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?
Posts
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
Shameless
Genesis 2:25 says Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. The point of nakedness is that it is now associated with embarrassment and vulnerability. The point about shame is that it is something which causes us to hide, either ourselves of the thing that causes shame. In the Garden of Eden,… Continue reading Shameless
How to engage emerging adults in church Book Review
The other day I wrote some thoughts in response to an article by Rebecca Glover on the missing generation of 18-25s in the church. Rebecca’s article was part biographical and part an introduction to the short book I’m now reviewing. The book is part of aa Grove Youth series and is short at 28 pages… Continue reading How to engage emerging adults in church Book Review
Not alone
Last time, we saw that God had made the man, Adam and placed him in Eden with the duty of caring for the garden and guarding it. God had commanded him to abstain from the fruit of one specific tree. Against this backdrop, God identifies that it isn’t good for him to be alone. This… Continue reading Not alone
When Scripture asks the questions
Steve Kneale has written helpfully here about what to do when a Bible passage doesn’t seem to be answering your questions. As Steve observes, it can often be the case that the passage simply isn’t intended to answer the question that you and me are asking. Indeed, it may well also be the case that… Continue reading When Scripture asks the questions
Worship and work
Read Genesis 2:15-18 So, now God takes the man, Adam and places him in the Garden. There he gives him work to do. He is to look after the garden, to tend/till and to guard/keep. Notice three things here. First, we see again that he has purpose, secondly we see that he is now the… Continue reading Worship and work
The death of conversation
Conversation and debate seem to be dying. Social media, especially forms like twitter are probably not helping with this. I reflected on this a little bit more over the past couple of days from two observations. First, I’ve noticed a pattern on social media. It runs like this: Original Poster “Here’s my particular hot take. … Continue reading The death of conversation
Two Trees: Two Ways To Live
I believe that there is a single choice running through Scripture. It’s the choice that we find here in Genesis 2-3, it’s offered to the people of Israel at the end of Deuteronomy, it’s the choice that Christ makes at Calvary and we too are called to make that choice in response to the Gospel.… Continue reading Two Trees: Two Ways To Live
