Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer
The prolific English author and columnist, A. N. Wilson, graduated from Oxford in the early ‘70s and considered going into the Anglican ministry. But he lost his faith by the ‘80s. He called himself an atheist and wrote a short book entitled, Against Religion: Why We Should Try to Live Without It. He describes his conversion to atheism.
I realised that after a lifetime of churchgoing, the whole house of cards had collapsed for me - the sense of God's presence in life, and the notion that there was any kind of God, let alone a merciful God, in this brutal, nasty world…It was a nonsense…the idea of a personal God, or a loving God in a suffering universe. Nonsense, nonsense, nonsense. It was such a relief to discard it all that, for months, I walked on air…
Yet, he started doubting his doubts about God.
Read MoreA few weeks ago, I presented the Fine-Tuning of the Universe Argument at one of our Central Teachings. I sensed that people felt overwhelmed by the amount of content I was presenting, so I decided to transcribe my lecture.
For those unfamiliar with this argument, the Fine-Tuning of the Universe Argument offers compelling scientific evidence for a cosmic designer. Scientists have identified more than thirty physical constants whose values are such that even the slightest change would create a life prohibitive universe.
Although most experts in the field of cosmology disagree with a view that sees a designer fine-tuning the universe, virtually all of them agree with the basic premises of this argument.
Read MoreIn 2018, I thought it would be interesting to conduct a survey that studies demographic trends in our church, tracks people’s spiritual backgrounds and provides insight into members’ level of engagement in home churches.
I sent this survey to 4,146 people who regularly attend a Xenos home church. We got a great response rate. 64% (2,638 people) completed the survey. The result yielded some interesting insights into our church.
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