Dilan came to Australia from Sri Lanka as an international student. He shared his story on Rise and Shine of growing up in Sri Lanka while a 30-year civil war was raging. As a child, seeing news reports of people being killed by bomb blasts on buses made Dilan aware of the evil that existed in the world. Parents would never take the same bus to work in case both were killed and their children would be left as orphans.
‘Growing up in such a time, I started to realise that evil exists in the world,’ said Dilan. ‘Then when I started to come into my teenage years, I started very curiously looking at what is evil and why does evil exist?’
Looking to Philosophers for Answers
This question prompted Dilan to research philosophers such as Socrates, Aristotle, and Marcus Aurelius. As Dilan delved deeper into understanding where good and evil comes from, it led him to realise that it comes from a human’s view on morality and ethics.
‘So then I found that ethics and morality leads back to Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses the Ten Commandments,’ said Dilan. ‘Then after another like a thousand plus years after Moses received the Ten Commandments, it was Jesus who lifted those morality and ethics to a newer standard.’
Dilan was blown away by the teaching of Jesus and the importance of obeying the Ten Commandments, which he believes is where the good comes from, and evil comes from disobeying them.
‘I was born into a Buddhist family, so this understanding of Christianity is similar to how Saul in the Bible persecuted Christians. I was pretty much the same when I was a teenager because I was an atheist for a long time, and then I turned into agnostic. I was looking for evidence on whether God really existed.’
Google Led Dilan to Becoming a Vision Ambassador
During Dilan’s 17-year journey to find answers, his atheistic beliefs turned into agnostic beliefs and then he became a believer in Jesus in his late twenties. His faith has grown since Googling for Christian radio stations and coming across Vision. He started listening, then was led to the Vision website where he absorbed the resources and blogs. From then on, he would always tune in to Vision while he was commuting.
‘I listen to Rise and Shine a lot, … I find it very relaxing. And to hear the Word of God, especially The Word For Today on the app,’ said Dilan. ‘In a busy world like this, you need to hear God’s Word. It gives you that balance and it gives you that peace. … Once I heard about the Vision Ambassador program, I thought I should definitely sign up for this. There are a lot of people who need to hear the Word of God, and Vision is doing a pretty remarkable job. I could find people like myself who were not born to the Christian values, but they need to hear about this, and I could resonate with them a lot because I’m coming from the same background.’
Dilan is enjoying being a Vision Ambassador. It allows him to connect with like-minded individuals who want to share the good news of the Gospel with others. If you are interested in becoming a Vision Ambassador, click this link to find out more about joining the Vision team!
To listen to Dilan’s full interview with Fel and Robbo on Rise and Shine, click the link below:
