Posts under ‘Reflections’

Last week I had the benefit of hearing a presentation by Christian Concern for Our Nation and wanted to bring their good work to the attention of anyone who happens to read this site.
I was very challenged by the way that over the last few decades in the UK we have enabled our faith to [...]

The recent woes of Northern Rock (and to a certain extent the earlier panic in the USA) seem to be related to the state of the ‘Sub-Prime Mortgage’ market. ‘Sub-Prime’ seems to be something of a euphemism for ‘mortgages for people that can’t really afford them’ and as the BBC’s investigation seems to indicate, [...]

There is no denying Harry’s popularity as ‘Book 6′ breaks all sales records.
And amongst certain branches of Christianity the debate seems to rumble on about whether or not Christians should be reading about ‘witchcraft’ and the like (a really good summary article of both positions here).
But having finished reading The Deathly Hallows yesterday, and also [...]

I have just picked up on an interesting article from The Guardian which suggests that the well publicised ‘new atheist’ movement (represented by the Dawkins/Dennett type of school) is essentially motivated by a political agenda – and in particular fear of radical Islam and ‘fundamentalist’ America.
Bunting rightly recognises that in their “vituperative polemic” the new atheists [...]

A news article this morning caught my eye.  The Fire Brigade Union are having an argument about the representation of minority groups on their executive committee.
The debate centres on whether having black, gay and women representatives on the committee gives those ‘interest groups’ greater power than corresponds to their proportion of the total membership.
It represents [...]

As we continue to reflect on the blessings of Easter, it is interesting to note that the debate surrounding the doctrine of Penal Substitution (PS) rumbles on in the UK.
An almost tabloid headline in the Sunday Telegraph (Christ did not die for sin) trumpeted a strongly anti-PS sermon by Jeffrey John, the Dean of St Albans.
This [...]

I’m grateful to my friend AJS for pointing me to this mini-debate from the BBC Today programme between William Lane Craig and Lewis Wolpert. 
It is a classic example of two people who will not accept each other’s presuppositions. 
The scary thought is that a large number of people would fail to recognise that the second person had [...]

Further musings on the issue of blasphemy and Christian protest.
One of our strongest apologetic tools may be our ‘cultural appropriation of revelation’.
What on earth does that mean?
As Christians we believe that we have been created in the image of God. Our creativity – our fashioning of things – our development of ‘culture’ – is [...]

Calling all university lecturers – it appears that you must now be careful who you quote in your lectures.
It would seem that simply for quoting the words of a 14th Century Christian Emperor the Pope is in big trouble. According to the BBC his remarks have “angered clerics and commentators around the Muslim world”.
By [...]

“There is none like you, O LORD;
you are great, and your name is great in might.
Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For this is your due;
for among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is none like you.”
Jeremiah 10:6-7
Just a wonderfully true reminder of the nature of our [...]