My friend, Steve Kneale, says no. You can read his reasoning here. Why does it matter? Well, it will affect our approach to church life, pastoral ministry and evangelism. A lot of churches organise their meetings around the assumption that unbelievers will be there. We invite them to stand and sing with us. We organise… Continue reading Does God hear the prayers of unbelievers?
Posts
The blame game
How do you respond when you are caught in sin? Are you able to own up quickly, even before you are caught? Or do you seek to deny the sin and even to blame others? Read Genesis 3:9-13 God calls out to the man “Where are you?” The man’s response is not exactly straight. In… Continue reading The blame game
Failure
Satan has launched at attack on Eden, seeking to tempt Adam and Eve to disobey God’s one command, he casts doubt on God’s truthfulness and goodness. How will they respond? Read Genesis 3:5-8 The woman observes three things about the fruit. It looks good, it is suitable food – suggesting it is likely to taste… Continue reading Failure
Nope, Champing will not save the church
Among the weird and wonderful stories showing up in the so called main stream news this week was this one about champing. “What on earth is that?” I hear you ask. Well, apparently it’s a new craze, based on the idea of glamping where historic churches (CH amping … get it?) are opened ip for… Continue reading Nope, Champing will not save the church
Attack
We’ve been introduced to a good and beautiful world with a loving God who creates and cares for his people. However, we know that this isn’t our experience of the world today. We live in a world where there is pain, suffering, decay and death. How did that come about? Read Genesis 3:1-5 The serpent… Continue reading Attack
Irresistable grace – the lost sheep revisited
How do you imagine the lost sheep responding when the shepherd arrives to find it? Perhaps you see it there, hearing it’s master’s voice and running, or hobbling to get close. Maybe, you picture it docile as the shepherd speaks gently and picks it up into his arms. Both are possible depending on the sheep’s… Continue reading Irresistable grace – the lost sheep revisited
Starting points for a messy world
Here’s the first episode of our new podcast series on “How do we know?” As we begin to delve into some Systematic Theology or “doctrine.” One of my aims is to make theological training and teaching more accessible and the podcast is one way of doing this. YouTube Audio
Abandoned? How do we square the difficult bits of Song of Songs?
I keep coming back to the question that Mike Ovey frequently asked his students at Oak Hill, “Will you let God disagree with you through his word?” The point he would make was that we can tell the difference between an imaginary friend and a real friend by whether or not the friend disagreed with… Continue reading Abandoned? How do we square the difficult bits of Song of Songs?
Saving the national health service (part 2) Funding and social care
In my first article about the current NHS crisis, I argued that we needed to look more at capacity and demand. At this time of year, there’s usually greater pressure on the NHS and specifically on A&E services due to seasonal illnesses and health threats. In particularly we can usually expect a spike in influenza… Continue reading Saving the national health service (part 2) Funding and social care
Another example of how conspiracy theories work
Here’s a good example of how bizarre Conspiracy Theories work. There’s currently a conspiracy theory going round that the COVID19 vaccine causes heart attacks and so, left right and centre, people are dropping dead of heart attacks. So, along comes Laurence Fox, who was okay in Lewis, but has since taken an unfortunate journey into… Continue reading Another example of how conspiracy theories work
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