Paul Maxwell, former contributor to John Piper's hugely popular apologetics website Desiring God, has announced he is no longer a Christian. 

Maxwell has a PhD in philosophy from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is a former professor of philosophy at the Moody Bible Institute. He currently works for Tithe.ly, a church tithing app. 

He wrote dozens of articles for Desiring God between 2014 and 2017, many of them on dating, relationships and issues affecting Christian men. 

But in an emotional Instagram Stories video, he revealed that he is no longer a Christian. 

In the video, he fought back tears as he told his friends and followers that he is happy and contemplating his next step.

"What I really miss is connection with people," he said.

"What I've discovered is that I'm ready to connect again. And I'm kind of ready not to be angry anymore. I love you guys, and I love all the friendships and support I've built here.

"And I think it's important to say that I'm just not a Christian anymore, and it feels really good. I'm really happy.

"I can't wait to discover what kind of connection I can have with all of you beautiful people as I try to figure out what's next.

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"I love you guys. I'm in a really good spot. Probably the best spot of my life. I'm so full of joy for the first time. I love my life."

He also revealed that some people had told him he's going to go Hell now, but he added that he's not angry with them. 

"I just say, 'I know that you love me.' I know, and I receive it as love," he said.

"I know you care about the eternal state of my soul and you pushed through the social awkwardness of telling me this because you don't want me to suffer. And that is a good thing. That's a loving thing to do.

"And I hear where you're coming from, and I respect your perspective."

A number of high profile Christians have given up the faith in the last few years, including I Kissed Dating Goodbye author Joshua Harris, Hillsong worship leader Marty Sampson, and more recently Hawk Nelson frontman Jon Steingard. 

When Harris left the faith, he said: "Many people tell me that there is a different way to practise faith and I want to remain open to this, but I'm not there now."

In 2019, Sampson wrestled publicly with his Christian faith before shocking the global church with his decision to call it quits. 

"It was amazing being one of you, but I'm not any more," he said at the time. 

"I love you all, and I always will. I won't forget how much I love Christians, even if they don't love me, I will always love you. Sorry for any bad words I have ever said about any of you. Forgive me. I love you all."

Steingard now describes his spirituality as "curious", and hosts a video discussion series on his Instagram page in which he discusses life, faith and Christianity. 

On Twitter, he recently posted: "I no longer call myself a Christian but I've never been more deeply fascinated by the Bible. Anyone else have this experience?"