Weekly Bible Reflection
Prayer
n response to a talk I gave at a Men’s Breakfast in the North-West of England a little over a week ago, one man commented on the explosive spiritual power that must have been at work when the gospel was first preached. He is a nuclear engineer and...
Negativity
t the launch of a new book by Australian political commentator, Paul Kelly, Triumph and Demise, Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia, commented: “Paul suggests that the relentless negativity of our contemporary conversation, the culture of...
Justice
ichael Connelly in his 2013 book, The Gods of Guilt writes these words into one of his characters: Everybody has a jury, the voices they carry inside… Those I have loved and those I have hurt. Those who bless me and those who haunt me. Commenting...
Is God In Control When Everything Seems Out of Control?
ith the rise of militant Islam we may be tempted to wonder if there is a one true God and, if there is, we wonder whether he is still in control. Why does he allow the atrocities against his people that are occurring in Iraq at the hands of ISIS?...
Dreaming
he Castle is a classic Australian film, much lauded because of its understated handling of a blue-collar suburban household. One of the lines that catches our attention is, “Tell ‘im e’s dreamin’” – in response to a quoted price for a supposed...
The Christian Response
nti-intellectual? Christianity is often dismissed as being anti-intellectual: ‘No-one with half a brain could be a Christian’. Many in the West reject Christianity, not because they think it is false, but because they think it is trivial. If they...
God’s Peace
eace’ is a word that goes to the heart of the Christian message. It was the theme of the angels’ song on the night of Jesus’ birth. It is something we all long for. Yet ‘peace’ is one thing the world does not have. In fact, with the constant news...
Comfort
e have all been appalled by the events in Iraq over this last week with accounts of the shooting and beheading of men, women and children who have refused to convert to Islam because of their commitment to Jesus Christ. They are truly Christian...
Suffering: Why do bad things happen? (Part Three)
ecause the subject of suffering is so important and so complex I am taking a third week to draw together some key points. I welcome any comments you have. To sum up: 1. Flawed. It may sound harsh, but we need to recognize that none of us deserves...
Suffering: Why do bad things happen? (Part Two)
hy do appalling things happen? Why was flight MH17 shot down? We all want answers. The reality of pain and suffering is probably one of the biggest reasons some philosophers and people generally, use to argue that a good and loving God cannot...
Suffering: Why do bad things happen? (Part One)
hy do appalling things happen? It’s a question we all want answered. For the professing Christian who says that God not only exists, but that he is compassionate and all-powerful, it is one of life’s toughest questions. Why doesn’t God step in and...
Assurance
ometimes we may be tempted to doubt the supernaturalism of Jesus – his virgin birth, his miracles and his resurrection. In turn we may doubt the exclusiveness of Christianity – that it is through Jesus alone we have any hope of being restored in...
Authenticity
riting in The London Times, someone once commented, ‘I’d like to be a Christian, but to do that I need a water-tight argument.’ At times we may feel like that – for ourselves and for the sake of others. But that is not how God has chosen to work....
Answer
n October last year, The Wall Street Journal reported an interview with Alan Greenspan about his book, The Map and the Territory. Greenspan commented on a human feature that he had not factored in when he was chairman of the Federal Reserve....
Opportunity
pportunity is an optimistic, motivating word, full of promise and hope. The Oxford English Dictionary says it is: ‘A time or set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something’. It is a word we find in a wide range of contexts. Winston...
The Trinity
rinity Sunday (this Sunday) is a wonderful reminder of the God whom we worship. Article I of ‘The Thirty-Nine Articles’ states in a concluding sentence: And in unity of this Godhead there be three Persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; the...
Pentecost
his Sunday is Pentecost or Whitsunday. Yet for many of us it is an enigma. Within Judaism it was the Greek name ascribed to the Feast of Weeks, celebrating the giving of the law at Mt Sinai. In Christianity it is the festival that comes seven weeks...
Prayer
esus’ words: “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” (John 14:12), can be puzzling. Miracles. No one today is performing...