The other day I mentioned that I wanted to talk in more depth about the ethical questions around the use of nuclear weapons. Is there ever an ethical/moral case for their use or are they intrinsically evil? Would the use of nuclear weapons be a war crime? I would suspect that instinctively most of us… Continue reading Should using nuclear weapons be a war crime?
Author: faithrootsdw
Nuclear War and unaskable questions
One of the big questions concerning the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been whether or not NATO/Western allies should respond by committing to help defend Ukraine beyond supplying weapons and imposing sanctions. Some have suggested that at a minimum, NATO could commit to enforcing a no-fly zone against Russia. Now, one of the primary reasons… Continue reading Nuclear War and unaskable questions
Don’t forget who the real enemy is
Back after 911, there was a particularly intense period when anyone of Asian or middle eastern appearance was at risk from backlash. Not only did people conflate the attack by Islamist extremists with an attack from all Muslims but also people who were not even Muslims but rather Sikhs and Hindus were conflated with the… Continue reading Don’t forget who the real enemy is
Alone?
I saw this quote and image shared on Facebook the other day. I wonder what you made of it? “From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it’s different. Consider again that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you… Continue reading Alone?
Signs of the Times (Mark 13) – Preaching in a crisis
Over the past couple of weeks as we’ve seen Russian tanks and troops role into Ukraine and the awful spectre of nuclear conflict has been threatened against the West, I’ve written a bit about how we handled apocalyptic literature and questions about the end times. I thought it might be helpful to share an example… Continue reading Signs of the Times (Mark 13) – Preaching in a crisis
Confrontation in church life
The other day, I wrote about the risks of getting a response to trouble and confrontation wrong. I wrote specifically about the challenges facing the West in responding to Vladimir Putin. However, most of us are not involved in major geo-political issues and hold little power over politicians or big business so on one level,… Continue reading Confrontation in church life
How do we pray for our enemies? #FaithrootsPodcast
As we continue to pray for Ukraine, how should we specifically pray concerning Putin? Do the imprecatory psalms like Psalm 69 help? How does this help us think about more personal examples of opposition, suffering and persecution?
Remember
One of my favourite Old Testament books is Deuteronomy. Towards the end of our time at Bearwood I had the opportunity to teach through the book with the team. Here’s the initial guide to teaching the book with a focus on the first 11 chapters and some example talks. I’m hoping to update this to… Continue reading Remember
Why predicting the future is a risky business
A friend of my was teasing me the other day that my predictions about Ukraine not turning out to be very good. He was referring to my argument here that if Russia’s aim was to strengthen its position on the international stage, become the primary regional player in Eastern Europe/Central Asia and push back western/NATO… Continue reading Why predicting the future is a risky business
The risk of not thinking through a confrontation
I’ve seen some interesting suggestions for how the West should respond to Putin’s aggression into Ukraine and threats against NATO allies and unaligned countries such as Sweden and Finland. The primary response so far has been through Economic sanctions against Putin’s regime and his oligarch financiers Providing arms to the Ukrainians continuing to defend their… Continue reading The risk of not thinking through a confrontation
