I recently wrote about “sola Scriptura” or “faith alone”. The point is that Christians don’t only have Scripture on its own in isolation. They do have things like experience, their ability to reason things out and prophecy. The point is that Scripture alone and uniquely is our sole authority for knowing and serving God. So,… Continue reading These things alone
Tag: Scripture
Sola Scripture
It’s the 31st October and I’m sat waiting for a locksmith to come to get us out of a bit of a jam, literally . As I’m waiting, I pick up on a Facebook discussion about “Sola Scripture”. Someone is arguing that this idea is nowhere to be found in Scripture. Well, I’m doubly struck… Continue reading Sola Scripture
Thus says the Lord? Sufficiency and a response to Tom Forryan in Evangelicals Now
Tom Forryan describes a visit to a church. “It was the first Sunday of the year and we were visiting a large church in our town. After the service an enthusiastic young man came up and told me, ‘The Lord has shown me you are in full-time Christian ministry.’ (How did the Lord do that?… Continue reading Thus says the Lord? Sufficiency and a response to Tom Forryan in Evangelicals Now
Growing an appetite for God’s Word
I believe that two crucial ingredients need to be present in any local church that wants to thrive. These are prayer and Bible study/teaching. Both are important because they are signs of hunger to know God more and more. Having said that, sometimes it can feel like hard work to encourage these things. Why? Well,… Continue reading Growing an appetite for God’s Word
Preach the whole word of God
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple of months working chapter by chapter through 1 Chronicles for the Faithroots Podcast, I’ll return to that in the Autumn. I’m about to run a little series of articles taking us through the book of Esther. In the Autumn, our church are starting a teaching… Continue reading Preach the whole word of God
An attempted conversation with a rabbi about God and Scripture
The other day I attempted to respond on Twitter to some provocative comments from a Rabbi about God and suffering. The Rabbi in question, Mike Harvey, claims to have written a best seller book about conversing with Christians and to be a leading expert on interfaith relations. He didn’t seem too interested in conversations with… Continue reading An attempted conversation with a rabbi about God and Scripture
What more do we need?
This is a bit of a follow up to my article regarding the abolition of slavery and “a better ethic than the Bible” earlier this week. A lot of the argument concerning the redemptive-movement-hermeneutic boils down to two questions which Michael Bird helpfully crystalised in a twitter discussion. Is it better for something to be… Continue reading What more do we need?
Do the Psalms and Prophets disagree with God?
One thing you’ve probably heard me say frequently is that we need to let God’s Word disagree with us. In a recent discussion I explained that this is one of the key reasons why I hold to Biblical inerrancy.[1] The comeback to this was that I was imposing an authoritarian understanding of Scripture that neglected… Continue reading Do the Psalms and Prophets disagree with God?
Killing Scripture?
Evangelical Christians believe that God’s Word is infallible and inerrant. These two closely related words are intended to convey an important point, that in Scripture God speaks truthfully -all that Scripture says is truthful concerning the things it speaks about and that it is without contradiction and error. When Evangelicals say this, they are speaking… Continue reading Killing Scripture?
Can I trust the Bible? – A question of presuppositions
Presuppositions are the foundational beliefs that underpin our worldviews. Why is this important when we are considering the question “Can I trust the Bible?” Well, when we are talking about the amazing things that the Bible describes, we are either pre-disposed to take them seriously or to dismiss them. You see, I will either have… Continue reading Can I trust the Bible? – A question of presuppositions
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