From Atheism to Protestantism… Until Orthodoxy Answered My Questions”

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]Hello everyone, we're here with Pascal.

[00:00:02]He's from California. Mhm. And hello Pascal, with your brother. Hi. Good, how are you?

[00:00:08]Welcome. Well, I'm a Catholic, so please tell us a little bit how was your life before you found the Orthodox. How was living and why you seek something more?

[00:00:18]Mhm.

[00:00:18]Yes, I was raised as an atheist. Both my parents were atheists, they still are.

[00:00:25]But yeah, all my life I did not know God. I didn't know that I can have access to him, talk to him whenever I needed.

[00:00:31]It wasn't until around 10 years ago when I was going through a difficult time in life where I was giving everything I could, but I was still not getting an answer and that was when for the first time I raised my hands, I said, "God, you take over, please.

[00:00:51]I can't do this anymore." And immediately after that, things started working out and that's when I knew there is a God and that I can go to him. And that's when kind of my when my spiritual journey started. At that point, I was studying maybe some like new age uh spirituality and stuff. So, I was doing studying Buddhism and Hinduism and stuff, but it was not what I was looking for. And then I got into the Evangelical Church, Protestant Church where I was um that's where I was baptized. I learned a lot about prayer and reading the Bible.

[00:01:27]But um when it came to like their practices, I felt like there was still something missing. So, my search it kept going until I came across Orthodoxy. I looked into their beliefs. And that's when I started to realize that Orthodox Church is the one true church, is the one first church of Jesus Christ.

[00:01:49]And I fell in love with the way Orthodox worship and talk to God and their dedication to their worship. And that's when I realized this is this is what I want to also be doing. Very beautiful brother, how your family see this change on you? Your father, your mother, your friends?

[00:02:05]Um they're happy for me. A lot of my friends are also atheist.

[00:02:09]My father is still laughs at me when I tell him about my experiences. Like okay, whatever makes you happy, but everyone's been supportive. My wife's very supportive. My wife's Catholic.

[00:02:19]She's been very supportive on this journey as well.

[00:02:23]Very beautiful. How did you feel the first time you entered an Orthodox liturgy?

[00:02:28]It's divine. The the chants were just beautiful. The riverside church, there was sun shining through the dome above and the icons are so beautiful. I was very emotional looking at the icons and hearing the the chant and uh reading uh listening to the readings from the father.

[00:02:49]That's very beautiful. Brother, now you are on Orthodox path.

[00:02:53]What is the one thing you found here and you couldn't found out somewhere else?

[00:02:59]Um just being able to observe how the Orthodox monks are living here and being able to follow their schedule even for the short period of time that I was here.

[00:03:14]It's very helpful to see how they are living their life and to hear them walking around chanting out loud say saying the Jesus prayer out loud and it's very inspirational. I I found it very inspiring. Did you have any divine experience you want to share with us and God give you more faith?

[00:03:33]Definitely I feel definitely stronger in my faith and I hope to be more more persistent and at home when it comes to um my relationship with God and the church.

[00:03:46]Awesome. What was the biggest lie you believed about Orthodoxy before you actually experience lie.

[00:03:54]Biggest lie.

[00:03:56]And when it comes to Orthodoxy, I feel like all my research was done from Orthodox sources.

[00:04:04]So, it's not like I was listening to other people non-Orthodox people talk about Orthodoxy. So, I don't know if I've been told a lie about about Orthodoxy yet.

[00:04:18]Many people right now in the world America and all all they're seeking for truth. They need God like what do you have to say to them?

[00:04:26]That they should keep on searching. That the truth they're looking for is out there. It's closer than they think and all they got to do is have faith and put in the work, you know, and God will respond. Some people they say I pray and I pray and I pray and there there is no God. Why do you think happened this?

[00:04:46]Or maybe they pray wrong. Maybe they have ego. Maybe they're talking talking to God.

[00:04:52]Maybe and there's things you say like um you might be praying for something, but God is still giving you what you need, not not what you might be praying for.

[00:05:03]Like what's what's best for you.

[00:05:05]So, maybe [clears throat] what they were praying for, it wasn't right for them and God was protecting them from that.

[00:05:13]That's very good answer. One last question. If you have the Jesus Christ in front of you right now, Mhm. what are you going to say to him?

[00:05:21]Yeah, I [laughter] would I would get on the floor just um crying and worshipping him and giving him a big hug and I'll say to him, "Thank you. Thank you for being my best friend and for for for saving us all."

[00:05:39]That's very good answer. Thank you very much sir. This is fantastic. Thank you.

[00:05:42]Yes, thank you. Thank you and God bless you my friend.