The world is experiencing a fascinating resurgence of faith among Gen Z and Millennials, and former atheist-turned-faith filmmaker Michael Ray Lewis has a new project planned to further the momentum.
Listen to the latest episode of “Quick Start” 👇
Lewis, director of the new documentary “Universe Designed,” told CBN News about how his past atheism was caused by the fact that many Christians could not answer his questions.
“It raises questions like, ‘Doesn’t the theory of evolution negate Christianity?'” he says. “(And) ‘If there was an all-loving God, there would be no evil in the world.'”
Lewis continued, “Another objection might be, “I can’t believe in a God who would send me to eternal punishment just because I have a hard time believing in Him.””
Because those around him were unable or unwilling to answer these objections and questions, the filmmaker said he “gravitated towards atheism” and based his worldview on it.
“In addition, I was watching documentaries by[atheist]Bill Maher. I remember watching a documentary called Zeitgeist, and both documentaries showed how Christianity wasn’t real and how Jesus was just a myth imitated by other ancient myths.”
But eventually, Lewis said something had changed and he realized he was thinking twice.
“It wasn’t until I took another look at Christianity and dug deeper into just surface-level questions that I really began to discover that not only were there answers to the questions I was asking, but there were active arguments for the existence of God,” he said.
After he married his wife (a woman who grew up in the church but walked away), something amazing happened. One day she approached him and said she felt that Jesus was calling her back.
“I remember thinking, ‘Oh, no. I don’t want to be involved in this. But you know what? I love her, so I’m going to go to church and see what this is all about,'” Lewis recalled. “I thought all I had to do to stop going to church was show her it wasn’t true.”
And in the process, Lewis realized something. Christianity, which he thought was a fraud, began to become a reality.
“That’s when I really started finding evidence,” he says. “Eventually she bought me a Bible. I remember reading a few pages of Genesis. I pushed it away and said, ‘This is nonsense,’ but actually it was on my YouTube There was a particular video of an astrophysicist that showed up on my feed, and he was showing that science was consistent with Christianity, and that there was actually evidence that there was an intelligent creator. And I remember that was the first moment that piqued my curiosity.
Over time, Lewis became more diligent in examining the evidence, reading books and consulting resources to dig deeper into these connections. Eventually, he came to believe.
“I remember at the end of three years I was still resisting,” he said. “Despite having all this information, I was still skeptical, and I remember asking my wife questions, especially about the Bible.”
His wife connected him with a theologian who helped him cross the finish line and embrace Christianity in 2016.
“I realized that my reasons for not believing in God were no longer based on evidence,” Lewis said. “It was a fact that I didn’t want to be true. That’s when I thought, ‘That’s not a good cause.’ I raised my hand and gave my life to Jesus, and at this point I’m giving it my all.”
He works in the film industry and was working on a horror film. After finding Jesus, he felt he had to “do something for the Kingdom” and embarked on a journey to create a new film, Universe Designed, that explores the evidence of God.
“I knew I wanted to prove the existence of God, but I didn’t know how to put it together,” he says. “So I started collecting as much content as I could. In the end, I had to condense 36 hours of interview content into an hour and 25 minutes of film that made sense and told a story, but without losing people to too much information. … I hope that’s what I did.”
Click here for details on how to watch “Universe Designed.”
As the number of voices facing censorship from big tech companies continues to grow, sign up for FaithWire’s daily newsletter and download the CBN News app developed by our parent company to get the latest news from a distinctly Christian perspective.
