Behind The Blog: My Wife, My Daughter And I

/ Prayson Daniel

EllieIt was January 7th 2007, in Arusha, Tanzania when I met a beautiful 19 years old Danish young lady, Lea, who not only change my worldview, but became my wife. I was a 20 years old moral relativist, agnostic and profoundly influence by the philosophy of Lao Tzu.

Ellie Og Mor

Eliose and Lea

My Bible was A Source Book In Chinese Philosophy (1961), translated and compiled by Wing-Tsit Chan. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code (2003) made me skeptical of the truthfulness of Christianity, which was the faith I was raised by. When I met, Lea, I was on the road to what is called friendly atheism.  I believed in something higher than us, mostly when I was in trouble and in need of help, but not the God of the Bible.

My wife had, she still does, something that Alvin Plantinga called proper basic belief. When she discovered that I did not believe in the Christian God, and that I believed that the Bible was full of contradictions and unreasonable accounts and that Christians were big fat hypocrites, she challenged me not to dismiss God without knowing what I was dismissing. Like Mortimer J. Adler, she told me, “Do not say you agree, disagree, or suspend judgment, until you can say “I understand.”

Because I was deeply in love with her and eager to show that her proper basic belief was false, I began a journey to understand before disagreeing. Well, here I am. Married and having a beautiful daughter, Eloise Madeleine, and a contender of the belief I set to show false. Still trying to understand. The more I know, the more I know I do not know.

I love reading atheistic literature, mostly the classical atheists, e.g. Nietzsche, Sartre, Russell and modern atheists philosophers, e.g. Mackie, Nielsen, Rowe. I am fascinated by the church history and persuaded by Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Luther, Owen, and Edward into holding a reformed view of theology. As D. A. Carson, I am holding a moderate position and continuously exploring and been edified by other nonreformed views.

If I could choose two contemporary philosophers who I would love to have coffee with, I will choose an atheist philosopher Bradley Monton and a theist philosopher Alvin Plantinga. If two theologians; D. A. Carson and N. T. Wright.

This is a little about me. I hope you got to know a little more about the guy, who loves philosophy and theology, behind the blog.

Getting personal: What would you like to know about me?

15 thoughts on “Behind The Blog: My Wife, My Daughter And I”

  1. Great post, Prayson. It warms my heart to see how much the Lord is doing in your life. My story is kind of similar to yours. Maybe we could trade stories sometime. Keep running the race well, brother.

    N.P.

  2. Awesome testimony. OT question: Is there a meaning for Tanzania in Swahili. My mother says she found one Zania in a book and it means life in some language. Zania is legally one of my middle names.

  3. Congratulations to you on your beautiful family. I can see that you have a strong motivator to be a Christian. 🙂

  4. I have appreciated your blog for some time now, and in particular I am grateful for the thoughtful, loving, supportive discussions I have had with you. Thank Lea from me, for allowing you to post her photo and the photos of your gorgeous Eloise. Here’s my question back, since you asked for one: How do you find the time to research and post so often?

    • Hej Crystal. Thank you so much for your warm comment. She read and edited the post before I published 🙂

      Most of my posts are simply my old assignments contextualized for popular level. Researching, reading books, journals and scientists magazine on cosmology, philosophy of religion and theology is a hoppy for me.

      Since I part time teach theology and foundation of Christian philosophy in college-level, known as Højskole in Denmark, and still in a University pursuing the same subjects, I am aways reading, commenting and sometimes post my thoughts on different issues on that field.

      I hope that answer your question Crystal. Thank you for how wonderful and understanding you always are even though we do not share the same worldview.

  5. Prayson, I would enjoy a cup of coffee with you sometime, if you’re ever in Colorado! Thanks for sharing a part of your story. I love it. Seeking to understand viewpoints outside of one’s own is essential to one’s growth, no matter WHAT one believes. Everyone knows some truth. It’s just that some people know a lot more of it. (A rough paraphrase of Romans 1?)

  7. One of the Professors I had in Seminary had been a student of N.T. Wright. She along with reading him myself convinced me that Biblical Theology was the way to go. Great story.

  8. Thank you for sharing, and thank God for love.

    The ultimate love? Read the 4th Chapter of 1 John. Verse 16, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

  10. It’s funny how God works isn’t it. I’m inspired by your continuing interest in reading atheist literature, something I could stand to do more of in order to better understand the positions set against mine. Thanks.

  12. Lovely post, and I could seriously dive into an ocean of materialism arguments here that explain your stubborn theism (which you’ve inadvertently disclosed), but i won’t. Not here 😉 Good post.

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