We tend to describe the debate about gender roles in church and the family as divided between egalitarians and complementarians. However, I have been wondering whether this properly captures the nuances of the discussion. So, here is an attempt to remap where the agreement and disagreement is. I am starting with the assumption that the… Continue reading Re-mapping the Gender Role debate
Author: faithrootsdw
How do we allow others to help us remove our logs and specks?
In a previous post I began to build on Steve Kneale’s post on the challenges of “logs and specks” in the eye of the church. Steve said that the challenge is that we often cannot see our own logs to remove them. Here are some further thoughts. First of all, whilst I may not be… Continue reading How do we allow others to help us remove our logs and specks?
Racism is a sin of omission not just comission
One of the things that has been concerning for white church pastors like me in response to some of the discussion about racism has been the level of defensiveness. We want to say that we are not racist and so we get very defensive when people talk about systemic racism going on in our churches… Continue reading Racism is a sin of omission not just comission
Gethsemane and The Father – Son relationship
I would now like to revisit Matthew 26 and Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. You will recall from earlier posts that the events here are central to our discussion about how the Son relates to the Father. Orthodox Christology asserts that because Jesus is one person with two natures and that he is… Continue reading Gethsemane and The Father – Son relationship
More on logs and specks: What is the heartbeat of our church?
The other day, I began exploring the question about applying Jesus’ teaching on logs and specks corporately to churches and communities. Steve Kneale has helpfully developed the conversation here. At this stage I am struck by two very helpful things Steve asks us to think about. The first one is that only true heart change… Continue reading More on logs and specks: What is the heartbeat of our church?
“If we cannot learn about relationships from the Trinity then where can we?”
This is a quote from my article on Ware and Grudem the other day. It was picked up by Liam Goligher who argued that the statement was flawed because first of all there is a creator/creature division and secondly because the members of the Trinity are persons not people, there is no partition on God… Continue reading “If we cannot learn about relationships from the Trinity then where can we?”
Seeing clearly and reporting accurately (my responsibility in a dispute part 2)
On our After Eight slot for Bearwood Chapel we were talking about the bit where Jesus says to take out the log in your own eye before attempting to remove your brother’s speck the other day. I asked Sarah, in the context of this, what she thought was our primary responsibility in a dispute. She… Continue reading Seeing clearly and reporting accurately (my responsibility in a dispute part 2)
Grudem and Ware: heretics or a disagreement over language?
I’m breaking off from where I planned to go next in my discussion of the Trinity and the relationship of the Son to the Father. The reason is that I want to look at a specific example of a dispute. The dispute concerns “Eternal Generation.” A Creedal Matter This is the belief as stated in… Continue reading Grudem and Ware: heretics or a disagreement over language?
When a community has a blind spot
I want to pick up on a brilliant question that was raised by one of our church family on the Zoom discussion last Sunday. We had listened to James preach on Matthew 7:1-6 and then one of the members asked “is it possible for these verses to talk about a whole community, church or institution?”… Continue reading When a community has a blind spot
The responsibility of universities and the A- Level results scandal
So now the fall-out from the response to the fall out starts. Attention has moved from our concern about the impact of last week’s grading debacle on students to how it will affect Universities. Universities are now being presented as the new victims. They had no choice but to offer places to those who met… Continue reading The responsibility of universities and the A- Level results scandal
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