Category: Doctrine

Prayer is power sharing?

I’m currently reading Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard, and I found this quote: “Prayer is God’s arrangement for a safe power sharing with us in his intention to bless the world through us.” I like this, because it touches on a number of important things.

Burned at the stake?

The stories keep on appearing – there’s definitely something happening here. This time it’s the story of a keen mission-minded christian who was condemned by the ‘doctrine police’ for questioning a few of the less important doctrines of some sections of the church. So he left the church, to serve God in other ways. Read […]

Does New Testament freedom lead to permissiveness?

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 […]

God without religion?

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:

Fear vs love

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 […]

God is a great big alien being

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 […]

Hell and Rob Bell

If you’ve spent any time on the internet this year, you probably know that Rob Bell is a much-loved and much vilified US pastor whose latest book Love Wins has caused a great deal of comment and even anger. The cause of the anger is many commentators’ fears that Bell has subtly espoused a doctrine […]