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If I Become a Christian, Will My Life Get Better?

by Solas

Will Christianity actually make a difference to my life? Will it make it better? In this Short Answers video, Steve Osmond shares from his own experience the impact that knowing Jesus Christ can have. And explains how it might not be what you think!

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Lab Notes From the Faithful: Amos Tarfa

by Solas

Steve: Amos, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me today. I’m excited about chatting to you because you have so much passion about what we’re speaking about today – it’s contagious. Tell me a bit more about yourself. Where are you based? What line of work are you in? I know you’re a man who’s busy, a lot on your plate, so tell us a bit about that.

Amos Tarfa: Well, my name is Amos Tarfa. I am from Nigeria originally, but I’ve been in the US for about 20 years. Married to my wife Stephanie, and we have seven children running around. We are blessed. We live in Texas, outside of Austin. I actually live an equidistance, as they say in mathematics, between Austin and San Antonio. So, about a halfway point between the two cities.

I’m a medical physicist as far as my day job, but I’m also a math and science curriculum writer and an education entrepreneur. So, I help people start schools. I help people revise their curriculum. And my vision is pretty clear. By God’s grace, I want to raise the next Isaac Newton. That’s part of my goal. He’s not my favourite scientist, let me note, but he’s probably one of the most unique scientists ever. But I want to raise top mathematicians and scientists who also know the history and philosophy of science. So that’s Amos Tarfa!

Steve: In a nutshell, anyway! What is, excuse my ignorance, a medical physicist? What does that look like?

Amos Tarfa: So, the crazy thing is that when I got into physics, medical physics, I didn’t know it was connected to someone who would end up being my favourite scientist – James Clerk Maxwell. Back in the 1800s, Maxwell showed that light was electromagnetic radiation. It has different aspects to it other than just visible light. There’s X-rays, gamma rays, and so on. A medical physicist is a physicist that specializes in the use of physics for human medicine applications. So, we basically are the ones behind understanding of x-rays and how they’re used for treating cancer, as well as for diagnostic radiology. We are concerned about how much radiation you give to get the appropriate image quality. We work with radiologists, we work with cardiologists, we work with urologists, we work with different professionals on how you can use x-rays safely or how we use sound waves for MRI and ultrasound. If you’ve ever been to an imaging facility or anything with diagnostic imaging, that is where medical physicists shine. We help make sure radiation is used properly when there’s ionizing radiation. And when it’s non-ionizing radiation, such as MRI, we also want to make sure it’s used properly. So that’s what medical physicists do. We are physicists, but we specialize in the medical applications of physics.

Steve: All right. I get you. I’m glad that you’re doing that. Cause if that was up to me, we’d all be in a lot of trouble – that’s way above my pay grade. What led you to that? What was the road that got you there?

Amos Tarfa: You know, by God’s grace, I was good in many subjects. But I think that my mind loves patterns and numbers more than it loves nomenclature. So even though I did okay in the biological sciences, I was probably more on the mathematical sciences side. I got my bachelor’s in chemistry, and I was thinking about being a paediatrician, however, when I graduated from my bachelor’s in chemistry, I realized that I wanted to teach. 

So, I decided to teach high school for two years and one child’s dad was a medical physicist, and I was like “what is that?” So, I job-shadowed somebody for a day, and I ended up working with them for a little bit, and I began to realize this is pretty cool. It gives me the flexibility to work in my math field while working in medical departments. So, it allows me to have the best of both worlds.

Medical physicists, especially consultants like me, are rarely in the same situation twice in the same week. We’re always looking at different types of machines in different types of clinics. It allows for travel and a variety of different kinds of studies. And that’s why I like it. I got my master’s in medical physics and medical health physics, and then have done a year of my PhD in physical chemistry. So, I love studying physics, chemistry, mathematics, and where they come together. That is my sweet spot.

Steve: That is really, really interesting. I’ve never met anyone who’s in this field. So, this is all new to me. It’s some very specialized scientific work. So, you’ve got that going on. That’s your day job. But you’re also a person of faith. You’re a Bible-believing Christian – and that’s part of why I’m interviewing you in this series of articles! What does that look like for you day to day? What does your faith mean to you?

Amos Tarfa: Yeah, you know, I grew up in Nigeria. My dad was an elder in the church, and I had the opportunity to learn about the truth of Christianity. And I joined a Good News club when I was young, and I became a Christian at a young age. And I thank God for keeping me out of certain things that would have caused me heartache and trouble. Just because of that. So, I came to the U.S. with that backing in my faith side of things. But I had never been challenged on the science and faith side until I came to the U.S. And then I began to meet people who were agnostics and didn’t believe in God at all. And I’m like, I’ve never seen this. Everybody I grew up with believed something and was very firm about what they believed. And now I’m meeting people who tell me that, you know, what you believe might not be true.

And therefore, I actually took philosophy just because I thought it would be great to have a conversation with philosophy professors. So that was when, during that philosophy time, I pivoted and left the medical school track.

So, I didn’t end up starting in medical school because I realized that the mind was something I wanted to focus on. Around that time, I started listening to Dr. John Lennox, who’s a great mathematician, and also someone who is great in philosophy, and is also a Christian.

And so that has helped me a great deal. By God’s grace, I’ll call myself a disciple from afar of Dr. Lennox because that’s the kind of work I want to continue.

But as far as the faith side, that’s part of the faith side of things, I was wondering how I could lovingly share my faith with people that disagree with me? And that’s part of what I began to learn at that stage. But ultimately, I will be honest with you, the more I study physics, the more I feel that it points to God. Some things are just a mystery, some things – like quantum physics – you just have to be okay with the fact that there’s mystery to some of this stuff. And so I bring that up to say that physics actually makes me want to know God more, not less. Where else do you find mystery? Sometimes when you read the Bible, there are things you can’t fully grasp as far as the nature of God and so on. It’s the same in science: it reminds you that if reality is looking not as precise as you would like on certain things, maybe there are some things you just can’t fully know and you have to just believe and act upon what you can’t see. And that is part of how people like the great scientist James Clerk Maxwell operated.

They didn’t see everything to believe it. They believed in the unseen and look what it did to us. It allowed us to have communication like what we are having right now because Maxwell is the father of electrical engineering. So that just tells you a little bit of how the unseen can open your doors to new realms of understanding science and mathematics.

Steve: You’re definitely someone who’s thought about your faith. You’ve thought about the science, obviously, and then the integration of these. And, you’re someone who wants to take all of that and use it for the good of educating young people. As you say, we want to be raising up the next Newtons, the next Maxwells for the next generations.

So let me ask you a couple of questions around that idea of faith, science, and the integration of those. Are science and God or science and faith mutually exclusive domains?

Amos Tarfa: No, they are not!

Steve: Simple! Why not?

Amos Tarfa: Because science can give you an explanation for certain things, but it doesn’t give you the basis for why those things are the way they are in the first place. Science doesn’t give you the basis for why those things might even be predictable.

I’ll give you a quick example. On your computer keyboard – I wrote this in one of my books in 2009 – if you push ‘control A’, it highlights all. If you push ‘control S’, it saves. But why? Because a computer programmer programmed it. Without the computer programmer, you don’t have a basis for that explanation you’ve given, right? There is the agent and the mechanism. So, we can study the car, but we need to understand that Mr. Ford, or Mr. Benz was behind the car being what it is. That’s why Johannes Kepler and Galileo and Copernicus understood that they were only studying an aspect of reality. They did not explain how it came to be. And Isaac Newton talked about it in his Principia as well. So, if the giants of the scientific era and the scientific revolution have shown us that, why should we think otherwise? As a matter of fact, I’ll just say this quickly, Isaac Newton, back in 1687, when he published his book, he already had that basis. Imagine if he understood what we now understand about physics today. There is no way he’s going to look at it and say, oh, we need less of God now. Not at all. Instead, he’s going to say, this is amazing. That’s why I believe, again, that science and faith go together as far as science explains certain things, but it doesn’t give a reason for why those things even work in the first place.

Steve: Related to that then, what difference does faith make to actually doing science? 

Amos Tarfa: I think that, as one of our friends, Lee Pretorius, puts it, we need to think about the universe being a closed system and an open system. When you remove God and faith and so on, you’re almost limiting how well your mind can make sense of the universe. Literally, you’re limiting yourself. I’m not saying that the person might not find certain things. They might, here and there. But imagine someone like Maxwell: how can you describe light the way he did? How can he describe atoms the way he did? If he wasn’t also open to the idea that there are certain things that can be described that are not seen.

You see, there’s something about faith for me as a Christian, that, as the Bible describes it in the book of Hebrews, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I am open to the fact that there are certain things that I don’t see, right? But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. For the materialists, you are literally limiting yourself in and aspects of understanding reality. I also think that reality ultimately also involves philosophy and not just science itself. But scientists who don’t know philosophy are putting themselves in a problematic position. Because in mathematics, for example, we do things and describe things about reality that don’t even exist in some cases, but that also sharpens our minds.

There’s something about allowing our minds to really get to know reality beyond the physical world that is hard to explain if you’re a materialist. There is more to the physical world. So anyway, that’s part of it. So, I think as a medical physicist, I expect precision. I expect certain things to make sense and work because I believe God made the world. So, it makes sense to me. There is an author that wrote something called The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, Eugene Wigner. Why would you use the word ‘unreasonable effectiveness’? Except if you also don’t believe that the universe has one who designed it. I believe there’s one who designed it. So, I see it reasonable that the laws of physics even hold. And therefore, some of those laws are what allow you and I to enjoy some of the technologies we have today. 

Steve: Thanks, I think that’s very helpful to help people think about the integration of faith and science. Let me ask about the education side of things a little. You mentioned you’re from Nigeria. That’s where you had your primary education before going to the States. But you’ve now observed the Western world for a good many years from the inside. What do you think has gone wrong with education in the Western world, broadly speaking?

Amos Tarfa: Yeah, I think that there are several layers to it, but one of them quickly is the value the family puts on education. I read somewhere yesterday that in some Asian communities, they will spend 40% of their income on educating their child. 50% of their income. That’s how much they value education. But I think with the West, I think of Deuteronomy chapter 8, when you’ve eaten and are full, don’t forget God. I think there’s parts of the West that got full and have forgotten God and have forgotten about studying His world for its own sake, not for any state standards, but just to know God and know the world that He has made. So, I think the West partly has that as a problem. And there’s a practical side, too. If you want to learn mathematics, you need to be disciplined and committed. And the problem is that we treat mathematics just as another subject. No, mathematics doesn’t care who you are or your bank account. You need to give it commitment.

And that is why China is leading in many aspects of mathematics. And I’m not saying I support some of the rigor we see in some parts of the world, but I’m just saying at least can we be serious and not take months off from doing mathematics, which tends to happen in the West in many schools. This just doesn’t happen in Nigeria. And so I would say Nigeria has a better case for rigor for its mathematics and expectations. And the parents are more committed. Parents, we need to put in the time and really support our children to be the best they can be in mathematics, because it is so important. Put in more of that time than we put into sports. We have to be disciplined with math and science and just learning, and valuing learning. That’s part of our challenge. So I hope that if we go back to the drawing board and look at the people that gave us the framework for mathematics and science and the rigor they put in, and give our children the tools to be able to attain to those heights, that’s where I think the West can begin to get back on track.

Steve: How can we get people the tools to do that well, because maybe that’s quite daunting to think about, and people don’t know where to begin? And, you know, from a Christian perspective, how can the church get on board and help in those areas, do you think?

Amos Tarfa: Well, I think that philosophy needs to be brought back into discussions. You have to teach the history of philosophy of science and theology, and that needs to be brought into schools to give an accurate picture of the past. And if a church has a church school, make sure your students understand that there is a connection there too, don’t be afraid of science and philosophy. Don’t separate them. The fragmentation is part of the problem.

Breaking subjects down, such as chemistry and physics, they used to be buddies and we broke them apart and you keep breaking things out. Imagine we try teaching calculus sometimes without physics. That makes no sense. Calculus was born next to physics. The same guy, Isaac Newton, we’ve broken him apart. We need to put things back together and allow for that. And especially with AI tools, by the way, they can do this pretty well. You should teach chemistry, physics, and math together. We need to start building curriculum differently. My goal is that we have to go back and train students to be like Isaac Newton in order for them to thrive in the AI revolution. So that’s part of what we need to do. teaching integrated subjects, interdisciplinary subjects, philosophy and the history of science, and go beyond any state standards and focus on just learning for learning’s sake. That is what we need to aspire to.

Steve: Yeah. I know you’re really enthusiastic about that and we will share the link to your website where people can come find you and see how you’re doing this.

I wish we had a lot more time here so that I could pick your brain on that more because I think it’s so crucial, especially the AI side of things. You know, I have two young daughters and I’m thinking about the future a lot, haha. So, you’re saying a lot that’s really resonating with me. But, before we run out of time, you’ve alluded to your favourite scientists. Who are they? And who’s your one favourite?

Amos Tarfa: Haha, yes. I think James Clerk Maxwell, and Michael Faraday is a close second, but I would say they’re my favourite scientists and my favourite mathematician is Leonard Euler. And then let me add one more name, William Wilberforce. He wasn’t a scientist, but those four names I told you are four people that I really cherish.

And I cherish their work because for William Wilberforce, it’s the fact that we can use education to liberate people to think more clearly, just like he liberated people from trying to end the slave trade. So that’s why Wilberforce made the list there.

But now back to my favourite scientists. It’s between Maxwell and Faraday. It’s a close one because of their humility and their work with electricity and magnetism. They helped us understand the world much better. James Clark Maxwell, who died at the age of 48, changed the world. Maxwell really changed the world. And I don’t think people will understand that enough, but they can go listen to an interview I did recently with Discovery Institute on Maxwell’s life .

And that’s definitely somebody I think people should study. And then lastly, as I said, their humility. These guys were exceptional at what they did. But when Michael Faraday died, or before he died, they wanted him to be buried at Westminster Abbey. I don’t know if you knew that. That’s the kind of scientist he ended up being, but he wanted to be left alone, buried iin his small hometown. But Michael Faraday’s humility is amazing. So, I want to raise the top mathematicians and scientists, but ultimately, I want them to walk in humility as well. That’s the key. Because it’s not enough to know. You have to then be kind and gentle in how you use your knowledge to help other people.

Steve: Brilliant. That humility is so important, especially in the sciences where it is so quickly forgotten – well, that’s been my experience in the scientific world many times, sadly. One last question:  what encouragement would you give to a younger person who is thinking about what path to follow in terms of vocation and what to do with their life. Why would you encourage them to consider the sciences a career path? And also, as a side note, why do we need more good Christian scientists?

Amos Tarfa: Well, my encouragement to them is this. The world needs, more than ever before, people like Maxwell. And we stopped getting a lot of those people when our education system removed philosophy from science. When natural philosophy stopped being the case of what science was, it caused problems. We need more people to be trained in that way of thinking. And funny enough, that is the only type of student that the world needs in an age of ‘automatic intelligence’, because knowledge is everywhere.

What makes you stand out is being exceptional. So why don’t you just go be like those who came before us – they were exceptional! So, I would say let’s go learn from them so please read books by guys like Dr John Lennox, like ‘Has Science Buried God?’ and ‘Cosmic Chemistry’. Read those books to help you get a solid foundation, but in reality, if you want to talk about practical ROI, the top 20 jobs in the next frontier are all in the STEM fields. A lot of them, anyway. But if you’re going to go into those fields go in with philosophy as well. I mean, quantum computing is coming very soon. So, when all these things are growing and taking the stage, how cool would it be for Christians to be the ones that are coming out and also talking about how their faith helps them do the work they do? So that’s my encouragement. 

Steve: That’s great. I think we definitely need to have another interview where I pick your brain on AI and some of the really cool doors that opens, but also some of the things to be cautious of.

But where can people go to see some of the stuff you’ve done, find some of the books you’ve written, get in touch and even support you? 

Amos Tarfa: So, they can go to www.amosthemathguy.com, it’s a simple website. But my math curriculum is called Counting to Calculus, www.countingtocalculus.org,  that’s where you can see that. It’s a global math curriculum that takes you from no knowledge of mathematics all the way to calculus five with a clear roadmap.

And we want to do that because remember, we want to raise the next Newton. So, we’ve given the whole world a math plan to take you from wherever you are to getting a math degree. Why does that matter? Because the whole society literally rests on mathematics right now. Everything, even AI, is a mathematical tool. That’s all math.

We want to give everyone those tools. And so, yes, you can find me there. We want to help as many schools as possible to really help their students love math and flourish in it.

And then the other site is www.livingsensibly.org, where I do some of my other Christian-focussed content.

Steve: Amos, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about faith and science. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, and I look forward to when we chat again soon.

Amos Tarfa: Thank you.

Amos Tarfa is a Medical Physicist and Math & Science Curriculum Writer. He is married to Stephanie and they have been blessed with 7 children. He is originally from Nigeria but is now based in Texas in the US. His desire is to see every child flourish and therefore he writes and teaches on the topic of redeeming education. He has written several books and has a YouTube Channel called Living Sensibly with Amos Tarfa, and an online academy called LIFE Academy where he connects experts in different fields to students in Nigeria, Africa and around the world. Long term he wants to see schools go back to the drawing board to rethink what they are doing in education to make sure it makes sense in this moment in history. His website is LivingSensibly.org

The Global Great Commission (with Matthew Niermann)

by Solas

Here on PEP Talk, we often think about how each of us can share our faith, perhaps on our own or with our local church. But what about the big picture – the REALLY big picture? On a global scale, in this century, what is happening as Christians everywhere seek to fulfil the Great Commission? Today Simon and Gavin speak with the director of the “State of the Great Commission” report from the Lausanne Movement.

You can access the full report here: https://lausanne.org/report

The Global Great Commission (with Matthew Niermann) – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Matthew Niermann has served the Lausanne Movement since 2010 in a variety of roles including research and operations. He is currently serving as the director of the State of the Great Commission Report for Lausanne 4. In addition, he serves as a dean and professor of architectural design at California Baptist University, where his research partially focuses on the relationship between creativity and Christian witness.

About PEP Talk

The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, our hosts chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.

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The CS Lewis Institute Belfast

by Editor

Gavin from Solas had the privilege of travelling to Belfast for four days of intensive ministry with the Belfast branch of the C.S. Lewis Institute (CSLI). Most people have come across the author, CS Lewis; but the Institute which now bears his name is less well known. CSLI’s official mission statement is “In the legacy of C. S. Lewis, we develop wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ who will articulate, defend, share, and live their faith in personal and public life.” It seems especially appropriate thate of the first places in Europe in which the CSLI is taking off in is Lewis’ hometown, Belfast.

The week of partnership between Solas and CSLI came at a particularly significant week in the life of CSLI Belfast. Core to their work in Northern Ireland is their ‘Fellows Programme’ a discipleship programme which is designed to engage the heart and the mind. The Fellows do a year of Bible study, classic readings, lectures, group processing, personal spiritual mentoring and accountability — all in the context of a small group of like-minded believers and the aim is to produce fully committed disciples of Jesus Christ who will make an impact for Him in the world.

As the new cohort of Fellows were about to start, Gavin from Solas was involved in speaking at the Orientation evening for those at the beginning of their discipleship journey with CSLI Belfast. At the other end, he also lead a morning of events which culminated in the Commissioning of the Fellows who have completed the Programme.

Stuart Horner who leads the CSLI Belfast said, “The Fellows Programme is particularly significant because it give the opportunity for believers in Christ, from a variety of denominations and backgrounds, to gather for a year of spiritual growth together. Our mission is the Great Commission, becoming better disciples of Jesus and intentional disciplemakers, wherever God has placed us. We believer this multiplication model of ministry is key to sustainable and genuine growth. ”

At the Orientation evening for new Fellows at The Stormont Hotel, Gavin spoke about the ‘Fatherhood of God’ as the basis for discipleship. He looked at various models of human fatherhood and how they impact children; and compared and contrasted them with the picture of God we see in scripture. The emphasis there is that He is both perfect, and calls is into serious discipleship; but is also incredibly gracious and forgiving. He’s the God to whom we can run when we fail, and so we thought about Peter’s restoration after his denial of Christ.

“The Orientation evening is an important part of our programme” said Stuart, “and marks the start of this pilgrimage into deeper discipleship and answer to call to “Come further up and furth in” as Aslan says in the Last Battle.”

The T-3 conference centre in Lisburn was the next stop in the week. CSLI Belfast holds public lectures as well as it’s Fellows programme and at this one, Gavin was asked to address the difficult topic of “God and Question of Suffering”. He suggested that the question, “If God is good, why is there suffering” might be the hardest question which we face as Christians. In his talk, he compared the ways in which different worldviews and ideologies try and face up to this issue. He suggested that the Christian and biblical idea that Christ enters our world of pain and offers redemption from within it; is the most hope-filled response to the problem. In the second half of the evening he looked at the story of Job, and some personal experiences of navigating the path of pain. The Q&A session was profound and raised a whole series of difficult issues – not least the difficult matter of Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness.

Looking back on the evening, Stuart Horner said, “Gavin was able to both give a robust philosophical and biblical response to this perennial problem and at the same time bring a pastors heart and personal perspective to this Problem of Pain. Like Lewis, Gavin did not give any trite or soundbite responses but instead dealt with this issue in a meaningful and sensitive way, which was well appreciated by those in attendance”

The Riddell Hall at Queen’s University in Belfast is glorious venue to meet in – and that’s where CSLI Belfast had booked for a whole morning for the Commissioning of the Fellows of the 2024/25 year.
Gavin presented a talk entitled “5 Steps for Answering Any Tough Question”, which looked at how we can make gospel-centred responses to hard questions. All the Fellows, were seated around tables in the hall and each table was given a difficult question to respond to using the 5 steps.

At the end of the morning, each table gave a presentation based on their discussion. Stuart Horner from CSLI Belfast was appointed as judge and jury and prizes were awarded for the table who had most helpfully answered their question. The issues thrown at the groups included the problem of pain, Old Testament violence, sexuality, science and faith and the hiddenness of God.

 Everyone there was impressed with the responses from the groups. Not only did they engage really well with the 5-steps outlined in the talk as a structure for answering their question; but it was evident that they were able to draw on a huge amount they had learnt during their year on the Fellows programme.

Stuart Horner recalls the morning, “Gathering for the final time as a year group in the wonderful surroundings of Riddell Hall at QUB was both celebratory and reflective. We were able to look back with joy on a year where God had been working 

in the lives of our Fellows and also equipping them to defend and commend the Faith in which they had been enriched after a year of readings, Bible Study, mentoring, group discussions and lectures from brilliant bible teachers. Gavin did a great job of equipping us further on Commending the Faith – Conversational Apologetics as well as providing an opportunity to put what had been learnt over the year into practice. ”

At the end of the morning he also Commissioned the Fellows and called them to take all they had read, all their spiritual development and everything invested in them during their year as CS Lewis Institute Fellows and to go forward and serve God. For one or two folks that meant some kind of church-based ministry, but for most it meant becoming more active and visible for Christ in their daily work in banking, building, or farming etc.

The final meeting of the Solas-CLSI Belfast week together took place in Royal Hillsborough right in shadow of the famous Hillsborough Castle. A group of CSLI Fellows gathered in a house there and Gavin presented a version of his talk on God and the Problem of Suffering, “The Great Objection”. While in Lisburn that had lead into a time of discussion and Q&A, in Hillsborough after some profound responses from folks in the room who had suffered much; it naturally led into time of prayer for those we know who are in the middle of it now.

Looking back, Gavin Matthews from Solas said,
“It was wonderful to spend a week with Stuart, the CSLI Belfast team, and all the Fellows. Not only did I get to see more of Northern Ireland, but met some wonderful people too. CSLI Belfast is doing a really great work there in developing the kind of community of biblical relationships we see for example between Paul and Timothy. That consisted of intentional discipleship, mentoring, teaching and training which leads to spiritual growth, and ministry effectiveness which produces real fruit for God’s kingdom.

It was a privilege to be able to contribute a little to this significant work. I especially appreciated the opportunity to speak about God and suffering as that has been so much at the forefront of my mind over the last year or so. The CSLI Fellows Programme is really worth investigating if you are in Northern Ireland, and it’s also encouraging to see it being launched in Scotland too with a new Satellite Programme launched in Edinburgh under the leadership of Joy Hadden, a ministry intern at Carrubbers Christian Centre in Edinburgh city centre!”

Stuart Horner from CSLI Belfast concluded: “Having Gavin with us was the perfect way to end our year together. His personal warmth and Christian character was evident as he spent time with our Fellows and Mentors. His ability as a public speaker and teacher was evident for all to see and we pray that the Lord continues to use him as he serves Solas in Scotland and beyond. We are looking forward to continuing our partnership with Solas. With Andy Bannister visiting several of our North American CSLI sites in 2025, Gavin visiting Belfast in the summer of 2025 and their associate Gareth Black being a regular speaker at CSLI Belfast, we are blessed to be serving in mutually beneficial ministry together. “

Have You Ever Wondered Why We Want to be Seen?

by Editor

Julie* said she felt “unseen”. Being the only woman in a leadership team of eleven men was difficult, as she was frequently talked over, and sometimes had her ideas credited to other people. Feeling unseen was demoralising, a bit humiliating and gnawed away at her sense of wellbeing, and led to her doubting her ability to do the job. Unsurprisingly she left the organisation and found somewhere more fulfilling in which to invest her efforts. She had been physically visible but felt psychologically see-though as she wasn’t valued, appreciated, or affirmed in her talents, abilities or contributions.

Cinderella, of course, was the invisible daughter. She wasn’t merely overlooked and undervalued, her step-mother deliberately hid her away and humiliated her. In so doing she made the ‘evil step-mother’ a literary cliché for ever after. Julie’s colleagues on the other hand expressed surprise when she left, saying how much they had enjoyed working with her. Their ‘unseeing’ had been entirely unconscious.[1] Her story is far from unique.

In James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar (which gained nine Academy Award nominations and grossed over $1.1bn despite being panned as a White Saviour movie and mocked as ‘Dances with Smurfs’[2]), the Na’avi people have an interesting saying. When introduced to someone they say, “I see you”. This greeting meant more than physical sight, it meant profound acceptance and affirmation of the other person at a deep level. Conversely, withholding those words was to reject, dishonour and exclude someone. Something the central character Jake was to discover.

Most of us have been in social, educational or business settings in which we have felt unseen. We have felt the initial disappointment or anger and the self-doubt which follows. But have you ever wondered what it is about us humans that makes us want to be ‘seen’, in that sense of being instinctively valued, respected and affirmed by others?

“They say it’s lonely at the top, I say it’s harder if you drop” sang one former rock star as he looked back on his glamour days from semi-retirement.[3] It’s hard not to be seen anymore. Some people enjoy crowds and love being seen by the many. Others are content just to be fully seen by one or two. Almost no one likes to feel completely invisible.

It seems we are hard-wired with a need to be seen, and yet most people face times in their lives when they feel undervalued, overlooked, or taken for granted.[4] Relate (formerly the Marriage Guidance Council) have a whole section on their website for people who feel taken for granted in their relationships and long to feel truly ‘seen’ again. Sections include, “How to know if you are being taken for granted”, “What leads to feelings of being taken for granted?” and “How to stop being taken for granted”.[5] All of them are imbued with a howl of anguish from the human heart – a great cry of longing from the absence of a sense of connection, worth and validation that everyone seems to need in order to feel OK about this world and their place in it.

Many people see this element of the human condition as a sign that something has gone wrong with the world. That the deep connectedness and mutual affirmation that we are somehow structured to need isn’t available. If we are supremely confident (or egotistical) characters we blame others for not seeing us we deserve; if we are more psychologically or emotionally fragile, we might blame ourselves and decide that we are unworthy of the affirmation which we actually need. Our complicated mixture of sorrow and anger perhaps reveals how much there is of both of those things in most of us.

If you allow your imagination to fly for a moment and picture a world in which perfect people offer one another sincere affirmation in deeply connected relationships in which their whole self is on offer to others – and is given and received with honour – you are imagining a prelapsarian paradise. Add into your picture a God who is also present and perfect, who deeply sees and appreciates His creatures, and you have painted yourself a picture of the first chapter of the Bible. Christians believe that the soul-ache we all feel to be truly ‘seen’ isn’t merely a longing unique to us or our circumstances, but is the whole story of humanity being outworked in us. That story of ‘the fall’ isn’t a myth unconnected to the realities of everyday life, but a story that explains our most profound needs – and why we simply fail to see others as they need to be seen and feel unseen ourselves. Eden has fallen.

Perhaps surprisingly then the biblical storyline (while first exploring the fallout from the fall) looks at the way in which we can be once again truly ‘seen’. When Christ entered the world, he did so to reconcile people to God. Vast amounts of the New Testament are given to exploring what that means in great theologically rich letters to the first churches. Relationally though, we are given a clue as to what it looks like in Mark 10:21, which simply says of one troubled young man, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.” In other words he said, “I see you”.

Jesus came to show us a God who truly ‘sees’ us.

During the last Superbowl (the premier American Football game of the year) some Christians spent a small fortune on an advertising campaign with the slogan “He gets us”, which focussed on Jesus’s humanity and his ability to understand our situations. It led to a lot of reactions, positive and negative from both in and outside the church. The critics outside resented the presence of a religious message in public space, while in-house reaction within the church was more in terms of suggesting that it diluted the core claims of the Christian faith into a mere emotional sludge.

The claim that Jesus truly ‘sees’ us is far more compelling than the idea that he just ‘gets us’. ‘Getting us’ might sound nice if not rather bland, but ‘seeing us’ with all that that entails can be life-giving.

It’s also rather disconcerting.

If God really sees me, and he knows everything about, well… everything, then suddenly I am not in control of the situation anymore. With ordinary people I can, at least to an extent, control the story. I can reveal what I want them to know about me, and hide the rest. I might not deliberately tell lies, but I can be highly selective with the truths I disclose. Most people tell the truth and nothing but the truth, but the ‘whole truth’ is more demanding, especially as it concerns ourselves.

When Jesus sees us, he sees everything. The astonishing claim of the Christian faith is that he loves anyway. It’s not merely that God is love, and has infinite resources of it to give away, including to the unworthy; it is also that he sees not merely our current condition (both good and bad), but also sees the purpose we were intended for when he created us. He also knows what he can make us into, if we will submit to him. The phrase often used is God loves us as we are today, and loves us far too much to leave us in that state! Christ truly sees us, and wonderfully welcomes us, and will one day restore us to what we were meant to be.

To be seen by God is as glorious as it is disconcerting.

One of Jesus’ most famous stories is of an errant son, who shames his father and leaves with his share of the estate. His initially glamorous life spirals downwards and he ends up in poverty and has to return home, humiliated. As he approaches the home, the son has a speech prepared for his father, “I am unworthy to be called your son, let me work the fields and be a servant”. But the Father runs to him, welcomes him back and throws a banquet in his honour, after throwing his arms around him. In today’s terms the son might have said, “just put me to work out of sight in the in the back office” but the Father says “I see you”.

Jesus wants us to know that, when we come home to God, we won’t be discarded, dishonoured, humiliated or shamed (even if like the guy in the story we deserve all four). Instead, we’ll be embraced. We’ll be really ‘seen’.

Have you ever wondered why we long to be truly seen? Have you ever stopped to think about where that soul-ache comes from and what can satisfy it? Have you ever wondered why we humans so often fail to fully ‘see’ others and so often feel ‘unseen’? C.S. Lewis is most famous today for his works of literature, especially the Narnia series. But in one of his non—fiction books he answered that question like this:

Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists.
A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food.
A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water.
Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex.
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.
If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud.
Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing…. I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same.[6]

In other words these desires are not to be dismissed, nor to lead us to despair when they are not fully met. Instead, they should be seen as signposts pointing us towards our true home in God.

Have You Ever Wondered? is also the title of our popular book and a series of articles and videos on this website. With intriguing answers to questions as diverse as ‘Have You Ever Wondered’ why we are drawn to beauty, respect altruism, value the environment, preserve the past, chase money, love music and defend human rights?; the book has a wide range of authors who’s wonderings have drawn them to spiritual and Christian answers to their investigations. With free copies available for people who sign-up to support Solas for as little as £4/month, and big discounts for bulk orders – Have You Ever Wondered? is an effective and affordable way to engage in helpful spiritual discussions.

[1] https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/do-your-employees-feel-like-they-are-being-taken-for-granted

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film)#Commercial_analysis

[3] woollywolstenholme.co.uk

[4] https://sea.peoplemattersglobal.com/article/employee-relations/79-of-surveyed-us-employees-feel-taken-for-granted-at-work-survey-report-38800

[5] https://www.relate.org.uk/get-help/being-taken-granted

[6] Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity. New York: HarperOne, 2001 (revised edition). See Book III, Chapter 10, p. 136

*Not her actual name

Confident Christianity at Guisborough Deanery CCC (Saltburn-by-the-Sea) 

by Editor

I recently had the privilege of taking a little trip to the tucked-away town of Saltburn-on-the-
Sea for a day of training with some ministers and congregants in the area. It was a jam-
packed schedule, but the group was full of energy and we had a great morning together. I
often get to speak on some big tricky topics, like the question of suffering, the reliability of
the Bible, and God and science, but this particular morning was a little different, having a
strong practical focus with a blend of teaching and workshops.

I kicked off with a session on conversational evangelism, and then later a session on some practical ways to share our faith with those who are more apathetic – something so relevant, especially here in the UK.

The workshops were really fun – and something that I’m trying to do a little more with groups
to put things into practice. The workshops focussed on sharing testimony – what that means
and how to do it in a way that takes into account the person we’re speaking to, rather than
just a cookie cutter approach for all situations – and the second was titled ‘Explaining our
Theology in Simple Language’. This is a really fun and interactive session that always leads
to a good few laughs, but is also a great learning experience (and I feel like I always walk
away having learned something useful about how to take a piece of rich, but sometimes
misunderstood theology, and make it more accessible simply by explaining it in different
ways).

As usual, we closed with a time of Q&A. It’s always such a pleasure to work with
groups of all sizes and demographics who are fired up to get the message of the Gospel of
Jesus out of the four walls of the church, and I look forward to seeing how the community of
believers there continue to impact their community and see many more come to find true life
and hope with God.

Seeking Spirituality: Gen Z, Gen Alpha and the Church (with Laura Hancock)

by Solas

Youth for Christ has recently produced an incredible two-part report on the recent growth of spirituality amongst Gen Z and Gen Alpha. What can we learn about the experiences of young people, their desires and interests, and their new paths to finding Jesus? Steve Osmond and Simon Wenham chat with the report author and youth worker, Laura Hancock.

Get access to the full report here – https://yfc.co.uk/z-a-growing-spirituality/

Seeking Spirituality: Gen Z, Gen Alpha and the Church (with Laura Hancock) – PEP Talk

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Our Guest

Laura Hancock is Senior Lead of Ministry and Research at Youth for Christ, and is also part of the Limitless youth ministry team. She loves volunteering with the church’s youth group, leading a small group and helping people think through how we creatively communicate Jesus to the next generation. She lives in Halesowen with her husband Andy and her two kids where they all attend Lifecentral Church. She loves reading, running, shopping, hanging out with her dog, and never says no to an offer of pick and mix!

About PEP Talk

The Persuasive Evangelism Podcast aims to equip listeners to share their faith more effectively in a sceptical world. Each episode, our hosts chat to a guest who has a great story, a useful resource, or some other expertise that helps equip you to talk persuasively, winsomely, and engagingly with your friends, colleagues and neighbours about Jesus.

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Spotlight on Everyday Evangelism

by Simon Wenham

Everyday evangelism starts with simple conversations. This month’s Spotlight explores how to turn ordinary chats into opportunities to share extraordinary hope, with wisdom, confidence, and grace.

Learn How To Talk About Jesus With Confidence

How can we overcome the common fears that hold us back from talking about the transformational truth of Jesus and the gospel? Andy Bannister speaks at this year’s Keswick Convention on how to be better at sharing our faith.

See Andy’s Three Steps For Confident Faith Conversations

Turning Everyday Conversations Into Moments That Matter

“There’s a scene in Pride and Prejudice when Mr Darcy says, ‘I have not that talent which some possess of conversing easily with strangers’, to which Elizabeth responds, ‘I do not play [the piano] so well as I should wish to, but I have always supposed that to be my fault, because I would not take the trouble of practicing.”

Discover What Pride and Prejudice Teaches Us

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Your Story Could Change a Life – Here’s How

“Your story of God’s saving you, and then His work of continual grace in your life is something that you can share with anyone – and it’s a story that cannot be taken from you.” 

Hear How Your Story Can Change Hearts

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How To Share Your Faith At Work

“Just as the battlefront moved from Normandy to Berlin from D-Day to VE Day, so the gospel battlefront has shifted in our times. Now the world largely does not come into church, the seeds of the gospel must be carried out into the world by painters, nurses, farmers, accountants, plumbers, scientists…”

How You Can Reach Others Wherever You Are

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Questions That Make A Difference

How can using questions deepen the relationships around you? Stephen Caudwell shares about how to make a difference. 

Find Out Why Questions Matter

Three Ways To Overcome Objections

What happens if someone has a strong objection to your faith? Randy Newman gives three ways to prepare for whatever comes your way. 

Hear Three Ways You Can Respond

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At “The Gathering”

by Editor

Solas is privileged to work with churches all over the country, and we value these partnerships and friendships very highly. So in recent weeks it’s been really great to renew our fellowship with the United Free Church of Scotland (UFCoS), by accepting their kind invitation to participate in their annual conference, “The Gathering”.

The theme for this year’s conference was ‘The Family God’. Our old friend Mark Stirling preached at the main session in the morning, looking the way in which the church should reflect something of the character of God into the world – and show a ‘family likeness’ to our father. We should exhibit something of the God to whom we belong.

Then there were a whole range of seminars that delegates to chose from, everything from looking at 1500 years of the Nicean Creed with Jane McArthur, prayer with Marion Carson, social issues with Nigel Kenney and two sessions on evangelism; one from Solas and another with John Mackinnon. There were others too, on mental health, spiritual retreats and being the family of God! It was an expansive programme. Alongside that, there were activities for children, a busy exhibition, a bookshop, sociable times and plenty of cake too! The only thing that was disappointing was that I wasn’t able to go to any of the other seminars because I had to lead my own!

In the Solas seminar stream, we looked at all sorts of practical examples of evangelism which had featured in our ‘Launch Pad’ series. After a brief introduction, with a biblical basis and some stories of churches all over the UK doing evangelism in practice – the participants were set to work! The Launch Pad series had been boiled down into some one-page cards which each table looked at and sifted their pile into things they couldn’t do, might do and would do – to get the gospel out of the four walls of the church and into the community! No-one suggested that they might be dressing up as the Easter bunny, and use of technology and the creative arts weren’t popular in either seminar – but it was good to see that there was an enthusiasm for courses like Alpha and Christianity Explored, Q&A sessions in café’s and pubs, as well as developing personal conversational evangelism.

I was really encouraged by the enthusiasm with which people engaged in debate and discussion around which of these approaches might work in their community and which ones suited their own gifts and talents. Our prayer is that this little evangelism ‘ideas factory’ will result in some action on the ground.

If you’d like us to come and help your fellowship or denomination to think through some ideas for evangelism (both traditional and innovative), get in touch as we’d be delighted to work with you. We work with all kinds of churches, large and small, urban and rural. Please do get in touch!

How Do We Know the Bible Hasn’t Changed?

by Solas

Sometimes sceptics claim that we can’t possibly know what the New Testament actually said when it was originally written. The original message has been lost through the sands of time as it’s been copied, changed, twisted, and corrupted by people trying to get fame, money and power… surely? What we have today is the product of the longest running game of ‘telephone’ in history, isn’t it? These are popular claims, but do they square with the facts? In this Short Answers video Steve Osmond shares some thoughts on the many, early, good copies of the New Testament documents and why we can have confidence in the preservation and integrity of the message they hold.

Share

Please share this video widely with friends or family and for more Short Answers videos, visit solas-cpc.org/shortanswers/, subscribe to our YouTube channel or visit us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.

Support

Short Answers is a viewer-supported video series: if you enjoy them, please help us continue to make them by donating to Solas. Visit our Donate page and choose a free book as a thank-you gift!

Lab Notes from the Faithful: Dr Ross Simmmons

by Editor

Steve: Dr. Ross Simmons, thank you so much for agreeing to have a chat to me today.  I’m excited about this interview because I actually know you somewhat better than most of the other folk I’ve interviewed – you’re an elder at the church that I attend. So, Ross, first up, please us a little bit about yourself, and what field you work in?

Ross: No problem. I work as a consultant anaesthetist for the NHS in Scotland. Anaesthetists are the people that serve a multitude of different specialties. Primarily people would think of anaesthetists as the doctors that put you to sleep. So that’s part of our work. We anaesthetise people so they can undergo surgery. We also help in obstetrics when women are having babies. So not only do we provide the means for caesarean section, but also pain relief and labour. Many anaesthetists also run advanced pain clinics and chronic pain clinic and run intensive care and critical care too.

We engage in all sorts of aspects of the hospital. My main interest is in cancer surgery and I anaesthetise children as well as part of my job, and I cover emergencies. So that’s what my working week looks like. I’m either anaesthetising for cancer surgery, covering the emergency theatre, or anaesthetising children.

Steve: Fantastic. That sounds like it’s probably quite technical, also quite crucial.  I imagine that this isn’t something that you just study for a year or two and then off you go. What does the journey look like to get to the point that you’re at to specialising in this?

Ross:  I went to medical school in 1992. I graduated in 1999, so that was seven years. After my two years of university-based learning before I went into hospitals, I was given the opportunity to do a molecular biology degree. So, I took some time out, did a molecular biology degree and then went back into medicine. I entered anaesthetics in February 2001, and I became a consultant in 2009. In all, if you factor in medical school, that was 16 years. But if I hadn’t done the science degree and a bit of research, it would have been about 12 to 13 years.

Steve: Wow, that is a long road. I suppose that that makes sense because it’s quite dangerous the work that you do. What are the consequences if you miscalculate?

Ross: So anaesthetics is unusual in the sense that a lot of my work is taking someone who is completely well – (I mean, obviously they need an operation for cancer, for instance) – then I essentially remove the ability for them to sustain their own life. So, when you anaesthetise someone, you’re trying to achieve three things, it’s called the triad of anaesthesia. Essentially, you’re stopping them feeling pain. You’re stopping them being aware of what’s happening to them. And, for a lot of surgery, you need to stop them moving. Because even if you render someone anaesthetised, if you don’t paralyse them they could still potentially move and twitch even though they’re not aware of any discomfort. And particularly for body cavity surgery, if a body cavity is open, the body will try and protect itself by tensing the muscles to close the cavity. So obviously that would make surgery in the abdomen very, very difficult. So, for that situation, we need to paralyse people.

When we are asleep, we’re still aware of our surroundings. We’re just processing at very low level. Whereas we’re taking people deeper than that and then for major surgery anyway, would paralyse them. Some of the drugs we use will render people completely paralysed in terms of all muscle that is attached to bones or skeletal muscle within 30 seconds. So, once you’ve paralysed someone, you need to then take over their breathing, otherwise you know they would die from lack of oxygen. If somebody is very frail, you know, with a significant disease burden, then the margin of error is much less. They’re also slowing down bits of the brain that control heart rate and blood pressure and so forth. So, you can compromise things a bit there.

Anaesthetics is quite unique in that it is the only specialty where I am only responsible for one patient at a time, whereas someone like a cardiologist may come in and have a ward of 20 patients that they’re responsible for, I am only responsible for one patient. And when I am with that patient in theatre, I cannot physically be asked to do anything else. I can’t leave unless somebody of sufficient competence allows me to leave for a bathroom break or something.

Steve: That is fascinating. This is quite daunting, actually. I would hate to have your job! Haha. I’d be so stressed.

It’s not just, as you say, putting someone to sleep, but it’s bringing them back safely and making sure it all goes according to plan.

Ross: Yeah. And it’s a very unusual specialty because the surgeons need me and I need the surgeons. It’s a kind symbiotic relationship. And that’s the part I really enjoy, that I work in a team and form very strong relationships with the surgeons I work with regularly. And you’re kind of working together to get this patient through what can be major surgery.

Steve: What’s one of the most interesting sort of cases that you’ve had recently?

Ross: So obviously I need to be careful with patient confidentiality, but there is there’s a couple of patients recently who have needed their spleen out because their spleen was destroying their red blood cells and threatening their life.

A couple of these patients were getting blood transfusions every week and just their life was an absolute misery. And taking them to theatre is very high risk because their blood count is very low. The number of red cells that they have that can carry oxygen is very low because their spleen is just constantly destroying them. With these patients, we took their spleens out. And within two days, they were feeling better. Within three weeks, their blood count was approaching normal. Within six weeks, their blood count was completely back to normal. And they had the highest red cell count that they’ve had for years. I do enjoy that bit of it. Surgery is is an instant thing!. You cut the bad bit out and hopefully people get better. So those cases are pretty interesting as you get to see the benefit over time afterwards.

As an aside – there’s a lot of robotic surgery nowadays, which is his is a relatively new thing, where the surgeon actually sits at like a 3D console and has sort of electromechanical arms that they rest their arms in, which control the arms of a robotic device, which is doing the surgery inside the abdomen, which sounds quite weird, but it allows the surgeon a greater degree of control. We’re seeing really incredible results with that. You know that when I first started in anaesthetics a patient who might have been in hospital for two weeks after major bowel surgery, are now going home the next day, eat eating and drinking! So that’s pretty exciting to be involved in as well.

Steve: I feel like we’re living in the sci-fi movies I used to watch as a kid. So cool. Changing gears slightly, then. I mentioned that you’re an elder at our church. So, as much as you are a highly qualified, experienced specialist doing very niche scientific work in the medical field, you are also a Bible believing Christian!

Could you tell me very briefly how that how that came about, how you became a person of faith, and what that looks like for you today?

Ross: Yeah, so I was very fortunate. My parents were Christians, my grandparents were Christians, my aunts and uncles were Christians. And I was brought up and taken to church and my parents taught me about God. I think at a young age, you know, eight, I would say, to use ‘Christian language’, I placed my trust in the Lord. But I think, like many people brought up in that sort of environment, there’s a sense in which you don’t necessarily own it the way that maybe somebody coming to Christ later in life would do – that’s not at all to undermine childhood experiences in any way, shape or form. Certainly, for me, I think there was a greater ownership of that towards my later teens, through the age of 15 to 18. And then going to university is obviously quite a unique experience. I was moving out of home for the first time and meeting new people and various things. And so again there was another step there of reaffirming my faith. I remember my first day at Freshers’ Week sitting with a group of guys and basically making a very conscious decision to sort of say, okay, I’m a Christian.

And meeting people in my medical year for the first time, a guy came and talked about a Christian medical fellowship and if anybody wanted to come and speak to him afterwards so there were four or five of us who went up looking slightly sheepish amongst the 360 people to speak to him. So, for me, just having to make that decision consciously in a new environment was another step of taking ownership of what I believe for myself.

Steve: One thing that I love about you – as I’ve discovered in our discussions – is that you’re someone who thinks deeply about worldviews and how to make sense of the world. And so, it’s not like you’ve switched your mind off to have your faith (as some sceptics would claim one must do). I mean, it’s very integrated. What has your experience of being a Christian in your line of work been like?

Ross: Well, I’ve not experienced direct antagonism. Maybe believing that God created the world. You know, folk might think you’re a bit stupid and it’s a bit naive, but not necessarily antagonistic. I mean, there would still be a generalised assumption that the whole evolutionary framework is complete fact. So if you go to a national anaesthetic meeting or people are presenting things, you know, there will be a standard assumption that all we are is just the material we’re made of and we evolved to be like this or we evolved to be like that, you know. So, there’s that kind of assumption within science.

But I think that is maybe still a reflection of the ‘90s where people like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, you know, some of these people were really coming to the fore and pushing materialism and atheism.

Steve: Let’s explore that idea a bit further. Surely, one might say, you’re just ignorant or a little bit stupid, or have to switch your brain off to believe in God and be a Christian. And surely the science and faith are in different silos. They don’t overlap. Along with that comes this idea that we don’t really need God, we have our science. We have our technology. You’ve just mentioned some of this amazing technology. So, isn’t God redundant?

That idea has been proliferated a lot. But lately we’re seeing that people are realizing that they need spirituality, and that maybe this question of God is actually something to pursue and investigate further.

What do you say to that person who would say that we don’t really need God?

Ross: Well, I think what’s interesting is – and this is probably something that I’ve been aware of in the last 10 years as maybe developing – that the ‘new atheism’ or the rise of the new atheism, for want of a better word, has not provided the answers that people hoped. And secularism has not necessarily provided the security and the answers that maybe people posited many years ago when they were saying, you know, “we don’t need God” and “God is dead”.

I think what’s interesting is, yes people are maybe open to more spirituality, but I sometimes view that almost as like a bit of a trend in the sense it’s like it’s their kind of spirituality because we’re very much a culture now of what works for you and I won’t interfere. You know what mean? “You know, have your life, that’s fine” kind of attitude.

Steve: Yes. The “you do you”, everyone just live their own truth attitude.

Ross: “You do you”, absolutely, that’s it. And I think there’s an openness to spirituality like that, you know, whether it’s Hinduism, Buddhism, or whatever blend someone puts together. I think there’s an openness but also a spirituality deficit there. But I don’t know if people, maybe they do privately, but I don’t know if people necessarily see that thing that’s missing or that bit of their life that they don’t feel connected to as anything other than, well, I’ll go and read a self-help book and I’ll start daily gratitude and I’ll meditate and I’ll go on long walks or stuff – all just self help really.

So I think that’s kind of sprung from a modernistic, materialistic view of the world that doesn’t fulfil all my needs. People adopt a kind of pseudo-spirituality while accepting that materialism in the sciences is also correct. There is no God, but I need to be in touch with nature in some sort of way.

Steve: Yeah, that is definitely the more prevalent kind of attitude generally speaking. But obviously Christianity, and the Christian worldview that arises from the Bible, makes pretty absolute claims. Claims that there is a God, a personable being who is all-powerful, who created ah the world, who created us  to be special, and then himself entered into the world in the person of Jesus Christ, and then died by crucifixion and on the third day rose from the dead. All outlined in the biographies of his life in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). And along with that comes the possibility for us to be reconciled to God.

Now, I think that’s that that’s an amazing message of hope that we want the world to hear. But I think that this is maybe where people might stumble. It’s the absolute truth claims that if this is true, then by necessity, everything else isn’t true. And it means, as Jesus himself said, “I’m the way, the truth, the life, no one comes to the Father but through me”. And if that’s true, then, well, there is just one way to God. But it’s a way that’s legitimately open to all who would come to God and trust in Him (John 3:16).

So, as scientists, we want to be looking to find the truth, and we follow the evidence where it leads without being swayed by ideologies and external pressures. We want to, as best we can, say that this is where the evidence leads – in whatever discipline that might be.

So, in your opinion, what is the best evidence for your Christian faith actually being true?

Ross: So, I suppose there are lots of ways to look at this. You could take a scientific argument. You could take a philosophical argument. You could take a sociological argument, a theological argument. There’s lots of ways.

I think I think for me personally, aside from pure science, the thing that holds the most sway, and I have come back to this again and again, is that any worldview has to account for: where we came from, why we as a why we are as we are, and is there a solution to the problem of how we are as we are?

Sure, there are other ideas about how it all got started, but I believe Christianity explains where everything came from better. I think there may be other views that explain why we are as we are – and anybody that is completely honest would have to accept that human history, while there has been scientific and technological progress, there still remain massive fundamental issues with us. You know, it’s not like Star Trek with the Federation, everybody living together in happiness. You know, we are still broken, there’s something wrong. And so I think there are several worldviews that get you to that point, but to me, Christianity is the only one that logically makes sense of that, because what Christianity says is, yes, I know where you came from. Yes, I know there is a problem. And the solution to this is not within yourself. And that has appealed to me as a doctor, because patients, if someone has cancer, you know, somebody has to cut that out. The patient is not able to do that themselves. The problem is within them. They know what the problem is, but an external entity needs to deal with that problem within them. And the failure of other worldviews to me is that their solution to our problems is we do better. Or we meet a standard, or if we can just give ourselves a leg up, if we can climb the hill better, we will be successful. Whether that is a scientific view or another world religion’s view. The main issue is you fix yourself, whereas what makes the most sense to me is that Christianity is the only worldview that acknowledges the problem but offers a solution independent of the people that have the problem.

And so that that’s probably my framework for resting in Christianity. When, as all Christians do, you maybe doubt something or you wonder what’s going on, that the fundamental explanation of how we got here, why we are as we are, can this be fixed, is only sorted within a Christian worldview.

Steve: I 100% agree. I think you’ve framed that really well. One last question for you: young Christians who are looking to get into the sciences can sometimes feel a bit of apprehension because they’ve heard this sort of rumour that you have to either switch your mind off, or that science and faith are enemies. What would you say as an encouragement to them?

Ross: I would say that if you love science, do something scientific. And some of my richest experiences as a Christian were sitting in in my first two years of medical school, learning about the body. And just like David says in the Psalms, “we are fearfully and wonderfully made”. I think if you enter it with a sense of worship, then it will blow your mind what God has done. And I think it’s important to remember that some of the greatest scientific discoveries in our lifetime and lifetimes before having come from people who are seeking to worship God. I am confident that the Bible is defendable, that our worldview is defendable. And when I say defendable, I believe I can give a legitimate reason for everything I believe. That does not mean that people will believe that, that’s a different thing, because that is where they have to take faith and ownership of things themselves. But it is based on evidence and reason, which we can readily defend.

So, I don’t I don’t think anybody should be afraid of entering the sciences. I think you have to be aware that you’re if you are a Christian, that that will be challenged and that will either make or break you in that sense. But I think you can be refined and strengthened in trial. And I think if you enter it with a heart of worship then God will enrich your knowledge of Him by finding more and more things out because we are designed to do that. We’re designed to work things out and that’s how God made us. It’s an absolute joy to work things out and understand how something is designed. And if you have questions there’s great access Christians have to resources to navigate them. Organisations like Solas, philosophers like William Lane Craig, Discovery Institute and the like. We shouldn’t be afraid of philosophy, we shouldn’t be afraid of biology, we shouldn’t be afraid of physics, we certainly shouldn’t be afraid of chemistry or genetics, and Christianity is called to be in the public sphere. The Apostle Peter, in 1 Peter 3, calls us to give a defence and give an answer for what we believe.

Steve:  Very good. I love that, thank you. I feel like we could keep going because I’m just loving chatting to you, but sadly that’s all that we have time for.  It’s been really fascinating to speak with you, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us.

Ross: No worries, Steve. Have a good day, my friend.

Andy Bannister’s Keswick Sessions

by Editor

The Keswick Convention celebrated its 150th year in 2025, and it was a great joy for us to travel to the beautiful English Lakes so that Andy Bannister could lead the morniing seminar track on evangelism in “Week 2”. All the sessions were filmed, so if you were there and want’ to recap what was said, or you missed it live, Keswick Ministries have put all the content on their YouTube Channel. 

Alongside these main sessions we also got to preach in local churches, lead a meeting for Cumbrian pastors, speak at the student/young adult night and appear on the Premier Radio live from Keswick programme with John Pantry. It was quite a week! We managed to get to some of the evening celebrations and especially enjoyed Tim Chester’s exposition of Colossians – all of which yu can also find on the Keswick YouTube channel!

Amazingly Keswick don’t charge for admission, and this year saw bumper crowds. As we left on the last day of week 2, they mentioned that even more people were expected in week 3 – and we wondered where they would put them all! Andy has been to Keswick before, but the convention was all new to me- and I was really impressed. It was a joy to be part of it.