August 25th, 2011
A long time ago I noticed that when Jesus and the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament, they did not always do it literally or accurately, but often used translations and interpretations that did not seem to be present in the original. I felt this was an important fact, so I researched the matter […]
August 19th, 2011
Christians want others to believe in Jesus, because we believe he is “the way, the truth and the life”. But why should they? Do we offer good reasons why we believe and why we think they should also?
August 13th, 2011
Earlier today, in God without religion?, I referenced a book which warns us that religion can lead to us getting “caught up in obeying Old Testament laws instead of experiencing New Testament freedom.” In a comment, Julie suggested otherwise: “The biggest problem with religion is that Christians can get caught up in experiencing New Testament […]
August 13th, 2011
A friend of mine (G’day T!) sent me this link to a new book called God Without Religion by Andrew Farley (he’s pastor of a church in Lubbock, Buddy Holly’s home town). I think it’s worth a look. Here are some quotes from the article:
August 10th, 2011
Hell is being discussed lately, as a result of Rob Bell’s book Love Wins. Some of the questions people are asking are “Should believers fear Hell – and God?” and “Without the threat of hell, would people be good?” It is good these questions are being asked, but I think they miss the point for […]
August 7th, 2011
Sometimes I think we forget. We make pronouncements about God. Philosophical ones like whether God lives in time, or whether something is wrong because God says so, or he says so because he knows it is wrong. Theological ones like whether God chooses who will be saved and who will not. Ethical ones like whether […]
August 5th, 2011
Lately I have been pondering two facts: The majority of world climate scientists believe the evidence shows that our climate is changing because of human activity, and, if allowed to continue unchecked, this will have disastrous consequences for hundreds of millions of people. Christians are well represented among those who are unwilling to accept these […]
July 30th, 2011
After my last post on Why sermons?, Felicity Dale from Simply Church offered more evidence on effective learning. It merits repeating.
July 27th, 2011
The sermon is generally the most important element of Protestant church services, but there are serious doubts about its effectiveness and Biblical basis.
July 22nd, 2011
Christians are sometimes accused of holding their beliefs on blind faith and not based on reason. While there may be some justification for this accusation in some cases, is it true generally? On what basis do we form our beliefs?
A list of all blog posts, in reverse chronological order, is on the Blog archive page.