The crucial question when making a decision about Open Theism is whether or not it faithfully points us to the God of the Bible. As I mentioned in my previous article, a key starting point for Open Theism is 1 John 4:8 where the apostle says: 8 But anyone who does not love does not know… Continue reading Divine Love and the case for Open Theism
Posts
They are not coming back
This is the difficult conversation that if we are honest, we don’t want to have. It’s a long time since I wrote anything about church life post pandemic but following the pandemic I wrote about the long journey in terms of people coming back to church. I’ve not done any measuring of things for a… Continue reading They are not coming back
The inevitable follow up question
Gradually over the years, my wife has trained me to do better. In the early days of our relationship, I’d share some news with her about a birth, death, engagement or such like. She’d then ask follow up questions – like the baby’s gender, weight, name etc and I wouldn’t know. Sarah would keep telling… Continue reading The inevitable follow up question
Open Theism
I recently did a straw poll on social media to find out whether or not people have heard of Open Theism and what they made of it. A significant proportion of those who responded indicated that they did not know enough to form a judgement. Yet, I want to suggest that elements of the thinking… Continue reading Open Theism
On kings and presidents
This week is the coronation of King Charles III as king over the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. If it seemed a little unseemly to be debating the continuation of the monarchy in the immediate aftermath of the Queen’s death, perhaps now is a good time to be having the conversation. For… Continue reading On kings and presidents
How’s the prayer meeting doing?
I suspect that my opening question will split my readership roughly down the middle. Half of you will have a strong opinion on how your church prayer meeting is doing and that may well be negative. The other half will be asking “what is a prayer meeting?” Your church won’t have such a meeting at… Continue reading How’s the prayer meeting doing?
Leaders at risk
These reflections were prompted by a conversation with my dad who has been reading through 1 Samuel over the past few weeks. We were talking about Saul and his response to David’s popularity, his jealousy when David is praised for killing more Philistines than him. On one level, there’s some practical questions. How should a… Continue reading Leaders at risk
Antisemitism, The Guardian, The Spectator and Editorial Standards
Last week, the chairman of the BBC resigned. The Guardian’s Martin Rowson chose to depict this with a cartoon showing Boris Johnson sat on a pile of money with Richard Sharp walking away holding a box. Now, there is nothing unusual about those bare details. It’s usual to depict someone leaving their job, especially if… Continue reading Antisemitism, The Guardian, The Spectator and Editorial Standards
How to approach a longer preaching series
Recently I wrote about the benefits of preaching longer series through larger books of the Bible, including the major Old Testament books. Those books which might take significantly longer include the major prophets such as Isaiah as well the Pentateuch and the history books. It’s possible to spend a year or even longer working week… Continue reading How to approach a longer preaching series
Beautiful Union?
I recently wrote in response to an article that appeared on The Gospel Coalition website. The article was an extract from Josh Butler’s new book “Beautiful Union: How God’s Vision for Sex Points Us to the Good, Unlocks the True, and (Sort of) Explains Everything” The extract provoked a great deal of controversy, hence the… Continue reading Beautiful Union?
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