Bio

My name is Jeremy Linn. I am a Christian, or as I put it, a follower of Christ. My life story begins the same way a lot of other Christians’ stories do. I grew up in a Christian home, and decided to become a Christian some time in my teenage years. But once college started, my story took a unique turn.

Within weeks of my first year at UW-Green Bay, I checked out an organization called Cru, formerly know as “Campus Crusade for Christ”. Months later, I attended a Cru conference called TCX, where a seminar caught my attention. The seminar was based off the book “The Reason for God” by Timothy Keller. Through a summary of the book, a speaker presented a few arguments for the existence of God – arguments that I had never considered before. I left the conference with a sudden interest in these arguments.

A few months after the conference, I engaged in some written debates about the existence of God on the site YouTube. Any arguments I tried to present in these debates were knocked down instantly by Atheists. As a result, doubts about the truth of Christianity began to consume me. I soon dove head-first into arguments about Christianity through the writings of Christians, Atheists, and others.

Slowly a passion for history, philosophy, and Christian apologetics grew within me. And starting in my senior year of college, God provided two significant opportunities for me to use that passion. One opportunity came through a multi-perspective discussion group called aXiom, which I led with a friend. The other came through the launch of my first blog – From The Ground Up. This blog eventually turned into the one I write in today – viewingout.com.

From my standpoint, God did some amazing things through these opportunities, especially with aXiom. The first week this group started up, no one showed up other than my friend and I. But within months, up to eleven people were attending on a weekly basis. Strong friendships formed between people with very different views, whether Christian, Atheist, or Agnostic. And through a conversation that happened the day after an aXiom meeting, a woman accepted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord of her life. Being a leader of this group was clearly the highlight of my college career. aXiom discontinued when I left college, but friendships that formed from the group continue to today.

The results of blog writing are harder to see. I can only know that Viewing Out is impacting someone’s life if they tell me. But I have noticed that at the very least, writing in this blog helps me. It forces me to sit down and think through an issue until I can communicate my views on that issue in a clear way. And I have noticed that process helps me to express my views more clearly in conversations about topics that I’ve written about.

There are also a few posts that stand out to me as significant. One was a reflection after my short-term mission trip to Haiti, where I discussed how the state of poverty and the correct response to poverty are explained through the Christian Gospel. Another came through a question from a friend who has suffered through depression, where I was able to express the hope that Jesus Christ can bring to those types of difficulties. And on two occasions I was told that a post about miracles caused someone to think more about the validity of miraculous events.

I don’t always see the results of writing in Viewing Out. But through the uncertainty, I trust God and continue writing. He has given me plenty of reason to do so.