When a devout atheist and Harvard student realized the symbolism in her favorite book, “The Chronicles of Narnia,” she discovered the love of Jesus.
Jordan Monji grew up in an atheist household. She grew up in a competitive family where everyone strived to be the best. Her sense of self-worth and value would be determined by her performance. “So much of my identity was founded on ‘I’m the smartest one in the room,'” she explained.
She made the decision to be an atheist when she was 11 years old. She would confront her Christian classmates with Bible inconsistencies and win her arguments.
During her high school years, however, she discovered her own inconsistency with her beliefs. Jordan appears to believe she is a good person, but moral concerns began to arise in her mind. “What causes something to be right or wrong?” Why am I a supporter of human rights? Where do these things come from if I don’t believe in God?”
As a result, she resolved to work hard so that she could enroll in a good college and receive answers to her questions. As a result, she was accepted to Harvard University. But then she was hit by reality. She realized she was no longer the “smartest person in the room” in college. This tested her self-worth, and it was during this time that she met Christian Joseph Porter. Porter continued to press Jordan on her moral concerns after that.
She then enrolled in a Metaethics class in order to find answers that would support her position. But the class gave her an assignment about an essay that C. S. Lewis wrote. “Essentially, what C.S. Lewis said God is goodness. God is good. And our lives are good when we strive to imitate God.” She described the essay as “mind-blowing”.
This prompted her to re-read the Bible with the goal of better understanding it. And, despite believing herself to be a good person, Jesus’ words convicted her of her sins. Jordan got to the crucifixion part of Jesus’ story. She believed that Narnia was a work of fiction. But she realized that the novel demonstrated Lewis’ ingenuity by portraying Aslan as Jesus and Edmund as her. In Jordan, the idea of Aslan or Jesus dying for Edmund or her gave them a new perspective on Christianity.
“So long, my value had come from the things I had done. So, moving to a framework where instead the reason I knew I was valuable was because Christ had died for me,” she declared. “that he loved me regardless of what I would ever do. It’s immensely freeing.”
Jordan is a result of God’s mercy and love for everyone. God made a way for her to encounter Jesus. While it was not immediate, it was through a process of introducing her little by little to the love of Christ.
So, if you know someone who rejects God, continue to pray for them and when there is an opportunity, you should talk to them about the hope that you have in you. Then, God will bring to fruition the seed that you have planted in their heart.