Worrying you can’t believe in the Old Testament any more
(September 16, 2020)A conversation about how it feels to question the Old Testament while continuing to believe in Jesus.
Tag: God
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.
Letting the Bible be what it is, not what we would like it to be
(June 9, 2018)Believing the Bible is what it appears to be rather than what we may want it to be solves a lot of problems.
Jesus the social and religious radical – 5 lessons from a dishonourable encounter
(February 25, 2018)The facts about Jesus are clearly stated in the gospels, and they don’t change, but people have so many different understandings of him. The Catholic Jesus or Orthodox Jesus is not the same as the evangelical Protestant Jesus, or the Jesus of liberal Protestant theologians. I think there is probably some truth in all portraits, […]
Book review: Disarming Scripture
(December 14, 2017)Disarming Scripture by Derek Flood The Old Testament world was a violent place. For a christian, the most troubling violence is surely that said to be commanded by God, whether it be Abraham being commanded to sacrifice his son and heir Isaac, Joshua commanded to exterminate Canaanites who are unfortunate enough to be living in […]
Moving beyond the Reformation: grace, faith and works
(November 5, 2017)One of Martin Luther’s most important arguments with the Catholic Church was his belief that salvation is “the free gift of God’s grace through the believer’s faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer from sin” (Wikipedia). This belief has formed the basis of Protestantism for 5 centuries, and his protest possibly assisted the Catholic Church to […]
500 years later – a new reformation
(October 30, 2017)This post is a revised version of my 2014 post The new Reformation. Martin Luther is examined for heresy. 500 years ago, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the Wittenberg church door, and, it is often said, began the Protestant Reformation. 40 years ago I came to the conclusion that the church in the […]
The glory of God
(September 26, 2017)Why did God create the universe, and human beings in it? A common christian answer is that he did it for his glory. But I’m not so sure.
Self-giving love and the New Testament
(September 3, 2017)As a young christian I was told that the love God has for us, and the love he wants us to have for others, is a self-giving love, for which the New Testament writers used the Greek word agape. This understanding was reinforced by reading the CS Lewis book, The Four Loves, which spoke about […]
"The light given" – does it make sense?
(May 7, 2017)My (internet) friend Nate has a blog, Finding Truth which I regularly read. We disagree profoundly because Nate is an atheist and former christian, while I still follow Jesus. So we cross swords occasionally, often disagreeing (amicably) with the approach the other takes to questions, evidence and arguments. He is gracious enough to welcome my […]