Last week (Close to understanding Jesus?) I outlined how I came to see that much of the evangelical teaching I had received about Jesus didn’t really explain Jesus and his ministry in accurate terms historically. It seems that many people are coming to similar conclusions, for example New Testament scholar NT Wright and the philosopher, […]
Eva, a fellow Aussie who blogs as The Aspirational Agnostic asked me to write a guest post, and so I tried something different – three short, short stories under the title There is love. You may like to check it out.
One day, when I was a young christian, I had a surprising thought. As soon as I thought it, I knew it couldn’t be true. But this untrue thought set me on a path of discovery that I am still on today. This path has enriched my understanding of Jesus and changed the way I […]
Last post I discussed the messages our dependence on sermons sends, and referred back to a study I had done on Sermons – not how we learn best? A reader went to that page and found a bunch of broken links. I have therefore completely re-structured the page, and included quite a lot of new […]
9 of 12 members of our church who attended the vigil. I have blogged before on the plight of refugees from war-torn or unstable countries like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran arriving in Australian waters by boat and Australia’s somewhat callous attitude to them – see links below this post. Australia outsources some of […]
While we are on the subject of Australia’s attitude to refugees arriving by boat, here is a telling sketch by Aussie satirists John Clarke and Bryan Dawe. (Actually John comes from New Zealand, but works in Australia.) For those not familiar with Aussie politics, the sketch presents hardline Australian Government Minister for Immigration, Scott Morrison, […]
Last post (Justice and the gospel), we looked at how the ministry of Jesus included both evangelism and meeting physical needs. But in many western evangelical churches, the “gospel” has been narrowed down to mean little more than personal salvation. If you are in a church like that, and you believe that justice and care […]
When I was a young christian (a few decades ago now!), evangelical churches tended to focus on evangelism, and some viewed justice and social action with suspicion. Things have changed since then, with most christians and churches supportive of social welfare and overseas aid programs. There is still a tendency to see these programs as […]
Last post I looked at how some studies show that many christians are prejudiced towards groups such as gays, atheists and Muslims, and are less likely than other people to show love to members of these groups. How can we start to bring about change?
Jesus told his followers, quite definitely, to love their enemies, and warned them against hatred. Yet today, the public image of christians is somewhat tarnished – some christians are seen to be loving and caring, but others are seen to be prejudiced and intolerant, especially towards groups like gays and Muslims. What is the evidence […]