Before anything else, it helps to ask what faith is. Everyone has faith in something. We all need something to hope in and something to strive for, a picture of the future that makes today worth getting up for.

For some people that is a political ideology. For others it is a philosophy, an economic system, a career, a company, a cause, or the idea that we can fix ourselves. All of these are ways of looking for meaning and purpose, and all of them ask for trust in something we cannot fully see yet.

The Bible describes faith in just those terms.

Now faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we do not see.

Hebrews 11:1

So the question is not whether you have faith. The question is where your faith is placed, and whether it can carry the weight you are putting on it.

Explaining Faith is my personal project: a place to study the Bible, to question, to ask and to seek. Most of all, it exists to share the gospel: what Christianity is really about, and why the cross stands at the center of it.

It is also Christian apologetics: giving a clear, honest reason for the faith. It makes the case for Jesus and for Christianity as God intended it, measured by what the Bible says, not by what people have made of it.

I use it in three ways, and you can too:

• Sharing the gospel in person, with the right verse and a clear answer close at hand.
• Talking with people who believe differently, checking the facts and answering with Scripture and evidence.
• Personal Bible study and devotion, to understand the Word and be changed by it.

It is not a finished institution. It is my own ongoing study, kept in the open. Whether you are a skeptic, a seeker or a believer, you are welcome on this road.

Most of us live inside some version of an echo chamber: a room where the same explanations get repeated so often they stop meaning anything. We follow what is familiar. We say the words from muscle memory, without thinking and without reasoning, and questioning starts to feel like disloyalty instead of what it actually is: honest thinking.

God named this long ago.

Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.”

Isaiah 29:13

I’ve seen that room from both directions — the wooden idol I grew up under, and later, a Bible study I chose to step into deliberately, not as a member but as an investigator, to actually understand how sincere, intelligent people end up defending teachings that don’t hold up against Scripture once you test them closely — the kind of high-control group that rarely announces itself as one from the inside. I wanted to know their mindset well enough to ask the right questions, not just dismiss them from a distance. For a few years, I worked alongside someone who had actually left that group, combining what he’d lived with what I’d studied, building resources meant to help others see clearly what’s easy to miss from inside.

That work taught me something bigger than any one group: we’re all shaped by conformity, by whatever social construct we happen to grow up inside, in ways that bend our own discernment before we ever notice it happening — mistaking what a room has repeated for what’s actually true, which is exactly how sincere people end up in genuine wars of doctrine, each side certain, neither side testing. It’s why I believe so strongly in knowing the actual foundation of what you believe, and testing everything against it — because not knowing is exactly what leaves a person vulnerable to being led somewhere they never meant to go. That work didn’t weaken my faith. It’s part of what made it strong enough to stand on.

Explaining Faith is my attempt to walk back out of that room, on purpose, again and again. To make the story new the way it actually is new, if you let yourself really look at it instead of just reciting it.

That is what revival means to me. Not a louder routine, and not a new religion, but waking up from conformity and coming back to our first love: seeing Jesus and the cross fresh, again and again.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Romans 12:2

Christianity is not first a set of rules or a culture to belong to. It is about a Person and what He did. At the cross, justice and mercy meet: sin is not ignored or excused, and yet sinners are forgiven, because Jesus carried what we owed.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:3–4

God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Corinthians 5:21

Everything on Explaining Faith points back here. Every study, every answer and every collection is meant to bring us back to the cross, and to see it fresh.

People have misused Christianity. Some have used the name of Jesus for power, money or personal gain. Some have twisted Bible teachings to fit what they already wanted. Even sincere believers fail and fall short. Those failures are real, they have hurt people, and they should never be excused.

But Christianity is not measured by the worst of its followers, or even by the best. It is measured by Jesus Christ and by what the Bible actually says, read in its context. Jesus Himself warned that not everyone who uses His name belongs to Him.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

Matthew 7:21

So on Explaining Faith, Scripture is the standard. When a teaching, a church, a leader, or even this site does not line up with the Word of God, the Word wins. That is what apologetics means here. The word comes from the “defense” Peter asks every believer to be ready to give. It is not about defending people. It is about giving a reason for the hope we have, and pointing everyone back to Jesus.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith,

Hebrews 12:2

God has always used what we can see to point to what we cannot. Scripture says His invisible qualities can be seen in what He has made, and Jesus taught with seeds, soil, sheep, bread and bridegrooms.

God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen

Romans 1:20

Explaining Faith follows that pattern. Its examples are not limited to religious words. They come from everyday life: politics, economics, companies and their policies, psychology, personality types and traits, nature, patterns and real events. Each one is a mirror, used to show a pattern or a mindset and then to ask one question: what does the Bible say about it?

These pictures do not take a side. Nothing here is meant to support or oppose any party, ideology or system. The same Word measures every one of them, including the ones we love.

But an illustration is only a picture. Think of a photo or a movie of a place. It can show you what the place looks like and make you want to go, but it is not the place. To really know it, you have to travel there and see it for yourself. Illustrations are the photo. The Word of God is the place. A picture can carry you across the gap in your understanding, like a bridge, but you cannot build your house on a bridge. Cross it, then stand on the Word itself, read in its context. If a picture here ever seems to say more than Scripture says, the Word wins.

The Word is also not an end in itself. Jesus told people who studied the Scriptures carefully that the Scriptures were pointing to Him.

You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

John 5:39–40

And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.

Luke 24:27

So the Word of God is His own testimony about Himself, and the goal of reading it is not to collect information but to come to Jesus. That means living in the Word, not just visiting it. This is where we are changed and rescued.

If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8:31–32

That is why you are invited to check everything, as the Bereans did, and not to take my word for it.

Sharing the gospel in person means talking with people who have real questions, and I do not know everything. Someone may ask about another religion’s teaching, a historical claim, a science objection, or what a certain verse means. If I have not looked at that topic before, I have three poor options: guess, change the subject, or repeat something I memorized without checking it. A guess can be wrong, and a wrong answer can close the door on the person I am talking to.

That is why I need a place to look things up. When I have the facts and the verses organized and ready, I can do what a good answer needs:

• Answer accurately, with the verse in front of me instead of from memory.
• Understand the other person’s view well enough to answer what they actually believe, not what I assume they believe.
• Say “let me check,” and come back with a real answer instead of a guess.

So Explaining Faith is where I do that work ahead of time, so that when the conversation comes, the gospel is shared with truth, patience and respect.

But the most important part of sharing is not the research. It is my own testimony. Facts and verses open the door, but a changed life is what people can actually see. I am meant to be a living illustration of what the cross does: a life that was lost and has been found, rescued and made new. When I talk about it, I want the joy to be real and the conviction to be heard, with life and soul in it, not a script recited from memory. People can tell the difference between someone repeating words and someone who has been changed by them, and that is what lets them connect.

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will declare what He has done for me.

Psalm 66:16

They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.

Revelation 12:11

But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15

Many of my conversations are with people who believe differently, or who carry a mindset shaped by where they grew up. Before I answer, I want to understand what they actually believe, in their own words. Every belief has a story behind it: the teaching that shaped it, the experiences that supported it, and the reasons a person holds on to it. If I do not understand those, I will end up answering a question nobody asked.

So I listen first. Listening is not agreeing, and it is not a tactic. It is respect. If I am sharing my faith, I would expect the other person to hear me out before they respond, and they deserve the same from me.

My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

James 1:19

He who answers a matter before he hears it— this is folly and disgrace to him.

Proverbs 18:13

In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you. For this is the essence of the Law and the Prophets.

Matthew 7:12

Here is how I try to walk through a conversation:

• Listen. Let the person explain what they believe and why, without interrupting or correcting.
• Ask. Ask honest questions to understand their reasons and what their teaching actually says, not to trap them.
• Discern. Afterward, check the claims, fact-check the history and test everything against Scripture, including my own understanding.
• Answer. Respond with Bible verses and evidence, not just my opinion, in a gentle and respectful way.
• Leave the door open. I am not trying to win an argument. People are not changed by being beaten in a debate, and the conversation can continue another day.

This also keeps me honest. I am not looking at the other person’s beliefs from a safe distance while treating my own as beyond question. I hold myself to the same test, and when I do not know something, I say so and go look. That is how a hard question becomes an open door instead of a wall.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

Colossians 4:6

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

Acts 17:11

Explaining Faith is not only for sharing the gospel with others. I use it for my own Bible study and devotion: to understand the Scripture better, to stay with a passage until it explains itself, and to let God’s Word read my life back to me.

The cross does not get old. When it starts to feel familiar, the problem is my eyes, not the story.

Because of the loving devotion of the LORD we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness!

Lamentations 3:22–23

It is easy to believe in God when life is going well. The harder question comes in the middle of suffering, grief, loss or a season when nothing makes sense. Do I still believe in Jesus then? Do I still trust Him when I walk through the fire, and not only when I walk in the sun?

Jesus never promised an easy life. He said the opposite, and He said it so that we would not lose heart.

I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!

John 16:33

Notice what He promises. It is not an escape from trouble but peace in Him, in the middle of it. And there is another danger that comes with comfort. When things go well, it is easy to drift. We lean on ourselves, our plans and our own strength, and Jesus slowly becomes a name we say instead of a person we depend on. Hard seasons strip that away and show us what we are really standing on.

This is where weakness becomes the doorway to strength. Jesus did not ask us to be strong enough on our own. He invites us to bring Him the weight.

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Letting go does not mean the pain disappears. It means I stop carrying it alone and let Jesus carry me through it. And I am not left without help. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to be with us, to remind us of what Jesus has said, and to give us His peace, which is not like the peace the world gives.

Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.

John 14:27

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.

Romans 8:26

Even when I have no words left, I am not alone. The faith that is tested and still holds is not louder or prouder. It is quieter, because it has learned where its strength comes from.

Explaining Faith is one road with one purpose, not three separate places. What you need decides where you stop.

Think biblically. Think critically. Test everything, including what’s written here, against Scripture itself — not one verse pulled out and made to fit, but the whole story, read in its own context, one continuous account running from Genesis to Revelation, not a shelf of quotable fragments.

I also believe the physical world was never separate from the spiritual one — that ordinary, tangible experience is how the invisible becomes something you can actually examine, not just feel. Paul says this directly: since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities have been clearly seen, understood through what He made (Romans 1:20). Grief is hard to describe until you compare it to something physical — a weight, a wound, a room gone quiet. Faith is hard to explain until you compare it to something you’ve actually done — trusting a chair to hold you before you sit, not after. So when you find analogies here — a courtroom, a diagnosis, a road, a system crashing — they’re not decoration meant to make theology easier to swallow. They’re the method itself: taking what’s subjective and personal — a feeling, an encounter, something true but hard to point to — and grounding it in something tangible enough to actually test, the way the visible world was built to make the invisible legible in the first place.

A lot of what passes for certainty is really just repetition — the same claim, heard enough times inside the same room, until questioning it starts to feel like betrayal instead of what it actually is: honest thinking. I don’t want this site to be one more version of that. I want it to be a place that keeps asking, out loud, instead of settling.

I didn’t inherit this faith. If you want to know the person behind Explaining Faith, my story is here, one season at a time.

Everything I have collected here, the research, the notes, the answers and the collections, is open for you to use. Use it to share the gospel in your own conversations. Use it to study the Bible for yourself. And test everything, including what is written here.

Wherever you are on the road, there is a place for you here: a Traveller who has just noticed something is wrong, an Explorer testing what you have been told, or an Overcomer who has found the way and turns back to walk with the next person.

but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21

I could have kept this for myself. It started as my own private study. But the whole point was never just to collect knowledge. It was to have it close at hand for the moment someone needs it. If it helps even one person in a real conversation, a hard season, or a search for answers, it was worth sharing.

I’ll keep it running for as long as I can afford it. That covers the website, the domain, and the creative tools I use to make the content. Life can be difficult, and some seasons I may be slow to add updates. That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped.

“Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.’”

James 4:15

Share the links, quote the articles, use the ideas. If something here helped you, a link back means a lot, because it tells me the research is useful.

It isn’t a lecture. It’s an adventure I’m still genuinely on, most days somewhere between still seeking and still learning how to stand firm — and it’s an open invitation if you want to walk part of it with me.

Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?

Psalm 85:6

• It is one road, and it is open to everyone. Skeptic, seeker or believer, you can step on it from wherever you are today, and you will probably come back to each part more than once.
• It is not a ladder to earn anything. It is a path of honest steps: notice, seek, and live it out. Jesus called Himself the way, the truth and the life, and the three stages follow that order.
• Two turning points mark the road. Humility moves you through the first and pride holds you back. Surrender moves you through the second and the need for control holds you back.
• Every stage leads to the same place: the cross, where the burden is left.
• Arriving is not the end. The one who has been changed is sent back to walk with the next person.

Pick the line that sounds most like you right now. Most of us are more than one, and nobody is graded.

• “Something feels wrong, and I’m not sure where to look.” You may be at the Signal, or at the start of the Traveller stage.
• “I believed once, but it’s gone flat.” You may be a Traveller who has gone lukewarm.
• “I’m testing what I was told and comparing the answers.” You are an Explorer.
• “I’ve made my choice, and I want to live it out.” You are walking as an Overcomer.

Somewhere along the way, almost everyone feels it: something is wrong. In the world, in people, in ourselves. A warning light on the dashboard can be ignored for a long time, but it is pointing at something real.

Often the light goes dim in a place we know well, the yellow-light city. It is the familiar room where the same words are repeated so often they stop meaning anything, and questioning them feels like disloyalty. God named this long ago.

These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.

Isaiah 29:13

The road starts the moment you notice the light and decide not to ignore it.

The Traveller is the one who sees that something is wrong. Along with that comes the need to get away from the artificial light of the city: conformity, routine, and the pressure and expectations a broken world demands. A Traveller can be a skeptic, a critic, a non-believer, or someone quietly watching from the back. They may still be moving with the routine and the scripts of the crowd, but they have started to wake up, like a person who finally admits there is a symptom.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Romans 12:2

The awakening often starts with a cry for help. It may not be put into words or even aimed at anyone, but something inside says this cannot be all there is. The Bible shows that God hears that cry.

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.

Psalm 107:6

The question a Traveller carries is simple: is there a way at all? Honest questions belong here: why would God exist, why is belief reasonable, why would a cross be needed, and “I need proof.” They deserve real answers, given with respect and not as slogans or pressure. Each road in starts from a real situation in life, not from religious language, and the message is not announced before the question has been felt. Scripture says to be ready to answer, and to do it the right way.

But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect.

1 Peter 3:15

Jesus gave the question its direction when He called Himself the way. This stage is only asking whether there is a path at all, and the next stages test it.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

John 14:6

The Traveller is also humble enough to listen. That means staying in the conversation without getting defensive and without already being sure of the answer. Listening is not the same as accepting, and nobody is pushed past that point. Each Traveller is met where they actually stand, at eye level, never talked down to. Listening is where honest thinking begins, and it is also what we hope others will do for us. Jesus described who He came for.

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Mark 2:17

Some Travellers have heard the gospel before and slowly gone flat, resting on an identity they inherited instead of a choice they own. Jesus describes that as lukewarm, and He does not walk away. He knocks again.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.

Revelation 3:20

God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

James 4:6

The Explorer is still a Traveller, now on the move: asking, knocking, looking for the physician and a second opinion. The Explorer is the one doing the examining. They test what they were told, the way a reporter checks a story before trusting it. They compare claims and measure everything against Scripture, read in its context. Nobody can make this decision for you, and a faith that has never been tested has never really been your own.

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

Acts 17:11

To see clearly, the Explorer often retreats to the wilderness, away from the noise of the city and the echo chamber. In solitude there is room to be still, to meditate, and to think without constant pressure. Jesus did this regularly, and after his own turning point Paul went into Arabia (Galatians 1:17).

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.

Psalm 46:10

Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.

Luke 5:16

The difference from the Traveller is not the subject, it is who is doing the examining. The Traveller is met with a case made for them. The Explorer takes the role of the examiner and weighs the claims personally, because a decision cannot be made by someone else’s finished verdict. That is why more evidence handed to you cannot make the turn for you. This is also where honest disagreement is faced: sincere readers land in different places on the same text, including what salvation requires, so every view is tested against Scripture in context. Studying a book of the Bible for its settled teaching is a different task from weighing competing interpretations of it. The first belongs to the Overcomer, the second to the Explorer.

but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:21

The Explorer is also learning what it costs to let go. This is more than collecting answers. It is releasing what you have been holding onto, and trusting the Holy Spirit to guide the process instead of finishing the search on your own. The place the search is heading for is the cross, where the record against us was dealt with.

having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

Colossians 2:14

This is the stage for facts, history, evidence and hard questions. It is a growing stage, with a hunger to learn and often excitement, with everything new and fresh. It is also a wilderness of preparation, and real doubt can come when life gets hard through trials or opposition. Doubt can pull an Explorer back toward the Traveller stage. That is part of the road, not the end of it. Underneath the questions, the Explorer is searching for one place: where the burden, the guilt and the record can be left for good.

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,

1 Peter 2:2

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

The Overcomer is not a label or a rank, and not someone who has collected enough information. It is a choice to follow Jesus as His disciple: to practice what you believe, live what you have learned, and share the gospel with others. Knowing about Jesus is not the same as walking with Him. Jesus said the one who hears His words and acts on them is the one who stands.

The Overcomer is still a Traveller and still an Explorer, so it is a daily practice and not a finished state. Repetition can make even real faith go numb, so the fresh eyes of the Explorer are still needed. This is where faith stops being words we repeat and becomes a life that others can see.

This is a daily, deliberate practice. The Overcomer puts on what has been given each day, and does not rely on strength gathered on their own. The fight starts in earnest after the burden has been left at the cross. Repetition can dull even real faith, so the fresh eyes of the Explorer keep waking the Overcomer up. And the road does not end here: the Overcomer is sent back to walk with the Traveller just starting out, with a lamp that is actually lit.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

Ephesians 6:10

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can make your stand against the devil’s schemes.

Ephesians 6:11

Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.

James 1:22

If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

John 8:31–32

If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

Luke 9:23

The road is not only for people who already call themselves Christians. It fits many walks of life, because it maps the human condition itself. To see it, think of someone struggling with an addiction who has nothing religious in mind at all. This is only an illustration. It is not about one kind of person, because every one of us has something we cannot fix by willpower alone.

• Traveller: admits there is a problem. That honest admission is already the first move, and it is why this stage is called the Traveller. The person has started to travel and is no longer standing still. In the human condition this is the moment we admit that something is broken in us and we cannot fix it ourselves. Turning point one is humility: being willing to be helped instead of saying “I can handle it myself.”
• Explorer: goes looking for help. They ask questions, compare options, talk with people who have been through it, and test what actually works. They do the examining and the deciding, because nobody can recover for them. In the human condition this is the search for the physician and for the real answer to what is wrong. Turning point two is surrender: giving up control and committing to the treatment.
• Overcomer: lives the recovery. This is application, not information. It is the daily practice, the support, the routines, learning from setbacks, and eventually helping the next person who is just starting. In the human condition this is living out what has been received, as a disciple who practices it.

An Overcomer is still a Traveller. Recovery is not a finished state, so the person keeps taking action every day and is still moving. A slip is a reason to get back on the road, not the end of it.

The Bible describes the same struggle, and the same cry for help, in plain words.

For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do.

Romans 7:19

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Romans 7:24

The picture is a map, and a map is not the standard. Rehab does not save anyone, and recovery is not how a person is made right with God. Scripture is the standard, and it shows a person who finally saw where he was and began to move.

I will get up and go back to my father

Luke 15:18

So he got up and went to his father.

Luke 15:20

Every stage points to the same place. Jesus is the center of the road and the end of it. At the cross, the debt we could not pay was cancelled. Everything else on this road, the evidence, the reasoning and the pictures, is meant to bring us here and to keep us seeing it fresh.

having canceled the debt ascribed to us in the decrees that stood against us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross!

Colossians 2:14

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14:6

Arriving was never the end. The one who has found the way is sent back to where the Traveller started, to walk beside someone who is just beginning. That makes the road a circle, not a ladder. This is where a personal testimony matters most: a changed life that people can see and a joy they can feel, not a script. You cannot lead anyone by a light you are not carrying.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Matthew 28:19

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:14

The stages describe how you are moving. These describe where you stand on Christianity today. They are two different questions, and everyone is welcome on this road.

All of this lives in one place. Depending on what you need, you use it in a different way.

In plain language:

You will find a lot of everyday pictures here: a car, a road, a warning light, a courtroom, even politics and economics. They are maps. They help you find your way and feel what an idea means, and like a bridge, they carry you across a gap in understanding. But a map is never the ground itself. Scripture is the territory, and it is the only real authority, because it is the Word that testifies about Jesus. So enjoy the pictures, then check them against the Bible. You can read more about this on the About page.

The simple man believes every word, but the prudent man watches his steps.

Proverbs 14:15

Explaining Faith is my personal library, a side project I call Everssey. For decades I have been collecting and curating my Bible study, resources, collections, research and notes. Now I am piecing everything together in one place, and making it digital and interactive so it is easier to search, connect and use.

It is the space where I question everything. It is also my comfort in hard times and struggles, and where I go to search for answers. I am sharing it in case it helps you too, on your own journey, and as a way to share the gospel, which is how I use it myself.

It has three sections, each with its own purpose. This page shows how they are laid out and how to move between them.

• Journal is for reading and study: everyday life connected to the one story of Scripture.
• Compass is for questions and answers: what Scripture says, the objections and other views, and the facts and data behind them.
• Collections is for exploring other voices, videos and commentaries, with notes and discernment.

Pick one to see what it is for and when to use it.

Explaining Faith works best next to a real conversation. Here is how I use it.

• Before. Open the profile of their faith or worldview in Compass. See how they understand salvation, the world and the future, and what they have probably been taught about Jesus.
• During. Ask first, then answer. Use the questions to ask and the common questions they may ask you, each with Scripture and evidence. Listen first, and meet them at eye level, the way you would want to be heard.
• After. Send them something to read or watch: a Journal article that tells the story in everyday words, or a video from Collections that explains it well.
• Keep walking. One conversation is rarely the end. Come back, keep asking, and keep walking together. That is the road that loops.

It is one library with three sections, so wherever you are, there is a way to the next thing.

• It works like a library. You should be able to find a file quickly and see what it says: a faith profile, a question, a report or a case.
• You always see where you came from. Each level has a “back to” button, so going from a topic to a question and back is simple.
• Quick links stay close. On a phone you should not have to open the menu to move around.
• Links go both ways. The Journal points to Compass for facts and to Collections for other voices. Compass points to Journal articles and Collections as guides on a topic. Collections points back to both.
• One About and one FAQ. They live in one place, and everything else links to them, so there is one story and one set of answers.
• The same look everywhere, and made to fit desktop, tablet and phone.

Each type of reader has a different first stop. These are not stages on the road. They describe where you stand when you arrive.

• Skeptic. Start in Compass, with the evidence and both sides.
• Seeker. Start with the Journal’s Prologue, “The World We Live In.”
• Believer. Start with what you are facing, or a faith you want to understand, in Compass.

Separately, the road has three ways of moving: Traveller, Explorer and Overcomer. A skeptic, a seeker or a believer can be on any of them. You can read about them on The Traveller’s Road.

Everything is checked against Scripture, read in its context. Facts about other faiths start with what the group itself teaches, then what researchers and the news report. Every faith gets the same fair test, Christianity included. Each claim carries a label, so you can see where it came from.

Quotes from the Bible use the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Illustrations are only a way to explain, and Scripture is always the standard.

I research carefully, but I am one person, so mistakes and outdated information can happen. Read what is here, then check it for yourself. Read the whole passage, and ask who it was written to and why. The Bereans did not even take the apostle Paul’s word for it.

Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.

Acts 17:11

The simple man believes every word, but the prudent man watches his steps.

Proverbs 14:15