An interesting fact about my personal walk with the Lord is that, at least in the earlier days, atheists did more to help me in it than the Church. That's not to criticise my congregation at the time. They did their jobs very well, and I am grateful to them. But there were some aspects of my personal struggles that they did not know. Chief among which is the time I spent as a homosexual.
When I first became a Christian, I was also in the process of "coming out". I had told a few close friends that I was gay, I had secretly engaged in homosexual behavior, and I was actually seeking a boyfriend. I was, however, a lot more open about my faith than my sexuality. My sexuality, I kept mostly hidden. My faith, I would wear on a t-shirt and post about on Facebook.
In my early walk, I knew only the basics. I knew God created the universe (though at the time I was an Old Earth Creationist who believed in the Big Bang and the like), I knew Heaven and Hell existed, I had some knowledge of sin, and I knew Jesus died and rose again to save us from that. But I had only recently acquired my first Bible, and so I had very little idea what was actually inside it.
I was a bit shocked, then, when I was told by my atheist friends that the Bible actually condemns homosexuality. Of course, they were hoping I would convert. But I didn't become a gay atheist, as they had hoped. Instead, I became a compromising gay Christian. I tried to justify my homosexuality, and when that failed, I "justified" it by saying Jesus can forgive it. But God gave me a trait that has saved me from many a fallacy: Bad logic, at least when I recognise it, is incredibly offensive to me. If I have two views that contradict, I lose sleep over what to do with them. Can they be reconciled? If not, which one do I discard?
Obviously, the incorrect view was that homosexuality fits with the Bible, and so I changed from a compromising Christian to a struggling one. I no longer tried to justify homosexuality, but to escape it. I even remember shortly before my baptism falling to my knees and begging the Lord "can I stop now?"
Today, I am not perfect. Of course I'm not. The Bible tells us that if we say we are without sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). I even still sometimes struggle with homosexual lusts, and have many other sins besides. But this much is true: When the Lord gave me His word, it did not matter that He sent it through those who wanted me to turn against Him. They meant it for evil, but rather than turn me against God, they successfully pushed me towards Him. His word achieved what He sent it out for. It did not return to Him void, but rather, it watered the seeds in the rough yet fertile soil that is my heart, and from it, strong faith grew.
Let us never cease to study the word. If it is available to you, take it, because through it, God can achieve many great things. Read the word, study the word, learn the word, your faith will be stronger, the devil will run away crying, and you will know God as He has intended for you to do from the moment you were conceived.