April 2013
1 post
Thoughts on Apologetics 2: Defending Christian...
This is a post in defence of Christain ethics. Lets face it, when we are challenged on our beliefs, it is often an attack on Christan ethics. And so, the attacks on our faith are often rarely that rational or reasoned. They are often emotional and raw.
As an apologist, this is a tough task. We must be able to answer the accusations drawn up against us with a reasoned argument, being kind and...
March 2013
3 posts
Having loved his own who were in the world, he...
“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” John 13:1 (ESV)
I felt the need to write today, and as it is Maundy Thursday there is no better time than to look at this verse. For me, there are fewer more potent and beautiful chapters in...
Thoughts on Apologetics: Offensive Apologetics
And I don’t mean nasty apologetics, or apologetics that upsets people.
I mean it in this way: that the best form of defence is a good offence.
In most of my previous apologetics conversations with non-believers, I have seen a trend emerging. What generally seems to go down is that I mention that I am a Christain, and then spend the rest of the conversation defending my worldview.
I think...
The Heidelberg Catechism 1: What is your only...
“What is your only comfort in life and death?”
That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ, who with his precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head;...
November 2012
1 post
A presbyterian's look at the recent synod vote.
Yesterday, the 20th November 2012, the General Synod of the Church of England voted overwhelmingly in support of the ordination of women bishops, but failed to receive the requisite 2/3rds Majority in the House of Laity needed to pass the measure.
I start with that observation, because it is important to realise what happened. The Bishops and Clergy were astonishingly in favour of the measure,...
October 2012
1 post
The Atheist Prayer Experiment - some thoughts
Premier Radio is currently undertaking an experiment. It is calling on Atheists to pray for 2 to 3 minutes each day that God reveal himself to them, clearly in the hope that God will reveal himself and that the Atheists will then become Christians. Here is the link to the page: http://www.premier.org.uk/atheistprayerexperiment
Now, I must first of all say that I understand Premier Radio’s...
September 2012
5 posts
Christianity IS about following rules.
Ok, so I have used a provocative title in order to get attention, so bear with we.
It is often said that Christianity isn’t about obeying rules, but about a relationship with Jesus. And this is kind of true. But on its own, this statement means virtually nothing. The statement relies on a set of propositional truths for it to have meaning.
Would I say that Christianity isn’t about...
When did we lose the ability to reason?
This relates to something that happenned a while ago
This blog post is about my generations ability to reason. Because, put simply, we have lost that ability.
This comes from watching a series of lectures given by Doug Wilson at the University of Indiana. Here is the link to it: http://www.canonwired.com/bloomington/ . For those of you who don’t know, Doug Wilson is trying to present a...
A Rejoinder
Here is my response to the comment made by Tom on my previous post on theological opinion. As it was quite a long and comment (which is welcomed, as it shows I need to sharpen things up a bit), I have decided to do a full length rejoinder to it. And by full length, I mean long… 3500 words or there abouts.
Firstly, I must address the issue of straw men, which I must admit I was somewhat guilty of...
Psalm Singing.
Now, I’m not an exclusive psalmodist.
But I am getting closer to it.
The truth is, we massively neglect the psalms in Churches here in England. We sometimes sing worship songs based on psalms or on scriptural songs. We sometimes sing songs which have some vague references to the psalms. But we rarely sing proper psalms in our Churches.
And this is tragic. In Scripture, God has provided...
Not all opinions are created equal
IMHO
It is strange that in our current arena of debate we need such a prefix. Often in ordinary conversation you will hear someone say “In my opinion” when someone is trying to make a point on an issue. But if you think about it, it is an entirely pointless thing to say. If you make a statement you are expressing an opinion, a view, an interpretation of the world, or an interpretative...
April 2012
1 post
Thoughts on Apologetics: "Do you think I am going...
I stumbled across this video which was posted on twitter of an apologist answering the question “Do you think I am going to hell”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dJFig3n1N9s
All in all, I think that the guy’s answer was ok, but a little too combative maybe. But I thought: how would I answer this question. And this is what I came up with… please...
March 2012
1 post
Thoughts on Apologetics: Winning the man, not the...
It is often said in the world of apologetics “Win the man, not the argument”. This is a good truism. The purpose of apologetics is connected with the mission of the Church: to preach the word, making disciples of all nations. We are in the business of seeking to win souls to Christ. To be an apologist is to be “prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for...
February 2012
3 posts
The Liberal Church and Pharaseeism
The recent debates in the Church of England concerning, essentially, how we read the Word of God has encouraged me to write this post.
The fundamental question before us is not whether the Church is to be relevant or loving. It isn’t really about thinking “what would Jesus do” in acting out of love and tolerance for one issue, and “in keeping with what we know now”...
Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
A number of reasons have encouraged me to write this post. And in all likeliness it will be exceedingly long, so may have to evolve into a 2 part piece.
But it is an important theological and pastoral issue, so I shall address it.
This post shall be concerned with what is the role of men and women in the Church. Later posts will probably be more specifically looking at Biblical manhood, but they...
A totally unsubstantiated theory concerning Men...
I have a wee theory that I want to test out. It relates to men and the “chickified” modern worship music. It is totally untested, maybe untestable, and quite possibly very wrong. But its worth a shot.
Now I am a little biased. I am a little old fashioned. I like hymns. I like organs. Granted, I wish I could combine those with a little hand raising (1 Timothy 2:8, Psalm 134:2 etc). But...
December 2011
2 posts
Gratitude isn't enough to make you change
Here is the first of a number of posts I am going to write on the issue of sanctification. This one is going to look at something I often hear, and have probably said before, especially in an evangelistic context. And I am no longer sure that is is entirely right.
When we tell people about the gospel, we often do our very best to play down the need for works in the Christian life. We want to show...
Some brief thoughts on Cessationism, as a...
Adrian Warnock recently posted a questionair on his blog asking “How Charismatic are you?” Here is the link to it:
http://adrianwarnock.com/2011/12/how-charismatic-are-you-a-spectrum-of-belief-and-practice/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AdrianWarnocksUkEvangelicalBlog+%28adrianwarnock.com%29
Now, I am not a charismatic, and I found a number of his...
November 2011
8 posts
Why does religion keep telling us we are bad
Yet again, that bastion of the liberal secular humanistic press, the Guardian, has given me something to write about.
This week, it relates to the morality of man, and why, despite humanity’s moral superiority over the whole of the natural world, the religious keep telling us we are bad.
The article can be found here:
...
Elihu (part 1)
I am going to write a series of posts on, in my opinion, one of the most interesting characters in the Bible. Job is, sadly, rarely preached on. People think that it is one of those deep, dark, and gloomy books of scripture, with little edifying to the average reader, only good for reminding people that God is sovereign over all things, even his pain.
I have never heard anyone else reference...
The Christian life and Brotherly Love: the...
You never hear the charge of legalism levelled at people demanding that Christians to live more civilly with each other. The command for Christians to love each other, to bear with each other, to forgive each other, is rarely the most important issue brought up in Church relating to our personal holiness. But it should be.
This isn’t intentional, nor is it through lack of trying on the part of...
Love this: The Necessity of Theology
http://www.joethorn.net/2011/11/09/the-necessity-of-theology/
I love this.
“No: You can’t just love Jesus, you must know who he is and know what it means to love him”
“Theology is the pursuit of the knowledge of God, so the more we know of God, the more we can know God”
“If a pastor is not a theologian, then he isn’t a pastor, he is something else, but...
Should the Church be led by Teachers and Scholars:...
I stumbled across a post from Adrian Warnock which led to this article. Have a little read.
http://donmilleris.com/2011/04/05/unlike-todays-church-leaders-none-of-the-early-disciples-were-professional-educators/
I would like to respond to the basic premise of the post. And respond to a couple of issues it raises.
“Let me ask you this: Aren’t you a little tired of scholars and...
Review: "The End of God: A Horizon Guide for...
In this modern scientific age, is there any room left for God?
This was the question that Dr Thomas Dixon sought to answer on “The End of God: A Horizon Guide for Science and Religion” (BBC4). In this programme, Dixon followed the historical conflicts between religion and science, moving from Galileo and his theory of heliocentricity, through the Darwinian controversy, the debates...
Getting back on my Apologetics game...
For the last couple of months, I haven’t really given much thought to apologetics.
Then I realised that nothing in the world had changed. Atheists still exist, there are still questions to be answered, and there is still need to defend the faith. I didn’t know what questions I would answer, but I was desperate to get involved again.
And then Richard Dawkins penned his reasoning for not debating...
... and thus it begins.
Hello all.
I say all, but I don’t know exactly what “all” really amounts to. Currently “all” is simply me. But I do hope that people other than myself do stumble accross this blog. I hope that you will find it interesting, and hopefully thought provoking.
A little bit about my aims with this blog. This blog will primarily deal with issues of faith, and my life as a...
