One of the big questions raised about Israel’s military strikes against Iran is as to whether or not they amounted to a breach of International Law and meant that Israel had crossed red lines. To answer that question, we have to consider whether or not Israel’s action amounted to self defence. This means considering whether… Continue reading Was Israel’s military strike on Iran lawful?
Category: ethics
Are equality and authority in competition?
I recently saw a comment relating to the debate on complementarian marriage that it is not possible to have permanent authority over someone and be equal to them? Is that right? On the surface it seems obviously true, especially from a post modern perspective. However, I just want to get us to push our thinking… Continue reading Are equality and authority in competition?
Are we depending too much on military might? A response to Symon Hill on Keir Starmer’s increase of the Defence Budget
Symon Hill argues in Premier Christianity that Kier Starmer is wrong to spend more on defence. His argument is two-fold. First, he argues that a strong military defence does not work as a deterrent and secondly that it is wrong to do this because it means that we are putting our trust in military forces… Continue reading Are we depending too much on military might? A response to Symon Hill on Keir Starmer’s increase of the Defence Budget
Are our views of right and wrong influenced by personality?
My friend Steve Kneale writes here about how it’s relationships not arguments that win people over. I think he has a good point here. It’s not apologetic debating that will lead people to Christ. We may win the argument but not the person. In fact, what you tend to find is that if you prove… Continue reading Are our views of right and wrong influenced by personality?
Are Christians meant to keep the Sabbath?
This question has divided opinion even amongst reformed evangelicals and the differences go back to the early days of the Reformation. Whilst there seems to have been a particularly “pro-Sabbatarian amongst the Puritans, reflected in the Westminster Confession, a more continental approach tended towards the view that the Sabbath pointed forwards to our eternal rest… Continue reading Are Christians meant to keep the Sabbath?
Is the empathy debate really just about “untethered empathy”?
I’m interested to see that Joe Rigney’s book “The sin of empathy” is continuing to generate a lot of passion. New Testament scholar, Robert Gagnon has posted a short article on facebook reacting to an article under the headline “Christian nationalists decided empathy was a sin, now it’s gone mainstream”. He complains about the … Continue reading Is the empathy debate really just about “untethered empathy”?
Having the nature of sin
There’s an interesting little phrase in the Thirty Nine Articles, it appears in article 9 which discusses original sin. In full, the article says: “Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam, (as the Pelagians do vainly talk;) but it is the fault and corruption of the Nature of every man, that naturally is… Continue reading Having the nature of sin
Picking fights or picking your battles?
One of the challenges about engaging in discussion online, whether through blogs or social media (in fact Twitter/X was originally described as a ‘microblog’ site) is that it can sometimes feel like the conversation has got tense. It can feel like that in a conversation, both as you read what others say to you and… Continue reading Picking fights or picking your battles?
If not here, then where?
Regular readers will have observed that from time to time I include guest posts here on Faithroots. That might include where I’ve simply wanted to give someone a platform or to share something that I thought was worth wider reading. It might also include occasions where I thought it was fair to offer a right… Continue reading If not here, then where?
A Christian nation?
This is the final part of my engagement with Aaron Edwards’ articles about what he sees as the threat of Islamisation here in Britain. Last time I noted that it’s not really Islam that he has in his sights but rather it was multicultural/secular Britain today. He sees our current culture as weak in the… Continue reading A Christian nation?
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