1 How I Found GOD

What you are reading is a true story of how my life completely changed one night. I was a pretty hardcore atheist and used to hate Religions and religious people with all my heart. Until a certain night when me and and my friends went for camping . It was a fairly decent and safe spot. There were some people that were there for camping too. Maybe it was 5 or 6 small groups, i dont remember how many groups were there exactly since its been years.

It was getting dark, so after arriving there with my 4 other friends we assembled our tents. We didnt had time to start our campfire so shared it with a group which had 6 people. We shared the campfire with them. After eating some dinner and singing some songs with the group. I went to sleep early.

I woke up at midnight, i had the urge to take a leak so i naturally went out and did the deed. I dont know why i did that, i usually used to pee in a bottle when we go camping. After doing it on a near tree i saw that a campfire which was farthest was still lit and a man was sitting near it. I put my flashlight back in the tent then I went near him and saw his face clearly. It was not an ordinary looking old man. he had white hair and white beard. At that time i thought that he must be someone from a group so i casually sat down near him. I checked the time which was 1 am.

''Its already 1 am, you should get some sleep old man'' i casually said

''I cant, i am told to preach an atheist and tell him about GOD'' he said as he looked at me with his green eyes. I still cant forget those eyes. I had no idea at that time that he was talking about me. I was an Atheist and more so someone who had a rebellious personality despite being 20 years old. So i couldnt stand his words.

''You religious nuts are really stupid. Come to reality already''. I said in an annoying manner. Although i wouldnt have stayed near him if we met in any other occasion but i dont remember maybe i was really bored or just wanted to a have a debate with a religious person.

''Young man why do you think we are stupid''? Old man who had a really calm and kind look on his face asked me humbly. After seeing a chill guy i decided to talk politely too. I would have felt bad if i hadnt.

''You guys believe in GOD and trap others into your beliefs. I dont think there is any GOD and i dont think there is any afterlife''. This time i talked to him really politely. For some reason the old man smiled and said:

''Then tell me young man, what did i really lose?'' I did not understood what he was saying and i had a confused look on my face.

''What do you mean?'' i was really curious to hear what the old man wanted to say. At this point i knew either he is an idiot or i am an idiot.

''Let us assume that there is no GOD and there is no afterlife. When i will die i will turn into nothingness and i would end up with an eternal death but what exactly did i lose? Other than a small portion of my time i spend praying, i would just consider praying as a hobby and forever close my eyes. But on the other hand, what if you died and The GOD is real and and you were presented in front of him. How would you confront him then? What excuse would you make then? You always talked about logic reasoning and rational decisions but you cant see this fact?''

Something ticked in my heart like a sense of guilt or maybe it was me realizing that how i was unable to see this point. There was a clear unrest on my face. I hurriedly said;'' If GOD is real then he should not judged me based on my belief. I never committed any grave crimes''.

''You sure know how to make jokes young man''. The old man smiled then he kept talking;''You want to live your whole life freely like the way you want and then expect GOD to forgive you? We believe in GOD not because he needs it. Its because we need it. Believing in GOD makes us qualified for his forgiveness and we live like the way GOD want us to live''.

''I dont know if what you said is true but prove the existence of GOD to me with science''? I said as i started to pay more attention to his words. It was either due to my increasing curiosity or me wanting to find a loophole in his words.

''You are funny my friend. You want me to prove the existence of GOD by science? It is a subject that is only learnt so it can be weaponized. Atheists that are dead set to slander GOD and doesnt want any other person including themselves to see the right path ask these questions. To feel GOD's existence you dont need a brain or eyes, you only need a heart that is not corrupted yet''.

The old man looked at me, i was dead silent. There was an internal struggle inside me. My beliefs up until now were having a fight with his words.

''So how someone can see the right path''? I struggled to asked him.

''First, you need to have a firm belief that a Supreme Being exist. Everything has a creator except GOD. For example, the watch that you are wearing has a creator just like that the whole existence has a creator. Saying that the whole universe was created out of nowhere is like saying that a piece of metal miraculously exploded and turn itself into a luxury car automatically through some complicated process. Sound silly, right''? The old man said while i was having an existential crisis.

''So, do you think a Supreme Being exist''? I simply nodded at his words not because i was ready to accept GOD's existence but i wanted to see how this conversation would went and i was curious to what he will say next.

''If you do believe that a Supreme Being exist then the next step is, are there anymore Supreme Beings or there is only one Supreme Being. There can only be one Supreme Being because if there were more than one then the whole world and the universe would be destroyed in their internal conflict and where were they when their believers were suffering. Did they came to save them? NO.''

At this point, i was starting to believe that what the old man was saying could be true but i was not sure. After hearing his sentence i asked him:'But GOD also didnt saved his believers. Where was he when they were in trouble and where is he now when the whole world is suffering''?

''I will answer this question later. So,tell me when people were suffering and going through harsh times, GOD should have send some special people to tell common people about him? Right? He is not that heartless to let people die and then punish them for not following his orders''. Old man said as i immediately knew what he was taking about.

''Abrahamic Religions!'' i said it out loud

''Yes, you are right. No matter which of the three Abrahamic Religions you follow. They share a same trait that is that GOD sent his messengers for common people. All three religions have a common belief that is Abraham's GOD is the actual GOD. They are indeed right GOD of Abraham is the true creator but their other beliefs are different from eachother. So, it can be said that the right path is one of these three religions''. Old man said.

The old man touched his beard and waited for me to ask something again but the confused me was still trying to digest the information. It took me a minute to come to my senses again so i asked him:''Which religion is the right path''?

''We can examine them one by one. Starting with Judaism. Jews, the blood Descendants of Jacob. For thousand of years they were on the correct path. Alot of GOD fearing people and messengers were among them. Moses,Aaron and John the baptist etc. They were on the right path until Jesus was sent. He was the Messiah but they refused it and went against him. Now the Messiah that they are waiting for is antichrist which should arrive in some decades so would Jesus. So anyways, they lost their place near GOD and became a cursed nation. They will soon meet their demise by Jesus hands when he will come back. So dont think about Judaism''.

The silent me was quite the whole time while the old man finished talking. I had mixed feeling about this but i was surely liking the conversation for some reason. There was some silence for maybe like a whole minute or two.

''Then Christianity it is''? i asked with an almost non existent voice.

''Christianity is not a religion actually. Jesus himself was a jew and this religion was created after his ascension and none of that is his teaching. He never allowed to eat pork and never said that he was GOD's son. He himself was just a messenger like Abraham,Moses and Noah. For 600 years, Anyone who said and believed that there is one GOD and Jesus is a messenger was a Muslim''. He said

''How are you so sure about this''? i asked the old man. What he said to me was very shocking and i wanted to inquire more about it.

''Young man, sometime its better to see it with your own eyes. Soon Jesus would descend and come back. The first thing he will do after arriving is to tell everyone that he is not son of GOD and he is just a Prophet too and Islam is the true religion. Most of the Christans around the world would accept his call and become Muslims. There would still be some people who would call him a fake but either way there wont be any religion known as Christianity anymore. You can wait and see for yourself but i cant guarantee whether you will be alive by that time or not.'' the old man became silent.

''So you are saying that Islam is the true religion. Do you have any proof''? Although there was something inside me that wanted to believe it but i was still not sure. I did knew about some things about islam but not much.

''Quran chapter 55 verses 19-20 ''He merges the two bodies of ˹fresh and salt˺ water'',''yet between them is a barrier they never cross''. You have seen that place on internet right? I want to ask young man, how can someone who spent his entire life in the middle of the desert would know this''? This sentence of him hit me hard like a hammer. I physically trembled but he kept going.

''Someone might say that he could have heard from someone who came from outside but what can i say some people just have this kind of attitude. They cant stand this and would only keep on making excuses. I dont blame them. They have already received GOD's seal of blindness and failure which take away their ability to recognize the truth because of their stubbornness''. He still didnt stop here and kept on.

''Quran chapter 56 verses 75-76 ''Then I swear by the setting of the stars, And indeed, it is an oath – if you could know – [most] great''. Tell me isnt this about blackholes. Blackholes were discovered just recently while this is in Quran for 1400 years. So i want to ask how can someone who lived his whole live in the desert knew about this 1400 years ago. Alas! its the heart that is blind not the eyes''. At this point i had lost the strenght in my body and was sweating really hard.

''And about your previous question that you asked about GOD's silence on humanity's suffering. In Quran chapter 67 verse 2 ''˹He is the One˺ Who created death and life in order to test which of you is best in deeds. And He is the Almighty, All-Forgiving''. and also In Quran chapter 2 verse 155 ''And certainly We shall test you with something of fear; hunger; loss of wealth, lives and fruits (or crops), but give glad tidings to the patient ones''. Allah watch and hear you more than anyone. He shall test us because life is nothing but a limited time test. No one knows when your time runs out''. Old man said as he took out something from his pocket. It was a white piece of cloth that he put in my hand.

''What are you doing there''? One of the people whose tent was nearest to the campfire called me from behind and i immediately turned around said:''I am talking to this old man''.

''What old man? Are you high''? The guy whose name i didnt asked said. I turned back around and saw that there was no one there. The place where the old man was sitting was empty. I felt my heart pumping really fast and and blood pressure surely went up by alot. I was completely filled with horror. I could not speak a single word and ran away to my tent ASAP. I could not sleep the whole night and went on shaking. I looked at my hand that still had that piece of cloth. I hurriedly opened it and there were some words that were written on it;

''There is no GOD but Allah and Prophet Muhammad is his last messenger''. I saw these words written on the cloth and kept repeating it until it was sunrise and everyone woke up. After arriving at my home i threw all my stuff and went to a mosque where i told the imam what happened. Later on, i became a muslim and also changed my name.

If i still didnt had the cloth with me i would have thought that i was hallucinating. I only got to know later that they lit off all the campfires before going to sleep and there was not supposed to be a campfire lit at midnight.

This incident happened 4 years ago. Ever since becoming a muslim my life had changed alot and my faith keep strengthening. There were some unusual incidents that happened with me in these 4 years so in the next chapter i will tell you about those things too. English is not my first language. I have tried my best to translate everything into english. I am indeed writing another novel just because i dont think this would not get any exposure. so i decided to write fantasy/system novel so people can see my this work too since those type of novels attract audience.

All of the things that i wrote may sound silly but this did happened to me and i dont regret my decision to be a believer.