The second big objection to God’s goodness and God’s greatness we are going to look at is atheism. This says that if we have a problem with saying that God is good or that God is great, then the better option is to deny both: to say that God is neither good nor great. In… Continue reading God in the dock: objections to his greatness and goodness (part 2)
Category: Apologetics
God in the Dock – challenges to His greatness and goodness (Part 1)
We can choose to believe either truth or lies about God. Earlier, we named the lies: that God is not good and/or God is not great/ sovereign. That if there is a God, then he must be either infinite and all powerful, but therefore distant, impersonal, disinterested or even cruel, but certainly not loving, good… Continue reading God in the Dock – challenges to His greatness and goodness (Part 1)
Did Adam have a belly button?
It’s one of those questions that children ask. The obvious answer seems to be that Adam and Eve would not have had belly buttons because they were created as adults, rather than being conceived through natural means. This means there would have been no umbilical cord to remove at birth. If so, it would have… Continue reading Did Adam have a belly button?
Where is the hope in secularism?
In a New Statesman article, Justin Welby is quoted as saying that: “Secularism is a crisis because where do people find their hope and their trust?” Stephen Evans objects to this on two grounds. First he argues that Welby has confused his vocabulary. Evans insists that “secularism” is “a political idea” and that Welby should… Continue reading Where is the hope in secularism?
The danger of desperately seeking relevance
What put the focus on what churches were doing regarding the Women’s World Cup final was probably an article reporting the comments of the Bishop of Derby. It was in this article where she said that church life could in effect wnork around an event like a football final. However, people’s attention was caught and… Continue reading The danger of desperately seeking relevance
Is Jesus “the true and better Tim Keller”?
Sam Allbery spoke at Tim Keller’s memorial service and made this remark. “Jesus is the truer and better Tim Keller.” It’s one of those immediately quotable and therefore tweetable phrases and so of course people have been tweeting it and reacting to it. Now, there’s a risk of reacting to something out of context and… Continue reading Is Jesus “the true and better Tim Keller”?
Foundational reading for urban ministry: Something from me
If you are contemplating Gospel work in the inner city or on an estate context, then I’d encourage you to have a read of this little e-book I wrote. Hope for the city is a look at applying the approach to missions and apologetics if JH Bavinck and, more recently, Dan Strange to reaching out… Continue reading Foundational reading for urban ministry: Something from me
Can we trust the Gospel writers?
The other day, I saw a question on Twitter asking who we could trust better to give us an accurate understanding of who Jesus is -the Gospel writers of the 1st century or people who have written and commented later, medieval theologians, 19th -21st century sceptics etc? Their argument was that we can trust the… Continue reading Can we trust the Gospel writers?
Rethinking the dates of the New Testament
One of the most significant writers of the 20th century was JAT Robinson. This is due to two books he wrote. The first, Honest to God, was significant in promoting liberal theology and religious scepticism. So it is perhaps surprising to know that the second was more likely to find support among conservative Christians. In… Continue reading Rethinking the dates of the New Testament
Scripture, sovereignty and suffering: Where might that conversation with a rabbi have gone?
Remember my aborted conversation with the Rabbi. The dilemma that was put to him was that if God had done the great deeds recounted in the rest of Torah building up to the point in Deuteronomy when the people are about to enter the land of Canaan, then why do does it fall onto the… Continue reading Scripture, sovereignty and suffering: Where might that conversation with a rabbi have gone?