Merv Edmunds was a devout believer until he began deconstructing his faith in 2017. It was during the same-sex marriage debate, and he grew tired of the Christian lobby being so divisive, intolerant, confused and ultimately irrelevant. He lost his faith in the church, but retained his faith in the one whose name had been appropriated to mean all sorts of things the founder would never endorse.
He found himself asking; “Where did the church go so wrong?” A question that began a quest to understand the original followers of Jesus; what they believed, how they lived, and what enabled them to create a movement (despite dreadful persecution) that spread throughout the entire Mediterranean Basin. All without churches, no evangelism, no preachers, or even the bible. It has been an enlightening and inspiring journey.
What follows is a series of stories depicting the lives of early followers of Jesus set in first century Palestine. It is fiction. These people left no writings so the best one can do is use the limited source material available to propose a faith practice that was based upon what Jesus had taught them.
Hannah – a love story
Hannah and Eli
Eli and the Rabbi
Fellowship at the Master’s Table
Sophia
Rueben
Mother’s words
The White Horse
Samuel’s Homework
