All Scripture?

Back in the recent little debate about inerrancy, one suggestion was that Evangelical reliance on 2 Timothy 3:16 doesn’t provide enough support for their argument that Scripture is without error because it is inspired by the God who is without error.  Here I want to respond to some of the arguments here God breathed into… Continue reading All Scripture?

Do the Psalms and Prophets disagree with God?

One thing you’ve probably heard me say frequently is that we need to let God’s Word disagree with us.  In a recent discussion I explained that this is one of the key reasons why I hold to Biblical inerrancy.[1] The comeback to this was that I was imposing an authoritarian understanding of Scripture that neglected… Continue reading Do the Psalms and Prophets disagree with God?

Killing Scripture?

Evangelical Christians believe that God’s Word is infallible and inerrant. These two closely related words are intended to convey an important point, that in Scripture God speaks truthfully -all that Scripture says is truthful concerning the things it speaks about and that it is without contradiction and error.  When Evangelicals say this, they are speaking… Continue reading Killing Scripture?

Which came first – Scripture or culture?

Yesterday I wrote about God, gender, pronouns and the church.  Now, the classic response of liberal theology is to argue that the language we use about God and the church with Christ as groom and church as bride is somewhat arbitrary so that we could reverse it.  Then, it is further suggested that the reason… Continue reading Which came first – Scripture or culture?

God, gender, pronouns and the church

If you check someone’s social media profile these days, then you are likely to find that they’ll tell you their preferred pronouns. The point is that we are not to assume that they want to identify with a particular gender.  It is considered respectful to allow another person to let you know how they want… Continue reading God, gender, pronouns and the church

Revelation through the lens of the Ukraine invasion

I’ve argued before that when we read Revelation it is applicable to our present situation, not because we attempt to read a detailed chronology of the last days with timings but because we best understand Revelation as offering God’s explanation of the whole of history from the perspective of the end. This means that we… Continue reading Revelation through the lens of the Ukraine invasion

Hostile to God

Our story of humanity so far has been about rebellion and rescue. We’ve seen Adam and Eve sin and face both judgement and grace, we’ve observed this pattern repeated through Cain and Abel. We’ve then watched as evil has filled the earth leading to judgement through cataclysm.  There was salvation in the midst of The… Continue reading Hostile to God

Despicable me

I saw an interesting social media exchange earlier today. One person was outraged at what a well-known football commentator had said about a particular political issue. They’d then described the person as “despicable”.  Someone else had interjected to say “No, you can’t call them despicable.  We describe the actions as despicable.” There’s something important and… Continue reading Despicable me

No, Aslan is not on the move

I’ve mentioned before that one of my pet hates is the tendency of some Christian adults when they get near a microphone at a conference to announce in awed, whispery tones that “Aslan is on the move.”  It’s meant to sound edgy and spiritual.  It’s usually in response to some perceived spiritual moment.  I want… Continue reading No, Aslan is not on the move

The Kingdom of God in Mark

Jesus begins his ministry by announcing the “good news” that the Kingdom of God is near.[1]  Therefore, if we are to benefit from this good news, we need to understand what Jesus means by the phrase “The Kingdom of God.” Firstly, The Kingdom of God is the fulfilment of God’s promises to Israel.  We see… Continue reading The Kingdom of God in Mark