TheVirtualWord Rotating Header Image

Posts under ‘Reflections’

The end of an era

The death of Michael Foot this week definitely marks the end of an era in British politics. As I watched clips of his speeches from the 60-80s I was struck by the sense that here was a man who believed in something and was not ashamed to stand up for those things – even [...]

Psalm Wordles

Here are the last two of Wordles from Josh Donegani.

Psalm 118 Wordle

Psalm 119 Wordle

Enjoy…

A new look at the Bible

A friend of mine, Josh Donegani, has created some interesting graphics using Wordle.
The way these work is the size of a word is proportional to its frequency within a given text. So, at one level, the more important the word in a text, the larger it will be.
I will post a couple [...]

I can do all things?

In my youth all things seemed possible to me. As I have grown a little older I have realised that this can be put down partly to the ‘arrogance of youth’ and partly (as I would read it now, looking back) the goodness of God in blessing many of the things I turned my [...]

Grace and Truth

We had an encouraging exposition in chapel this morning of 2 Kings 5. We were reminded of the incredible grace of our God as worked out in the life of Naaman – an enemy of God’s people, and yet miraculously healed at no cost. Our attention was brought to the way he became, [...]

Chaos and Coherence on BBC4

There was a fascinating documentary on BBC4 today – High Anxieties: The Mathematics of Chaos – looking at the way understanding more of ‘chaos’ theory leads us to a very uncertain place, and touching on the implications in terms of the economy (very timely) and the environment.
The central premise was that historically we have loved [...]

Certainty in an uncertain world

“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides for ever.”
(1 John 2:17)
We’ve just been reminded of this truth in a sermon this afternoon.  And it is a really helpful reminder at a time when Fear grips global stock markets.  The sovereign God who made this [...]

Embryology, Abortion and absurd arguments

There are various reasons why I am disappointed that MPs have approved hybrid embryo research, have rejected the ’saviour sibling’ ban, have rejected the consideration of the need for a father in consideration of IVF treatment and have rejected the bid to lower the upper limit for abortions.
However, the ethical questions aside, as so often [...]

‘Revising’ Islamic texts in Turkey

An intriguing article appeared on the BBC yesterday reporting that theologians in Turkey have been commissioned by the government to revise the Hadith – an important text for Muslims interpreting the Koran (and an important source for Sharia law).
This may well be a very positive thing – particularly in relation to the rights and [...]

Rights after death versus rights to live

There has been wide coverage of the Prime Minister’s recommendation of presumed consent for organ donors.
I will side-step the question of whether such ‘consent’ is genuine or not because a different question bothers me.
I am amazed by the number of people who are prepared to stand up for the right for people’s wishes to be [...]