I wasn’t raised a Christian, but become one later in life. My faith journey started as a teenager when I met a Christian couple while hitchhiking through California. I began reading the Bible after that.
I finished college with a diploma in programming and started a small software company to develop and market software that I’d designed. Two decades later, after a divorce and in my early forties, I realized I needed to take my ‘faith’ more seriously. I sold my software company and entered a Baptist seminary where I studied theology. I graduated with a Master’s degree in Theological Studies in 2008.
I enjoy apologetics and I’m fascinated with how the Bible – especially the Gospel and the New Testament – intersects with modern life and society. I take a high view of scripture and believe deeply that as the word of God it will continue to be relevant and speak to us today, and into the future.
I also love science fiction and I’m an unapologetic Star Trek nerd. One of the questions I was really interested in exploring after finishing seminary was the relevance of the Gospel in modern western society.
My idea for Jesus and Captain Kirk started after reading several books by well-known and vocal atheists, such as Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, to name probably the most famous two.
The core idea I began with was essentially this: if the Bible really is the word of God, then it will still be relevant today and will continue to be so into the future. How does it speak to us in the modern world, 2,000 years after it was written? Has modern science really disproved God (as many seem to assume)? Can I be a serious Christian and still believe in science (as I also do)? What about the Old Testament, with some laws that are clearly archaic and no longer applicable?
My wife and I have 6 kids and an ever-expanding number of grandchildren (8, the last time I counted).
You can visit me on substack at michaelmanto.substack
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