The rich get richer – but what's Jesus got to do with it?
November 14th, 2017
We all know that the world is a very unequal place. Anyone reading this is probably not doing too badly, but billions struggle to make a living. But you may not be aware that, by some measures at least, inequality is increasing.
Moving beyond the Reformation: grace, faith and works
November 5th, 2017
One of Martin Luther’s most important arguments with the Catholic Church was his belief that salvation is “the free gift of God’s grace through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin” (Wikipedia). This belief has formed the basis of Protestantism for 5 centuries, and his protest possibly assisted the Catholic Church to […]
500 years later – a new reformation
October 30th, 2017
This post is a revised version of my 2014 post The new Reformation. Martin Luther is examined for heresy. 500 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door, and, it is often said, began the Protestant Reformation. 40 years ago I came to the conclusion that the church in the […]
Indoctrination or exploration?
October 5th, 2017
I was looking today at the notes prepared by a church for their Bible study groups, and I had a minor epiphany. Really minor, but I thought worth sharing.
The glory of God
September 26th, 2017
Why did God create the universe, and human beings in it? A common christian answer is that he did it for his glory. But I’m not so sure.
Did the exodus really happen?
September 12th, 2017
The exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their travel to the Promised Land is one of the key events in Jewish religious history, and, therefore, in christian belief as well. But did it actually happen? Did something like 2 million people cross the Red Sea and through the Sinai, aided and guided by miraculous […]
Self-giving love and the New Testament
September 3rd, 2017
As a young christian I was told that the love God has for us, and the love he wants us to have for others, is a self-giving love, for which the New Testament writers used the Greek word agape. This understanding was reinforced by reading the CS Lewis book, The Four Loves, which spoke about […]
Colonialism, war and selective memory
August 21st, 2017
Photo: Slaves Waiting to be sold in Richmond, Virginia, painted in 1861 from an 1853 sketch. Wikipedia. The world has changed enormously in my lifetime. One thing that I never knew as a child but which seems to characterise the present age, is international terrorism. Terrorism, via car bomb, motor vehicle driven into crowds, gun […]
Christians and homosexuality – is there a peaceful way forward?
August 10th, 2017
Difficult issues series This has been perhaps the most difficult post I have written. I’ve avoided writing about this issue because it is so divisive, and because I wasn’t sure I had anything worthwhile to say. But while I don’t pretend to have a solution to the argument between the traditionalists and the progressives, I […]
It was kind of amusing and revealing at the same time
July 29th, 2017
The church I attend is part of a denomination which, based on the teachings of Paul, doesn’t allow women to be the senior minister in a congregation or to preach to a mixed gender audience. A few weeks back a young woman, bare-headed and wearing casual clothes, led the prayers in the Saturday evening service […]
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.