The big story

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It’s the start of a new academic year for those involved in school, college or university – parents, teachers and students. So for those of you who make use of faithroots for training purposes, it might be a good time to dig into a new course I’m going to run through the Autumn. We are… Continue reading The big story

Do Christians need deliverance from demons?

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You may recall from previous articles that my answer to this is “no.”  I though tit might be helpful to flesh out why, by engaging with some arguments that Jon Thompson makes in his book “Deliverance.” Thompson’s argument can be summarized as follows. Now, I agree with Thompson that “demonized” is a more literal interpretation… Continue reading Do Christians need deliverance from demons?

Sharing your faith in the face of death, dying and bereavement

We have been working through a summer series about sharing Jesus with others at our church. One of the things we wanted to get across that this is about the whole of life and so we have picked up on a few examples of life circumstances and how to live for Jesus and speak for… Continue reading Sharing your faith in the face of death, dying and bereavement

Household baptisms, paedobaptism and the Onesimus problem

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Why does Onesimus cause a problem for paedobaptists? Well a lot has been made in their argument of the descriptions of converts being baptised with their whole households.   The argument is that it would run contrary to the culture for people to be only baptized if they repented themselves. Rather, we would expect them to… Continue reading Household baptisms, paedobaptism and the Onesimus problem

Household baptisms, headship, corporate salvation and paedobaptism

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A common argument for infant baptism is  that in Acts, whole households are baptised and that must have included children.   This has also been developed by some into the argument that the culture of the Bible was more corporate with a greater emphasis on fathers acting as heads of families so that it would be… Continue reading Household baptisms, headship, corporate salvation and paedobaptism

Cyrus, Isaiah and prophecy

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One of the big debates in Biblical scholarship is the dating of Isaiah.  The consensus position tends to be that there were at least 2:and possibly 3 authors.  The first author would then be presumed to have written in the 7th century BC and the later authors during or post exile. Often this position is… Continue reading Cyrus, Isaiah and prophecy

Biblical brackets

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There’s a particular technique that shows up in Scripture where writers want to show that a train of thought is being followed through from start to conclusion.  It functions to bracket various thoughts, points, narratives together and is known technically as an inclusion.  The method use is to repeat a word, phrase or pericope at… Continue reading Biblical brackets

The true and better story (Luke 11:14-54)

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Here’s my outline for a sermon this Sunday. Look out for some articles with additional comment. You can listen to the full talk here introduction Two stories When the stories get muddled …. Which story are we living by? What did Jesus’ opponents think he was doing? (v15) What does Jesus say is happening? (v22)… Continue reading The true and better story (Luke 11:14-54)