Three views on hell and judgment
May 11th, 2016
So far I have looked at two doctrinal issues in this series – Three different views of the Bible and three different ways to read it and Three different views of social justice and the gospel – and each time I have concluded that the truth lies between the two more polarised views. It probably […]
Three different views of social justice and the gospel
April 30th, 2016
What part do social justice and community welfare play in the church’s mission? Are they something different to the gospel, and not as important, or are they part of the gospel? There are several very different views on this.
Three different views of the Bible, and three different ways to read it
April 18th, 2016
Differences among christians We all know there are many, many matters on which christians hold different views. Many of them are merely matters of opinion and taste (though you would sometimes think they were highly important), but they include many important doctrines too. For many matters, there are a range of views, though often times […]
That sounds like a good idea!
April 8th, 2016
It seems to be a paradoxical fact that there are so many more people around in big cities, and yet people are lonelier. The crowds tend to isolate us rather than force us together. Smaller communities generally have a greater sense of, well, community. Yet some people are trying new ways to break this down.
Giving flowers, living in the opposite spirit
March 25th, 2016
Spiritual principles series Dealing with refugees is one of the most intractable problems facing governments across the western world. Not only is it difficult to control the number of people seeking asylum from crossing borders, but there is the fear that among the asylum seekers may be Taliban of DAESH fighters bent on suicide terrorism. […]
Walking wounded
March 11th, 2016
I must admit it jolted me a little. I was walking slowly through a local shopping centre when I was confronted with the sign shown above. 46 Australian soldiers have been killed on active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, since 1999. But more than 5 times that number of returned soldiers have committed suicide […]
Are you an extremist?
February 28th, 2016
The dictionary defines an extremist as “a person who holds extreme political or religious views, especially one who advocates illegal, violent, or other extreme action.” Search for photos tagged as “extremist” (as I did for this post) and the majority of the photos are of Americans protesting against their government, especially their President. The one […]
Climate report for 2015
February 17th, 2016
Christians tend to be conservative about climate change, but I think probably most now realise that climate change is happening, the world is indeed heating up, and this is causing some serious problems that will only get worse. So this report card on 2015 can be brief.
Faith vs works?
February 9th, 2016
Difficult issues series Last post I considered the apparent differences between the teachings and emphasis of Jesus and Paul. I concluded that the differences are sometimes exaggerated, sometimes understated, but we should avoid trying to make them say the same things, and instead try to learn from both. The issue of faith vs works is […]
A short rant
February 3rd, 2016
aka “a simple desultory philippic” a We interrupt this series on difficult questions for a short rant. Please move along quickly!
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.