Weekly Bible Reflection

Writing in The Weekend Australian (April 3-4, 2021), John Carroll, emeritus professor of sociology at La Trobe University, Australia, comments ‘Immortality has become the great question mark… For the secular modern age, belief in any form of life after death is in...

No one likes failure. You may not have experienced it, but it happens, even to the smartest of people. We can experience failure when we let others down or when we fail to meet our own expectations. It can happen in unexpected moments when we like to feel we are in...

Towards the end of his finest book, The Cross of Christ, John Stott draws from the playlet, ‘The Long Silence’. At the end of time billions of people are found in the presence of God’s throne. While the majority stand back against the brilliant light, various groups...

In today’s world, God is not so much dead. He is cancelled. He is not to be spoken about. If he is, there’s nothing good to say about him: 'he is uncaring and grim'. How different this is from what the Bible actually says about God. Consider the most well- known words...

In his book, God and Stephen Hawking, Dr. John Lennox notes a current objection to miracles that says: ‘Now we know the laws of nature, miracles are impossible’. To which Dr. Lennox responds: ‘From a theistic perspective, the laws of nature predict what is bound to...

Aspects of Christianity can seem far-fetched to our 21st century minds. The miraculous elements make it seem like the story of Santa Claus or fairies at the bottom of the garden. But before we dismiss such events as pure fiction, it’s worth remembering GK Chesterton’s...

‘We have only one life to live! We need to live it well.’ How many of us really believe this? Most people have a sneaking suspicion that there is more to life – that death is not the end of our existence. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity commented, If I find in myself...

No-one likes a hypocrite – someone who says one thing and does another. A hypocrite is basically an actor – consciously or unconsciously. In fact, the original Greek word translated by our English word hypocrite, means actor. In Matthew 6:1 Jesus warns: “Beware of...

The resentment, bitterness and pain that many have experienced through the pandemic have tended to drive people further away from any sense of belief in God. ‘If God is there,’ I hear people say, ‘he certainly is not kind and compassionate. He can’t be good.’ Where...

It’s said that patience is a virtue. It’s a very old saying from the 14th C and is attributed to William Langland. It reflects a Latin proverb, patience is the greatest virtue. But is patience a virtue? Let me suggest that it is the context that helps us understand...

Words, words, words. We are constantly bombarded by them — from Social Media, email and text messages, our phones, TV and movies. And now you’re reading words from me! Have you ever wondered why words are so powerful? Words on the tongue of the comedian can make us...

Everyone loves a good story.  Millions have enjoyed J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and millions more, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. The Bible has been described as ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told’. Many would agree, but rarely read it or think about it. Deep down we...

Is life a matter of the survival of the fittest? C. S. Lewis in his Reflections on the Psalms said that Psalm 19 is ‘… one of the greatest lyrics in the world’ (p.56). It begins: The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Many...

Happy New Year! Another day. Another year. A year of more change…? In his Choruses from the Rock written in 1934, TS Eliot prophetically observed:    But it seems that something has happened that has never happened before:       though we know not just when, or why,...

2020 has been a troubling, turbulent year – one to which we could apply Her Majesty, the Queen’s apt and pithy comment in 1992: annus horribilis. While commentators and historians will analyze the events of the year for some time, in many ways it has been God’s wake...

Christmas this year stands out as a beacon of hope. Friends and family often tell us they love the lights and carols of Christmas. But this year which has been so tumultuous and troubling, Christmas holds out something extra special. How wonderful if it were really...

Catastrophic events such as we have seen this year give us pause and challenge us to see life with new eyes. This year nations have looked to their leaders to chart a course to preserve life and secure livelihoods. Leaders who worked at this won our respect....

From the earliest days of Christianity anyone who has said that Jesus Christ will return one day has been considered crazy. Certainly, the idea of Christ bursting through the skies in a blazing display of power and glory, is not an idea that is easily accepted. And...