Hell and the resurrection of the righteous
(August 21, 2021)The conventional christian view of hell is surely wrong. It isn’t taught in the Old Testament, nor in the New. And it wasn’t what Jesus taught.
Tag: doctrine
The church: irreconcilable differences?
(July 13, 2021)Recent books suggest the church is becoming irrevocably divided. Is it too late to do something about it?
Next steps along the Way?
(January 13, 2021)It’s easier to deconstruct faith, but harder to reconstruct. This book has some good ideas.
God became a baby – who can understand it?
(December 23, 2020)Christmas is about a baby and his mother. But there’s a lot more to think about than that, when we look for explanations.
Brad Jersak on God, love, atonement and life
(February 23, 2020)North American writer, teacher and theologian, Brad Jersak, was in Australia recently, and we were able to spend a day hearing him sharing his convictions about God and his love, Jesus and the atonement, and life. There was a lot to like and learn from, and some challenging ideas – all worth sharing with you.
Christianity, pluralism and truth
(November 2, 2019)This challenging book was published 7 years ago, but I hadn’t come across it until I found it in a pop-up bookshop selling off remaindered books. I thought it would have something interesting to say to me, and I was right. It raises some important issues and I think it is worth sharing where it […]
How evangelical doctrine and Biblical inerrancy can distort the Bible and Jesus
(August 1, 2019)Most christians have been taught to reverence the Bible. This has been especially true of Protestant christianity. The Reformation was built on the doctrine of sola scriptura (by scripture alone). And when conservative christianity felt threatened by evolution, liberal theology and modernist thinking in the 19th century, it developed a statement of “the fundamentals”, one […]
Losing my religion
(July 1, 2019)The word “religion” can have different meanings. At its simplest, it means “belief in and worship of God or gods” (Oxford Dictionary). But more precisely, religion is often seen as a designated set of beliefs and rituals by which people relate to a god. Thus religion (implying dogma and restrictions) is often contrasted to spirituality […]
Evangelical, Liberal and Progressive Christianity – three diverging paths
(June 16, 2019)There’s a lot of new, and sometimes scary, ideas flying around the christian scene these days. What are we to make of them?? Where is Protestant christianity heading? If you have doubts and questions about your form of christian belief, perhaps another form has something to offer. Check out a few ideas here.
Modern western evangelicalism – easy religion for comfortable christians?
(May 3, 2019)I’ve been thinking for a while about modern western evangelical christianity. Not what some people may see as the worst of this belief system – televangelists, conservative politics and a focus on sexual ethics – but the mainstream. My initial christian experience was in this culture and belief, and while I have moved on in […]