A narrative is emerging from some quarters of the church that measures to deal with the pandemic represent state and societal hubris, a humanistic confidence in our ability to defeat death. If this was the case, then we would be dealing with idolatry. Of course, as Christians we should not be surprised to see evidence… Continue reading Why attempting to control COVID is not an idolatrous attempt to conquer death
Category: Theology
Demons
Last Sunday, I preached on Jesus casting out demons. I highlighted three points in reference to this. Demon possession is possible today though I suspect rarer than in Jesus’ day Christians cannot be demon possessed because we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit The demon exorcisms in the Gospel help us to understand the wider… Continue reading Demons
Miracles
I love the account of Jesus calming in the storm in Matthew 8. It’s a fantastic story for telling children’s groups. There’s so much you can do to include the kids in the story, getting them to blow li the wind, using a parachute game to get the wave effect, settling the children down peacefully… Continue reading Miracles
Is it hubris to believe we can control a virus?
Glen Scrivener thinks it is. So today I am going to do the risky thing and attempt to disagree with a brilliant mind! First of all, we need to distinguish between “Can we potentially control a virus.” And “have we been able to control this one” or “will we definitely be able to control it.”… Continue reading Is it hubris to believe we can control a virus?
Work Matters
I’ve been writing about the importance of rest over the past week or two but we cannot talk about rest without talking about work. It is that point which influenced my last article on the matter. In that article, I responded to a question about why we do not give enough attention to the part… Continue reading Work Matters
Sabbath Rest -Do we need to keep Sunday special?
When I was growing up, there was still a strong emphasis on keeping Sunday as a special day, the Christian Sabbath. In a lot of church cultures, the expectation was that you attended church at least twice, wore your Sunday best and that activities during the day were limited to those considered spiritually edifying. Sunday… Continue reading Sabbath Rest -Do we need to keep Sunday special?
How should we talk about the Father and the Son (concluding thoughts 2)
In yesterday’s post I said that I believed that it is possible to make application from our Doctrine of the Trinity to life now. We should do it cautiously and carefully. However, it is possible to do so all the same. If we see that the incarnation reveals the Son relating to his Father in… Continue reading How should we talk about the Father and the Son (concluding thoughts 2)
How should we talk about the Father and Son (concluding thoughts part 1)
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been revisiting the controversy around the Eternal Functional Subordination debate. In this article, I want to sum up and share my own position and conclusion on the topic. I will then follow this up by asking the question “Can we make any application from the relations within the Trinity… Continue reading How should we talk about the Father and Son (concluding thoughts part 1)
Eternal Generation and the EFS debate
In what way is Christ “God’s Son”? We are talking specifically about his divine nature here because he is also “son of God” by virtue of his human nature just as Luke describes Adam as God’s Son. John 3:16 describes Jesus as God’s “only begotten son.” It seems that Arians who did not regard Jesus… Continue reading Eternal Generation and the EFS debate
Re-mapping the Gender Role debate
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