In recent social media discussion relating to my article on Calvin’s view of sin, temptation and desire, one person suggested that the question posed when John Stevens shared my article should be modified from: ““Are we sinning when we experience sinful desires that are unwanted, unsought and that we resist/rejected.“ To: “are we sinning when… Continue reading Temptation, desire and self-deception
Tag: pastoral counselling
How we know affects how we live
If what we believe affects how we live, then “what we believe” includes how we know what we believe. The methods by which we go knowing truth about God, creation, humanity and new creation will affect our responding behaviours including our thoughts, emotions and words, not just the content we believe about those things. This… Continue reading How we know affects how we live
Facing depression
Every so often I try and point people in the direction of this video series I put together a little while back. I hope it will be useful to you or something you can share with others. Please fee free to get in touch if you would like to talk about anything in them
Pastoring the grieving: walking with a family when the decision comes to end treatment
I’ve been sharing a few articles about how we pastor people through bereavement. In a previous article, I wrote about walking with a family through a coroner’s investigation and inquest process. In that article, I alluded to the fact that the time leading up to death may not be straight forward. When it comes to… Continue reading Pastoring the grieving: walking with a family when the decision comes to end treatment
Every soul held captive by depression?
There seems to be quite a few worship songs at the moment which pick up on the theme of healing and declare it specifically in relation to depression. Quite why this is happening I’m not too sure. Why the focus on depression and anxiety but not on other illnesses? Perhaps it’s just that people are… Continue reading Every soul held captive by depression?
Fragments and distortion
Original Revelation is the theory that humanity started with a clear revelation of God and truth. Sin means that this became increasingly fragmented and disrupted. It’s central to the form of apologetics I’m most aligned to, presuppositional apologetics and the thinking of my favourite missiologist, JH Bavinck. You’ll also find it showing up in the… Continue reading Fragments and distortion
How important exactly am I – when we demand too much in friendships
And now to Precosia. In some respects, I find this the saddest of all the scenarios we have looked at. Why do I say that? It’s not to diminish the seriousness of the other situations. However, I think that generally speaking we are more likely to get what is stake with the other ones.[1] When… Continue reading How important exactly am I – when we demand too much in friendships
Love, holiness, relationships and rivalry
Remember Juliet? We met her at the coffee shop where she was looking longingly into the eyes of Romeo, her work colleague. In conversation, it comes out that When you talk with Juliet, she defends her relationship as follows. By the way, I’m not suggesting that she presents the following points in a neat, structured,… Continue reading Love, holiness, relationships and rivalry
The pastoral power of predestination
The problem when we approach predestination philosophically Predestination is often (almost always) seen as one of those tricky doctrines to be explained and defended (a bit like the Trinity). It’s something controversial and complicated. However, just like with The Doctrine of the Trinity, if we treat Predestination as one of those embarrassing relatives to be… Continue reading The pastoral power of predestination
Re-preach your sermon
I’ve picked up on a little debate between preachers recently about whether or not you should reuse sermons when speaking at other churches or prepare a fresh sermon every time. I suspect this has been prompted, at least in part by this brilliant article from Tim Wilson. There are a couple of things I’d differ… Continue reading Re-preach your sermon
Faithroots 