New series: Reasons for Faith

People often ask me about why I believe what I do, especially in the light of the amount of pain I’ve lived with through my life. How can I believe in a God at all, let alone a God who loves? Why do I believe Jesus even existed, let alone rose from the grave – that’s absurd, right? And what does that even have to do with anything, even if it is true? And then there are thorny questions like the intersection of science and faith, and hell – what’s all that about?

I think these questions are more pertinent than ever in the light of what is happening in the world around us, the suffering our fellow humans are experiencing, our shared experience through Covid and the question of climate change hanging over us. We are asking big questions about why these things happen. We are searching for something more, something that goes deeper than what we see, something that chimes with the wild ache inside our hearts.

We are searching for something more, something that goes deeper than what we see, something that chimes with the wild ache inside our hearts.

What I don’t want to do is pretend that I am the fount of all knowledge when it comes to apologetics (which basically means giving reasons for faith). Instead, I want to offer some thoughts I’ve gathered along the way, some reflections on the reasons I believe in the context of a life that sometimes hurts. I don’t want to give a load of dry, cold, facts – though I will be giving some historical context, and some study into some of these areas I have done. My vision for this series is for it to be a place of openness and authenticity, where I will not try to avoid big questions but will sometimes say that I simply don’t know, and that’s okay. I might sometimes upset the apple cart with some slightly off-centre reflections and views – and what I would love is to hear your thoughts, to engage with you within the whole range of questions you are asking.

I believe in God. I believe God is a God of love beyond all our imaginings. I believe in Jesus. I believe Jesus was born, lived, healed, taught some awesome and countercultural things, was crucified, raised to life, and ascended to heaven. I believe he is the Son of God (and how about all that Trinity stuff? What does all that mean??)

I believe all these things, and I believe that they have far reaching affects on our lives today; that they are transformative and that they release into freedom and hope. I believe these truths shatter chains and blaze into the darkest corners in our lives, and I believe that they are not only based upon some vague myth system but on history and on truth. I hope I can represent even just a little of this in this new series.

Here are some questions I hope to explore:

Did Jesus exist? Wasn’t he just another ancient myth like the rest?

How can we trust the Bible?

Why does God allow suffering?

Did Jesus really rise from the dead… I mean, really?

Creation, evolution, and all that (from a non-sciency arty type)

Is God sexist?

Does God really condemn people to eternal suffering in hell?

Is the God of the New Testament really the same God of the Old Testament?

Why did Jesus die… and what does it all mean for us today?

Those are just a few ideas. I might not get to them all; I might have a look at some different things. What about you? What questions do you have? Drop them in the comments, here or on social media, and I’ll have a think about them. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

In the meantime, do join up to my mailing list. You will join a community of people who are seeking to dig for God’s treasure in the midst of life’s scars – and get a couple of freebies in the process 🙂