On the cross, Jesus did not cry out “Here I come!” but “My God, why have you forsaken me?” Julia Baird picked up her pen this week to explore the connection between faith and doubt in the New York Times. It wasn’t overly controversial, just that faith and doubt are not mutually exclusive ideas. Faith, she says, is persistence in the face of doubt. “If we don’t accept both the commonality and importance of doubt, we don’t allow for the possibility of mistakes or misjudgments. While certainty frequently calcifies into rigidity, intolerance and self-righteousness, doubt can deepen, clarify and explain.” Read her piece here.

The rock moved. Or did it? Peter Enns writes about the “aha” moment he realised that in 1 Corinthians 10:4 Paul says that the rock “accompanied” the Israelites in the desert. Did the rock move? You can read Peter’s reflection here.

Let’s talk about sex the way we talk about rape. Rape is unthinkable, writes blogger Chris Bransdon. We all agree. But why should the inverse not be true? Why do we refuse to talk about sex as though it has any real value? “If sex is so meaningless, if it is nothing more than an ‘act’ and only requires ‘consent’ then why is rape so damning? It is utterly disproportionate. If we gave the same weight and meaning to sex as we did the horror of rape, the tone of the ‘awkward conversation’ would change completely.” Read Chris’ thoughts here.

Losing faith can damage the body and the soul. Research out of the US has shown that “deconversion” (or leaving religion) can cause increased anxiety and isolation. “It’s hard to unlearn the concept of hell”. You can make up your own mind here.