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Seven days, seven questions

If you’re curious about faith, here is one question a day for a week, a few minutes each. You don’t need to believe anything to start, and you can stop whenever you like.

Day 1 · about 6 minutes

Is there a God?

Start with the biggest one. Nobody can prove it either way, and this page doesn’t pretend to.

Read: Is there a God? 4 min ›

Today, try this

Notice one thing today that makes you stop: a sky, a kindness, a child’s question. You don’t have to decide what it means.

Day 2 · about 4 minutes

Who is Jesus?

What historians agree on, and what Christians add.

Read: Who is Jesus? 2 min ›

Today, try this

Read one short story he told. Who does the shepherd go looking for?

Read Luke 15:1–7

1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. 2 The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” 3 He told them this parable. 4 “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? 5 When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7 I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

Day 3 · about 4 minutes

Why do people believe it?

Not because it can be proved.

Read: Why do people believe it? 2 min ›

Today, try this

When Nathanael doubted, his friend didn’t argue. He said, “Come and see.” Read how it went.

Read John 1:43–51

43 On the next day, he was determined to go out into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I told you, ‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these!” 51 He said to him, “Most certainly, I tell you all, hereafter you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

Day 4 · about 7 minutes

Why does God allow suffering?

No tidy answer, and the Bible doesn’t pretend to have one.

Read: Why does God allow suffering? 5 min ›

Today, try this

If someone you know is hurting, send them one line today. You don’t need the right words.

Day 5 · about 4 minutes

What would it ask of me?

Nothing you have to earn first. Christians call it grace.

Read: What would it ask of me? 2 min ›

Today, try this

Read about Zacchaeus. Notice what Jesus does before Zacchaeus has changed anything.

Read Luke 19:1–10

1 He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2 There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. 4 He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. 7 When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

Day 7 · about 6 minutes

Would I be welcome? How does someone start?

Jesus never turned anyone away. And starting is simpler than people think.

Read: Would I be welcome at church? 4 min ›

Today, try this

Come and see, when you’re ready: read this Sunday’s Gospel, or find a church nearby and sit near the back. Or not yet. The door stays open.

How does someone start?

After the seven days

There is no test at the end. If you want to keep going:

Written by Digital Lutheran Church, a small, free website from the nonprofit Hope for Americans, in the tradition of the ELCA. Bible passages are from the World English Bible.