Why I Believe?

This is a question that I have been wrestling with for the past 12 months, like never before. I've struggled to find answers, really struggled to the point that I gave up in order to have a rest. I found though that I could never really switch it off, not for any great length of time anyway. I'm still working though some really tough stuff right now, feeling very much along in my struggles the vast majority of the time, but I refuse to give up. The one thing that I never really doubted throughout the last year was the existence of God. Belief in Jesus however, that went to the point that I no longer considered myself to be a Christian. I felt like such a hypocrite as I graduated my DTS as a non-believer! I stuck DTS out because when I left home, I knew I was in for a tough time and I promised that I would stick at it no matter what. I'm glad I did. Really glad. I love and miss the people that I met during that season in my life like no others. If they were all still in the one place, I would have moved to be with them all by now! So its safe to say I don't regret DTS one bit, but my faith has barely improved since DTS, some days I believe, and others don't. I struggle to reconcile what the bible says with my experiences over the past year. I feel like the pressure is off now though, DTS was a very pressured environment, which had I of had some faith left, would have done me the world of good! (In fairness DTS did me the world of good, but in different ways.)

Now that the pressure is off, I'm enjoying exploring the claims of Christianity, especially those of Christ himself. I'm especially enjoying investigating the authenticity of the bible itself. All this to say that Keevy shared a series of messages with me that she thought I would like, and I would love to share them with you. As I've listened to the series I've loved more and more each message, especially those on creation. I think this is because it encourages me in an area where I already believe in God, and because the things I knew were going on in the scientific world have been laid bare in simple terms. I hope not only to remember, but to quote to the information those who believe in evolution.

Check out the podcast on itunes here. Look specifically for the Why I Believe series.
I'm hoping to listen again to the series again, summarising and quoting from the messages in future blog posts.

Blogging

I think its time to start blogging. I've always like the idea of blogging, but for one reason or another I could never get to a place where I had something to write and both the time, and will to actually do it. I think the idea that I always had of what my blog would look like, or what I wanted it to look like, was some kind of super spiritual, super emotional, super christian blog which all my friends would want to read. Keep dreaming Peter! I always had visions of grandeur, of me writing wonderful book reviews and having this great record of my life and thoughts. The problem was this was an ideal that I could never live up to, well not from post number one anyway!!

So I've made a decision, my blog might not be all the things I had dreamt it would be, but it will be a place where I record things that I like, things that grab my attention for one reason or another. It certainly won't all be on one subject. In fact I think it will be one thousands of different subjects, but I'm okay with that. I hope anyone who reads this is too!

Now lets see how long it takes me to write my first 'real' post, and then how often I actually update it!