Grammy Winning Christian singer and pastor Erica Campbell sat down with three non-believers to ask them why they do not believe in God, last month.
In a viral BuzzFeed video, Campbell was able to talk to a former Mormon named Josh, a former Catholic woman named Emily, and a woman who grew up Hindu but now identifies as agnostic, named Nina.
As she sat with each of them one-on-one, the Mary-Mary singer listened intently working to understand why they believe what they believe.
Early in his conversation with Campbell, Josh explained how he grew up in a very involved Mormon family, but he couldn’t shake the feelings of doubt he had.
Campbell shook her head to show that she understood and then offered a similar experience she had with her church when she was growing up. She said, “I grew up similar to you, but mine was a Pentecostal church, the Church of God in Christ. My father was a preacher, my mom was over the choir.”
She continued, “There was a lot of things that didn’t always make sense to me, like why we were so poor.”
“But the same way I wouldn’t doubt love because people have gotten love wrong, that’s kind of how I feel about God and I think it’s reassuring to me that after it’s over, there is something grater,” she added.
Later Josh disclosed to Campbell that in reading the bible there were many things he simply couldn’t believe. He said, “The core of Mormon belief is the Holy Bible, the King James version, specifically.”
“Every time I read something, what I saw was a twist for human gain,” he added.
Campbell again responded by showing Josh that she understood his skepticism, but she also offered a reason why she is not skeptical. She said, “I know the same stories you’ve had. I’ve had the very same questions.”
She continued, “And what I feel like, no, what I know the Bible is, it is all an example of how crazy and chaotic our world is.”
While talking with Nina, Campbell had the chance to dive into how personal and all-knowing God is. Nina voiced to the pastor that she had a hard time believing that, if God existed, He would know who she was.
Campbell said, “But He cares about you, and that I know for sure.”
Hesitantly Nina asked, “Does He?”
Campbell reaffirmed her answer saying “Yes. You, what makes you happy, what makes you sad.”
The video then moves to Campbell encouraging Emily to keep asking questions. She told the young woman who had recently lost her twin brother, to ask herself if should could ever believe again, what would cause her to believe again and what caused her to stop believing in the first place. Campbell then extended a hand to Emily telling her that she would pray for her and her family.
The video, which now has almost 3 million views, was met with both support and criticism, Relevant reports. While some people found insult in Campbell’s offer to pray, others simply marveled in the civility of the conversation.
One YouTube user named Wonderland, commented, “This is how all believers and non believers should get along with each other.”
Another named Eric Champlin wrote, “It actually made me really happy to see [h]ow nicely the believers and non-believers got along :)”
Photo courtesy: Getty Images/Theo Wargo/Staff
Video courtesy: BuzzFeedVideo
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