Jesus vs Paul?
January 22nd, 2016
Difficult issues series It doesn’t take a lot of reading in the New Testament before you notice that Paul seems to have a different emphasis to Jesus. Can we learn something from these apparent differences?
After the gospels, one of the best (and shortest) books you'll read about Jesus
January 14th, 2016
You wouldn’t even try to count the number of books written about Jesus. Most of them would have value, I guess, but some are long and scholarly, others lack a good historical basis. But here’s one that is short, written by a respected historian and is encouraging to faith. What’s not to like? It is […]
The shocking behaviour of God!
January 10th, 2016
Spiritual principles series We don’t know much about the prophet Habakkuk, but he probably lived around 600 BCE when the Babylonians were becoming powerful and a threat to Jerusalem. Habakkuk is shocked by the violence around him, and asks God how long he will tolerate it. He gets a shocking and surprising answer, but one […]
A "revelation of God’s true nature"?
December 29th, 2015
I concluded my previous post on DNA and evolution with this comment: “DNA is fundamental to all life. As christians we can see it as part of the way God has set up the universe. So we should be willing and interested to learn what it tells us about life. I think what we learn […]
DNA – a challenge to believers and unbelievers
December 20th, 2015
Difficult Issues series I have been researching family history for several years now, and have recently had my DNA tested to identify possible genetic matches – people who are related to me, perhaps as distant as 5th cousins – to try to make some breakthroughs in a difficult search. This has opened up an interesting […]
Why did Jesus have to die?
December 9th, 2015
Difficult issues series It is one of the most central teachings of christianity that Jesus died to save us from our sins. But it has come under scrutiny in recent years – from believers, who want to understand and explain it better, and from non-believers who attack it as barbaric and illogical. There are many […]
We came, we marched, who cares?
December 1st, 2015
So, about 40,000 of us “marched” (I was more like strolling on a warm afternoon!) in Sydney; many, many more around the world. The march was loosely organised around colour groups – Australia’s first nations peoples at the start, mostly in black, then a large contingent of Pacific Islanders (who are already feeling the effects) […]
Creation Care – the next crucial step
November 26th, 2015
The world does appear to be changing. For years, the scientists have been warning of global warming. The majority of people, in western countries at least, have accepted that our actions were causing a real problem, but few governments were willing to do much about it. But the problems are becoming more obvious, the alternative […]
I remember when the world was very different
November 18th, 2015
This is an adapted re-blog from Is there a God? I’m not sure if I was a normal boy, but I always loved maps. So one of my favourite books was the Oxford University World Atlas. I loved it because of the diversity of its maps – it even included details on the solar system […]
Conserving the old vs welcoming the new
November 8th, 2015
Difficult issues series Christians are often seen as conservative – about their beliefs, about politics and about ethics. The old joke asks “How many christians does it take to change a light bulb?” And of course the answer is: “Change???” So how do we know when to hold on to what we’ve got, and when […]
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.