Journey

My name is Jan Hok and I'm a third year student at Bogen Hoen Theological Seminary in Austria. And I'm preparing to become a minister. I'm passionate about God and about sharing my faith with others. But only a few years ago I was a diehard atheist. And here's my journey to faith. I was born in East Germany into an atheist family and an almost completely secular social environment. All my relatives, schoolmates and friends were mostly non-believers. At 14 years of age, I participated in the Yuva. That's a secular coming of age ceremony, which had been supported by the communist era government as a replacement for confirmation. As a youngster, I didn't spend any time thinking about God because at school I had learned what terrible things Christians had done in history. So for me, religion was only for people who didn't want to think it was only a crutch. It was only for individuals that lived more like ducks and not so much like eagles. I remember when I was around 16 years of age when I was invited to a Christian family for a meal. And as they prayed before eating, that was the first time that I see that I saw somebody praying. I was fortunate to grow up in the countryside surrounded by fields and forests. And as I was watching documentaries about animals and distant lands, I developed a deep love for nature. And my two friends and I, we played in the woods, in the woods very often and we built shelters here and there. And we were kind of the, the forest police. And we were telling little children off when they would drive nails into the trees. When I was 18 and still in high school, I joined the youth wing of the Social Democrats. And as a socialist, I wanted to fight for minimum wage for abolishing nuclear power and I wanted to replace it with renewable energy. Of course it was while I was studying international business in that I stumbled across a book that was entitled 50 Things You Can Do to Save the World and Money at the same time. And it gave tips on how you could reduce your ecological footprint in all the different areas of life, like food and clothing and transportation, office, even finances and internet usage. And this book, this book had a deep effect on me. And I started implementing these things and began putting a lot of effort into what I was thinking was saving the world. And I was the kind of guy then who bought only organic. And, and as often as I could, I would buy fair trade stuff, even though I was only on a student budget. And I planted even indigenous flowers in the park to help save bees. And not before long, it was environmentalism that became my religion. I saw the world caught up in a rapid downhill spiral heading for disaster. There's deforestation, decertification, agricultural degradation, and plastic polluting the planet. And all these and a hundred more serious problems. They required immediate and drastic action, not only by tiny parts of the population, but by large portions in order to be tackled successfully. But despite my strong activism and that of other like-minded people and activists, things seemed to get only worse. And I felt like being confronted with a, with a huge wave that was, you know, threatening to collapse over us. And I had no idea how we could possibly survive it. The future seemed just bleak and the hopelessness was very frustrating. I did Baltic management studies for my university degree, and there I had to choose one language from the Baltic Sea region to learn for my course. And I took up Norwegian and I went on a backpacking trip to Norway. And the next year also, I returned there. I re went to a farm about one hour from Oslo cause I was interested in learning about organic agriculture. And there I met some great people. There was Jonathan and Lena and Julia. There were tenants on the farm and they also helped out occasionally. And while picking raspberries, I found myself discussing things like country living and politics, education and vegetarianism. And these people have very interesting views. And I realized we had many things in common, even more so than with my environmentalist buddies. So we became good friends, we played games and had fun together. One Saturday morning, I was searching for the sheep that had escaped again, and I saw my new friends all dressed up, going out, and I just wanted to say hello. So I went over and said hello. And they told me that they were on their way to church. Oh no. I thought to myself, Christians, how disappointing. Why do these nice people have to be Christians? And then they told me even that they were Adventists. And I had never heard anything like that before. Back at home, two years went by with me studying and doing an internship at a green bank in Nurnberg, and then I had to accomplish a year abroad. So I decided to write my bachelor thesis in Norway and worked for a company doing roof mounted solar panels. And for that purpose, I moved to Oslo and I was desperately searching for an affordable place to stay. So I remembered my friends from two years before The friends from the farm. And I got in touch with him and they again introduced me to David. He lived in a church owned student home in a 14 square meter room, small one. And he took me in and he went out of his way to make me feel comfortable at the home. I suddenly realized that I was surrounded by Christians and I was sure they would try to convert me, but I determined that they would not get me. And the first three months went smoothly except for me breaking the home's rules on alcohol prohibition, which they kindly overlooked. Then I was invited by my friends from the farm to an Independence Day celebration, which is a big deal in Norway. And of course, I had no idea that a double decker bus full of Christian Young people would show up. But I had some great conversations with them, and I remember arguing with them how unreasonable it was to believe in God. But I kept it respectful because for some reason I really liked these people. They did have good values and they believed in their tent commandments. And I thought if everybody would live like that, a healthy country lifestyle, then this world would be a better place. Just imagine they were so genuine and they wanted to know how they can do things better. And after meeting as an activist, so many people who did not want to change, that was so refreshing. My friends invited me on a board trip to the south of Norway, and we were going to spend the whole weekend on an island, and there were about 30 to 40 Christian Young people. And I had such a wonderful time. They took such good care of me. They were sharing their clothes and then other necessities with me. And then a guy called Ura Kim asked me if I wanted to study the Bible. And I felt uneasy since I had no interest in the Bible, but I didn't wanna offend him. So I said, let's do it tomorrow. And I was hoping he would forget about it. But the next morning he surprised me again by asking me again. So I scrambled another excuse. And the best that I could come up with was saying, sorry, I don't have a Bible. But it turned out to be the lousiest answer that was available to me in that moment because I was, you know, surrounded by Christians and every one of them had a Bible. So in the next moment, I was presented with somebody else's Bible and I was like, thank you. But then I thought, these people have been so good listeners, so it's only fair that I hear them out as well. Yo started talking about how the Bible made the extraordinary claim that it is the inspired word of God, and that claim called for extraordinary proof. And he showed me how the Bible was able to forecast the future. And he explained to me the prophecy of Daniel chapter two, how the empires of the world have been foreseen by God. You know, Babylon Media, Persia, Greece and Rome, and the fragmented Europe of our days. And I could follow along because I had taken an advanced course in history. And after that study, my view of the Bible had changed so much that I decided to read it. I bought an expensive study Bible and I started out with Genesis, the first book, it was a roadblock though because I believed in evolution. And there the Bible said that God created. So my friends took care of me, referred me to some lectures about evolution and creation. And as I learned some very intriguing facts, my doubts started to crumble one by one, and then something started to work within me. Now, I seriously wondered if God possibly existed, and I carefully weighed up the arguments that I had learned. And then there were basically four main points that challenged my unbelief. These Christians first had solid values, they lived a good life and did positive things. Secondly, the idea of the great controversy between God and Satan, that made a lot of sense to me. It was the most credible framework for interpreting the things that are going on in the world. Third, there was the reality of prophecy, that God is actually able to predict the future. And lastly, number four, there were the really viable ideas of creation and intelligent design. I had never envisioned being a Christian, but the weight of the evidence became so heavy that I could just no longer ignore it. If God exists and if he is almighty and all knowing, and if he has a plan of salvation, not just for me, but for the whole planet, then it would be stupid to not follow the winner team. So if God is the one that he says he is, then I would follow him. From now on, I decided to believe in God. And then I prayed for the first time in my life and I was 25 at that time. And it was very awkward for me, but it was very special at the same time because for the first time I talked to the father that I never knew I had. Then I went back to Germany, finished off my Bachelor's, but my life had just acquired a new and rich dimension. And I just had to explore more about Christianity. So I attended a mission school for two years, and that was the best time of my life. I learned that I was a sinner, that I'm in need of salvation. And I had not thought that way of myself before. People thought just need to change. And the real hope, the real hope is in living with Jesus in the new world that he has promised, that he has promised to establish at his second coming. Now I aspire to help others find God and true hope. And I still believe that doing my part in taking care of the planet is essential. And I still turn off unneeded lights and I still deposit my money in a green bank, and it's good to do that. But much more than that, I'm really looking forward to God, truly saving the world.

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Series

Journeys Season 1

Finding Hope for the Environment: Jan’s Journey

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Parent Series

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Other Teachings in Series

Should Christians Have Ecstatic Experiences?: Christopher’s Journey

Searching for the Meaning of Life: Dan’s Journey

Searching for True Love: Cacyne’s Journey

Can Faith Be Rational?: Maj’s Journey

I Would Never Become a Christian: Miikael’s Journey

Finding Hope for the Environment: Jan’s Journey

Beyond Rituals and Crucifixes: Conrad’s Journey

Escape From New Age and the Paranormal: Samuel’s Journey

Finding Peace at Last: A Miraculous Journey

Hungry for More: Jonas’ Journey

Learning to Trust the Bible: Albert’s Journey

Existential U-turn: Chris’s Journey

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