Dale Hurd
Swedish Journalist Turned Atheist-to-Believer After Boarding the ‘Wrong Boat’ on the Sea of Galilee.
Ingrid Carlqvist built her career as an investigative reporter and editor at some of Sweden’s biggest news outlets. For 59 years she considered herself an atheist. In 2019, that changed.
The first push came when her Christian friend Henrik Hultberg recovered from a serious blood clot in his brain while hospitalized, a recovery he and others saw as miraculous. He urged her to become a believer. She told him she wanted to, but didn’t know how.
The turning point came in Israel, where Swedish Bible teacher Lars Enarson and his sister Ellen hosted her. At the Sea of Galilee, Carlqvist and Ellen followed a crowd onto a boat, assuming it was theirs. Passengers soon began singing English hymns. It was a cruise chartered by American Christians. Carlqvist, uneasy about not having paid, stayed aboard anyway.
When the pastor retold how Jesus walked on water and asked Peter why his faith was so small, Carlqvist says the words struck her deeply and she wept. Afterward she apologized to the pastor for boarding by mistake. He told her she had been on the right boat.
Back in Sweden, she began reading her Bible daily and enrolled in Bible college. Her earlier reporting had led critics to brand her an Islamophobe, and that reputation followed her. One church felt unwelcoming after members looked her up online. Pastor Sven Wiborn, who saw the same accusations, met with her instead and sensed a genuine longing for truth. He welcomed her.
On the way to her baptism, Carlqvist says she sensed God telling her to write about her journey and giving her the title: ‘Oh My God, Do You Really Exist?’ The book was released in Swedish last month, and she hopes to publish an English edition soon. Her mission is to reach what she calls “unhappy Swedes” who feel their lives lack meaning.
Source: CBN News (Dale Hurd)
