Now we return to Tom, Gladys and Ethel. Tom had been giving Ethel lifts to home group whilst his wife Gladys stayed at home. When we first met their situation, we talked about a gut instinct that things were wrong and that we weren’t getting to hear the whole story. Tom had admitted that his… Continue reading The doctrine of God and a marriage on the rocks
Tag: systematic theology
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 Romeo is not a Christian – though he has promised Juliet he might come to church with her sometime and he did attend some Alpha sessions once.… Continue reading Love, holiness, relationships and rivalry
God, work and rest
Friends Reunited Back some time ago when we were looking at the Doctrine of the Trinity, we introduced some people to provide some case studies. These helped us think more carefully about how the Doctrine of the Trinity applied practically to real life. You may remember them: Albert, a 45 year old man who seems… Continue reading God, work and rest
Why does what we call God matter?
Throughout our look at who God is, we’ve kept coming back to the point that what we believe affects how we live. This means that when we talk about The Doctrine of the Trinity, belief that God is Sovereign or the question of Predestination, we’ve not just been engaging in an intellectual exercise. These beliefs… Continue reading Why does what we call God matter?
What is God called?
What’s in a name? Different names have different meanings. My name means “loved.” My wife’s name, Sarah, means “princess.” Generally speaking, though, we don’t tend to pick names primarily for a specific meaning associated with the child. Names are given based on how they sound or because there is a family tradition. For example, I… Continue reading What is God called?
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
Predestination or free will?
The Big Question So, this is the big question that has stumped theologians and divided Christians. If God is sovereign and predestines, then what freedom do we have to make choices and thus what responsibility do we have for our actions. This is a question we will come back to in more detail when we… Continue reading Predestination or free will?
God creates, sustains, judges and redeems
We follow on from saying that God wills and decrees to look at some of the specific things he wills and decrees. We are going to look at these in far more detail later on when we come to look at Creation, Humanity and New Creation. However, I want to just highlight those three things… Continue reading God creates, sustains, judges and redeems
The goodness and greatness of God: Implications for spiritual warfare
If God is completely sovereign and knows all things, past present and future, then is spiritual warfare real? Or to put it the other way round, given that the Bible talks about spiritual warfare and given our experience in life of an ongoing struggle between good and evil, doesn’t this challenge our understanding of God’s… Continue reading The goodness and greatness of God: Implications for spiritual warfare
God’s Goodness and Greatness: Implications for prayer
Another response to God’s character should be a lively prayer life. In fact, this is part of worship. Prayer is an obvious response to God’s goodness. God is love and so prayer is about a relationship with him, knowing God and knowing that he loves to hear us. We can be confident that a good… Continue reading God’s Goodness and Greatness: Implications for prayer
