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 […]
Francis Chan: Giving it all away?
July 13th, 2017
Francis Chan was just a name to me. He was a famous and respected megachurch pastor, speaker and author, but although I had heard his name, I knew nothing more. In 2010 he did the unthinkable, and resigned from the leadership of “his” 5,000 strong megachurch in California, but I remained oblivious – you can’t […]
Do normal people take risks for Jesus?
July 2nd, 2017
I am currently re-reading Chasing the Dragon, Jackie Pullinger’s remarkable story of “life and death in Kowloon Walled City”. It tells how the lives of thousands of poor and addicted Hong Kong residents were dramatically changed as they were miraculously healed of heroin addiction. It also speaks to me of how God can use an […]
Is this how to mature as a christian?
June 18th, 2017
How do people mature? Does it just happen automatically as we grow, or are there things we can do to aid maturity? And do christians mature in any different way from other people?
When are they going to start teaching ministers how to communicate?
June 2nd, 2017
Christianity is all about helping people change their minds and behaviour, right? We want to see people choosing to follow Jesus, then growing in their understanding of what that means and how they can follow him better. Don’t we? So why are we still using approaches that have been shown to be very ineffective?
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.