"I just remember
when I woke up each morning, I would smell incense seeping into my room. And
there were statues of Buddhas. ... " This was a normal day in the life of
young Alex Chu. His parents were devout Buddhists and trained their children in
the family religion. "I wanted to honor my parents. However, there was
never a personal relationship with any of the Buddhas. It was always at a distance."
Religion wasn't the only obligation that put him under pressure, according to a
report in Charisma News. Alex lived up to his parents' expectations and
followed the Buddhist customs—but there was a cost. As he got older, he started
to question his faith. "And it wasn't probably till high school until I
started to think on my own, and not only question my own faith, but am I going
to take what the media says, what we hear on TV and watch as truth? Or am I
going to be able to think on my own?" Alex would eventually find the truth
in college—but not in a religion or philosophy class. He witnessed it through
the Christians in his dorm. "They seemed very tightknit, very friendly.
But even more so, there was a lot of joy on their faces. They didn't seem to
have a lot pressure on them." And he discovered something even more
compelling. "The unconditional love that is preached in the Christian
faith. The relationship with God that you can have is something that was a
surprise to me in many ways." In his second year, he asked one of the guys
if he could go with him to an InterVarsity Christian Fellowship meeting.
"For the first time, I heard about the grace of God." But feelings
alone weren't enough to convince Alex to abandon his parents' faith. He needed
rational answers to his many questions. "The problem of evil, or why does
evil still exist in the world? I wondered about the historical reliability of
Scripture and the inspiration of Scripture as well." His decision hinged
on the most important question of all. "Who is Jesus, and is He who He
says He is?" So Alex joined a Bible study to find out. "Well, what
impressed me about Jesus in the Gospels was the authority with which He spoke,
but also just the love that He had and compassion for all people. And so I had
to discern that based off of how Jesus interacted in Scripture and His claims,
and as I reflected upon it, I came to that conclusion that he was indeed the
Son of God. And at that moment, I also prayed a personal prayer to God. And I
was completely convinced that Jesus is the Son of God, that He died for my sins
that I may have life eternally with Him. " Now, Alex had to tell his
parents he had become a Christian. It took years, but eventually they accepted
his decision.