I spoke to Tiana, who believes that there’s a part of us that continues as a spirit after death. In her family, they all believe that they regularly interact with the spirits of relatives who have died. As an example, she believes that her Nanna makes a particular rose bush bloom when her mum is having a rough season. She believes they can speak to the spirits of the dead relatives, and that they stick around to watch over the remaining family members and make sure they’re safe.

Tiana isn’t convinced either way about God, as she’s aware that she doesn’t have all knowledge and that there could be evidence for God within the stuff she doesn’t know. She admits that there are things (like creation) that science can’t explain, and equally there are things (like murderers and paedophiles) that the existence of a good, that don’t seem to fit with the idea of an all-powerful God.

I asked her what the main message of Christianity is and she said that good people go to Heaven and bad people go to hell. I asked her where the line was between ‘good’ people and ‘bad’ people and she said she’d love to know. I talked her through the Gospel, beginning with creation and the 10 commandments being the ‘line’ between a person who can get to heaven on their own merit and people who would end up in hell. I explained what the sacrifice of Jesus was and how it worked. She had never heard the Gospel explained like that before, despite having some Christian friends.

Near the end of the conversation, I asked her if she had any questions for Christians that she’d not been able to ask before. She asked why we think that sex outside of marriage and swearing are wrong. I explained these things from a Biblical perspective for her.

– Catherine W