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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Difficult issues series On the first Counting Crows album, Adam Duritz sang about Maria, who said she was “close to understanding Jesus”. But I can’t help feeling that modern western christianity has covered Jesus in layers of theology and convenience, and is close to misunderstanding Jesus. If you think that’s harsh, please read on.
Book review I wonder what comes into your mind when you read the word “Anabaptist”? Or the word “Mennonite”? Perhaps, like me until a few years ago, you might remember these words from the time of the Reformation, when Anabaptists were a loose collection of idealistic “fringe” christians persecuted by Catholics and Protestants alike for […]
Difficult issues series Last post (Why the fuss about evolution?) we looked at how the science of biological evolution impacts on christianity. We saw that the DNA evidence indicates that there was never a single Adam and Eve style couple as the ancestors of the human race. This then raises the interesting question – who […]
Difficult issues series When Darwin published his On the Origin of Species in 1859 it provoked a range of reactions from christians and from scientists too. Many christians were quite comfortable with the idea of evolution (though many others were not), and it wasn’t until about 60 years later that the more ‘hardline’ christian opposition […]
In the west we generally live in post-christian societies. Although the majority of people in many countries may list their religion as “christian”, weekly church attendance is down around 5-15% in many countries, and somewhere around 30% in the US. It seems that in many cases, churches haven’t really adjusted to the end of Christendom […]