Tag: Bible interpretation

Helpful advice for both conservative and progressive Christians
(May 11, 2025)

Let’s not pretend we think like ancient Israelites Last post I suggested that we cannot read the Bible like we would read a modern science or history textbook. They thought differently back then and they certainly wrote differently. Modern western writing on these topics tends to be pragmatic, factual, literal, but the Bible authors didn’t […]

Reading the Bible sensibly
(April 7, 2025)

The Bible isn’t always an easy book to read and understand. Here are 7 suggestions to help read it sensibly.

Who decided what’s in the Bible?
(March 10, 2025)

How did the Bible come to us? Who wrote it? Whe decided what’s in it and what’s not?

Reading the Bible in the 21st century
(February 19, 2025)

This website is all about understanding and following Jesus in the 21st century. How can we make sense of a religion that started two millennia ago? For many of us, this requires reviewing and maybe reconstructing what we have been taught, to make sense in a world completely different to when Jesus lived. Perhaps the […]

Christians and transgender
(January 31, 2025)

Christians seem to have a special interest in, and criticism of, transgender and non-binary people. Is this justified? Is it helpful?

Books: understand the Old Testament
(January 8, 2025)

I’ve been a Christian believer for more than 60 years, and through the first 40-50 years, the Old Testament really bothered me. I didn’t know how to understand it. I couldn’t really believe the stories of Adam & Eve and Noah’s Ark were literally factual. I was troubled by a loving God apparently ordering cruel […]

No place for spiritual misfits?
(October 31, 2024)

Are you a spiritual misfit? Have you started to feel like church is a foreign country where you don’t speak the language? Christian teachings that you once accepted now seem beyond belief? Can’t relate any more to some of the things other Christians do? Do you feel alone? Then you’ll be glad to hear you’re […]

The curse of Ham?
(May 6, 2024)

If ever there was a case of dishonest and ungodly Bible interpretation, the curse of Ham is surely it!

Thinking about the Bible: a conversation between friends
(April 29, 2024)

It’s easy to feel puzzled by the Old Testament. Are the stories really true? Did God really command such killing? Join a conversation that explores these questions.

Does Jesus want action more than belief?
(February 21, 2024)

What is the core of Jesus’ life and teachings, the atonement or the Sermon on the Mount? Perhaps they both are central?