Category

Leaving Christianity

Christianity, Church, God

Amidst the ashes, where are God’s stewards?

I have often wondered why we hear so little from the established Churches on climate change. It has become impossible to ignore – and yet many are still trying. It has always seemed basic common sense that, if God has created this world for us, then it is incumbent upon us to care for it.

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Christianity, Church, God

What Do The Terms ‘Deconstruction’ and ‘Reconstruction’ Mean?

There’s a lot of talk about religious ‘deconstruction’ and ‘reconstruction’ at the moment, particularly coming from the #Exvangelical movement. We’re seeing high-profile Christian leaders, authors, theologians and musicians like Joshua Harris (author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye) and Marty Sampson (Hillsong writer) walking away from Christianity, and doing so publicly.  Christians would label this as “leaving the fold” or “falling away”, but for many, and maybe for these former Christian leaders, these terms fail to represent the journey. In fact,…

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Christianity, Sex

The Freedom to Question My Sexuality

I never questioned my sexuality as a teenager. To be honest, I didn’t know my heterosexuality could be questioned. Being gay was a choice influenced by Satan, and my choice, as a God-fearing young woman, was to be attracted to men.  As I moved through the currents of teen-hood and into adulthood, I wondered whether this would remain true were I raised in a gender-neutral household, where assumptions about sex and gender were not upheld. While my liberal-Christian parents did…

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Atheism, Christianity, Church

How I Experience Church Now That I No Longer Believe in God

If the church you attend/attended is/was anything like mine, the mantra “Bring your bible, notepad, pen and a friend” would have been repeated to you so many times that it’s going to stay with you until your dying day. Those who managed to fulfil this edict were celebrated by the leadership team each week as though they were the best performing salesman at an internet security company. Walking said friend “down the front” at the end of the service to…

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Christianity, God

Sometimes, I Miss Jesus

Sometimes, I miss Jesus. I miss the sense of assurance I felt in pain and heartbreak, in sickness and death. I miss the sense of assurance I felt during the joyful moments, too. A birth, a wedding, reaching the peak of a mountain. For 22 years of my life, I believed everything had a God-ordained purpose and was working for the good of His Kingdom. Even the poverty, the natural disasters, the bloodshed of millions of innocents… that was for…

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