Hillsong worship leader Marty Sampson announced several days ago that he’s “genuinely losing” his faith. He afterward clarified, though, that he hasn’t renounced Christianity; rather, his faith is on “incredibly shaky ground.”
Sampson reached out to the Christian Post in response to an op-ed by Dr. Michael Brown in which Brown said he was praying for Sampson to “seek the truth earnestly, with humility and passion.”
Sampson, one of Hillsong United’s original worship leaders, told CP that he does want his questions answered, but he’s “struggling with many parts of the belief system that seem so incoherent with common human morality.”
He continued:
“I have and continue to analyze the arguments of prominent Christian apologists and biblical scholars, and am open-minded enough to consider the arguments of atheist debaters and debaters from other religions,” he continued. “If the truth is true, it will remain so regardless of my understanding of it. If I search it out, surely it will become even more clearly seen as the truth that it is. Examining a diamond more closely reveals the quality of the diamond. As I am still breathing, I am still learning.”
Sampson also explained that his thoughts do not in any way represent Hillsong’s or any other church’s beliefs but instead are his own. He says he has only received support and “the opportunity to follow [his] own mind” at Hillsong.
“They have always taught what I perceive to be sound Pentecostal doctrine,” he says.
Sampson made headlines with his since-deleted Instagram post in which he said the more he thinks about it, the more Christianity seems like every other religion:
“Christians can be some of the most [judgmental] people on the planet—they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people … but it’s not for me. I am not in any more. I want genuine truth. Not the ‘I just believe it’ kind of truth. Science keeps piercing the truth of every religion. Lots of things help people change their lives, not just one version of God.”
Sampson also points to apparent contradictions in the Bible and the church as a reason for his doubts.
“How many preachers fall?” he asked. “Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen? Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send 4 billion people to a place, all coz [sic] they don’t believe? No one talks about it.”
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