Is Bible inerrancy a key doctrine for christians?

July 30th, 2015

Difficult issues series The inerrancy of the Bible has become a divisive doctrine in recent years. Many churches and colleges, in the US in particular, treat this as a “make or break” doctrine, lecturers have been sacked for denying it, and accusations are made against those who hold a different view. At the same time, […]

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Did Jesus endorse a centurion's gay relationship?

July 19th, 2015

Difficult issues series This one’s been around for a while, but I hadn’t seen it until recently, so maybe you haven’t either. When Jesus healed a centurion’s servant in Matthew 8:5-13 & Luke 7:1-10, the Greek word pais is used and translated as “servant”. The word pais had several meanings, including young boy or son, […]

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Learning from an atheist

July 10th, 2015

Apologetics series Many atheists have alleged that great harm has been done by religion, christianity in particular. Even if they have overstated their case, we can, and must, still learn from their criticisms. And if the analysis is fair, we have all the more reason to listen and repent. Keith Parsons is a US philosopher […]

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If God knows everything, why pray?

June 30th, 2015

Spiritual Principles series There are several different types of prayer – several different types of conversations we may have with God, if you like to look at it that way. Sometimes we need to ask for forgiveness, sometimes we want to thank him or tell him we love him, sometimes we just want to meditate […]

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They'll know we are christians by our love?

June 24th, 2015

It seems to be oh so easy for us christians to get it wrong and misrepresent God. I’ve done it myself many times. But it must displease God to be represented so badly on earth, and it is harming the mission Jesus left us. It is worth thinking about what we are going to do […]

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No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord’?

June 17th, 2015

I was reading an article today by a christian minister who I respect, and he said: “Christians gather in order to listen to the Scriptures being read, and to the gospel being proclaimed.” It made me think ….. Why?

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Does religion do you harm or good?

June 11th, 2015

Famous atheists have said that religion is harmful to the believer and to society. Religious belief is “poisonous”, making believers “delusional” and anti-social. And internet sceptics have followed them in repeating the allegations until they have some sort of authority. These accusations may trouble some christians. But the thing is, the scientific evidence shows otherwise. […]

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Finding Truth

June 2nd, 2015

I had never heard of this book or its author until a friend bought it for me as a present. (Thanks S!) But it proved to be a really worthwhile read.

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Sometimes we need to be reminded

May 28th, 2015

God cares about the poor, the suffering and the victimised. I don’t know why he made a world where so many suffer, but I do know he expects his people to do something about it – to ease the pain and to bring justice to the systems that cause the pain. Sometimes we forget. But […]

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Face to face with the Old Testament

May 22nd, 2015

The Old Testament presents a number of problems for many christians. We are taught it is the inspired Word of God, yet it contains many things we find difficult – Genesis 1-3 is contradicted by evolution, God commands his people to invade and kill, and there are some strange events that are hard to swallow […]

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A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.