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Writing along the way

Shorter pieces alongside the books – reflections on faith, doubt, and the questions that started it all. If there’s a question about faith you’d like an honest, non-preachy answer to, I’d like to hear it – it may become a piece here.

A phone in a dark green case lying face up on the arm of a grey sofa, screen off

The least holy object in the room

The device most people use to scroll past faith is the one that led me to it.

Reading glasses on an open Bible at Luke 8, over the story of the man called Legion

Where the war is

The war in heaven, demons and the devil. I think the battle is closer to home.

Reading glasses resting on an open Bible at Luke 9, magnifying the verses where James and John ask to call down fire

Reading backwards from Jesus

Hard Old Testament passages, read with Jesus as the lens.

A tattoo of Jesus with the words He is risen, beside an open Bible at Matthew 5 and 6 with handwritten notes in the margins

Dressed in Christ

Everything on my list adds something. Fasting is the one thing that takes away.

The empty nave of St Philip the Deacon church, Upper Stratton, with rows of blue chairs facing the altar

The question that comes after

The doubts that arrive after you believe, not before. This one has no answer yet.

A wooden cross with an iron nail laid across it, hanging on a wall

Put the sword away

If He had that power, why did He not use it? The answer is love, the long way round.

Two well-used theology books on a desk, resting on a stack of printed notes

Try to break it

One historical question decides the whole thing. Go and test it properly.

The open door of St Philip the Deacon church, Upper Stratton, seen from inside

The freedom to say no

The liberty that lets someone reject faith was built by people who held it.

A wooden crucifix high in the roof beams of a church

I spent thirty-six years not believing. Here is what changed.

The short version of how an evidence-minded atheist changed his mind.

A wide sky over the sea, with cliffs in the distance

The questions I could not answer as a sceptic

Science answers how. The questions underneath belong to someone else.

The red brick exterior of St Philip the Deacon church, Upper Stratton

What adult baptism feels like

Full immersion at thirty-seven, with my questions intact.

An open Bible at Matthew, with handwritten study notes and a pen

A project manager reads the Gospels

Liar, deluded, or telling the truth. I could only make one option work.

Children playing in the sea below cliffs on an evening beach

Six sons, one church pew

The first believer in our family was ten years old.

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