I write regularly in different Christian media – up until a few weeks ago I wrote a twice weekly column for the Christian Today website. I have written for conservative, liberal and mixed Christian media. My only condition for writing is that I am allowed to write what I want. Sometimes one has to exercise self-restraint remembering the prospective readership. My hope is always to seek … Continue reading Is Christian Media a Trojan Horse for Heresy?
There is a small story happening in the Scottish region of Dumfries and Galloway which tells us a great deal about what is happening the UK today https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/968942/bibles-bedside-hospital-christian-leaders-galloway-royal-infirmary At first glance it just appears like a minor spat that is hardly newsworthy at all. But the story and how it is reported is revealing of the current state of the culture and the church in … Continue reading Banning the Bible in the NHS
This weeks Ecclesiastes article on Christian Today One rotten apple spoils the barrel. One badly behaved child can disrupt a whole class. One abusive clergyman can harm a whole church. One dead fly ruins perfume. Solomon having told us about the necessity of wisdom then goes on to explain how a little foolishness can harm life. (Ecclesiastes 10:1-11). Pixabay A Little Folly — verse 2. The heart of … Continue reading Ecclesiastes 10: The Stench of Folly and the Perfume of Christ
The following is an extended version of an article I published yesterday on Christian Today. After I wrote about the Royal Wedding I was faced with two direct challenges/accusations – can you do any better (what would you write)? And what do you mean that this sermon has indicated the faultlines in Western Evangelicalism? I will get to the former later – but I have … Continue reading How Bishop Curry’s Sermon Revealed the Four Evangelical Tribes
This article was published on Christian Today I wonder whether, if at school we offered a class entitled Wisdom 101, there would be any takers? It seems as though education in the West has shifted from teaching students the basics of how to think (literacy, philosophy, language, numeracy, reason and logic) to teaching them what to think. Education used to be a case of cramming … Continue reading Ecclesiastes 9: The Wisdom of Christ
Before I go on to share the article I wrote for Christian Today I have to share from a really heavy heart. This has turned out to be far more significant than I thought. I listened to a man who denies the Gospel, preach a Gospel that was no gospel at all and wrote an article about it. As a result I received a barrage … Continue reading The Wedding, the Sermon and the Reaction – Article on Christian Today
I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in … Continue reading Ecclesiastes 9: Time and chance, and why we can’t always get what we want
(Richard Dawkins is in Sydney this weekend so I issued this challenge to him on the Christian Today website) Dear Professor Dawkins, Apologies for writing you another letter (remember The Dawkins Letters?) but you just don’t seem to be responding. It’s so funny how we don’t talk any more. Anyway, I hope you are well and fully recovered from your recent bout of illness (I would … Continue reading An open letter to Richard Dawkins: What have you got to lose by debating God’s existence with me this weekend?
Last week marked the 200th birthday of Karl Marx, born on the 5th of May 1818. It was an event marked in a positive way by amongst others, the Economist, the Financial Times, the New York Times (whose headline read ‘Happy Birthday Karl Marx, you were right’), and the Guardian columnist Owen Jones who tweeted; ‘Happy 200th birthday Karl Marx’. The Chinese sponsored a new statue of Marx … Continue reading Should Christians Celebrate the Birthday of Karl Marx?
(This article was first published on Christian Today) The former leader of one of the UK’s few mega churches (Abundant Life, Bradford), Paul Scanlon, is now someone who gives ‘Master Classes in Communication’. Recently he communicated a very interesting thought that has caused a bit of a stir and hit a nerve. He Instagrammed: ‘Christians and non-Christians agree on one thing – we both dislike evangelism.’ … Continue reading Does Jesus Dislike Evangelism?
