I never thought I'd get paid to pass on existential dread to teenagers. I'm kidding of course: they bring their own, and they bring it in bucketloads. We share in the joy that is questioning everything, including but not limited to unmovable movers, uncaused causers, infinite regresses, and... temporality. Enter: Jeremy Bearimy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFm9ClqlGuo This term… Continue reading Philosophising with Kids, Paradoxes and Inventing Religions
Category: Religion
Confession (Spoken Word Poem)
It's Christchurch Pride, and what better way to celebrate than to throwback to a spoken word I wrote about religious trauma, crushing on a straight girl, and the catharsis of coming out? (yaaaay) For realsies though, even though this is an old poem now, and I have outgrown it in many ways, I love how… Continue reading Confession (Spoken Word Poem)
Ex-Christianity Revisited: Mental Health, Autistic Burnout & the Church
This may surprise some, but I don't write-off my entire Christian past as negative. The relationship I have with that life stage is a complex and nuanced one, and I learned a lot through this time - through people, experiences and community. Autistic Burnout My mental health as a Christian teenager regularly fluctuated. I had… Continue reading Ex-Christianity Revisited: Mental Health, Autistic Burnout & the Church
Ex-Christianity Revisited: God is ___
We're throwing it back hardcore, to my first ever blog post on this site, God is Good?. I was still living Bahrain when I wrote this. God is _______. Fill in the blank for me. Seriously, do it. I'm interested in this as an exercise. As a part-time boat-rocker and full-time philosophiser, I would like… Continue reading Ex-Christianity Revisited: God is ___
Musings on Mortality (Part One)
Let's talk about death ba-by, let's talk about you and grief, let's talk about all the big things and the bad things that may be... let's talk about death My previous post, Things Hospital Taught Me, is shaping up to be one of the most popular blogs I have ever written. Re-reading it puts me… Continue reading Musings on Mortality (Part One)
Grieving God, Sin’s Genius and the Why Question
This is a belated chapter loosely branching from the four part series I wrote mid-last year, detailing my unorthodox conversion to Christianity, coming to terms with my sexuality, and subsequent deconversion. [Parts one, two, three and four available here] I hadn't initially planned to write further on the series, but there is so much more… Continue reading Grieving God, Sin’s Genius and the Why Question
Religious Diversity & What It Means to Be Human
While the word 'humanist' makes up half of my namesake on this blog, I realise that I have never directly discussed or addressed Humanism, what it means to me, and how I interpret and identify with it. Again, I'm not going to do the movement justice, so here is a good resource if you want… Continue reading Religious Diversity & What It Means to Be Human
Leading Kids to Christ, Youth Groups, and Teenhood with Jesus (Part Three)
Turn and Face the Strange As a young teenager, I was very timid, very awkward, and very in love with words, sounds and songs. I was fascinated by the lyricism, poetry and prose of the bible. My favourite verses are probably: Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for… Continue reading Leading Kids to Christ, Youth Groups, and Teenhood with Jesus (Part Three)
Hillsong Music, Twelvie Me and Decolonising God (Part Two)
So I'm now saving my discussion of teenhood with Jesus and leading kids to Christ for part three, just because it makes more linear sense - and there is a colossal amount to unpack. Philosophising at Twelve I begin with an excerpt from my 2016 blog post, The Beauty of Religion. "The unraveling of my… Continue reading Hillsong Music, Twelvie Me and Decolonising God (Part Two)
On Kids Camps, Worship Bands and Life with Jesus (Part One)
Kids Camps Attending kids camps as a youngster was easily the most significant factor in my conversion to Christianity. I went to my first one in January 2007, about a month after I turned nine. As you can imagine, I was at an extremely impressionable age. Kids' minds are like sponges, and for the most… Continue reading On Kids Camps, Worship Bands and Life with Jesus (Part One)