This week the General Synod of the Church of England voted (by the narrowest of margins) not to go ahead with the consecration of women bishops. That prompted several bishops to comment that the decision would be hard to explain to outsiders. Actually, there are two things that are hard – though not impossible –
Read moreOne can only imagine what Lord McAlpine has gone through, being falsely accused of being a paedophile, and without being given the chance to answer the charge. He has described it as “a horrendous shock”, and I should think that only begins to tell us what it was like. Perhaps, worst of all, he says
Read moreI often feel that I fumble opportunities to say something Christian in a conversation, especially with those who are not Christians. I suspect I am not the only one! Much of the time I say nothing at all of any real value. Other times I mumble something that may be true but is unlikely to
Read moreAre the storms that have been battering the eastern United States this past week God’s judgment for gay marriage? That was what one caller to Radio 5 Live had suggested. Needless to say, the suggestion was dismissed and laughed at. One wit even suggested that God needed a new atlas, since San Francisco was basking
Read moreThe phrase may be ungrammatical, but it is telling. It is Don Carson’s way of describing what we do when we sin. Every sin we commit is not merely an offence against other people or against our own consciences, it is the ‘de-godding’ of God. We are effectively saying that we will not submit to
Read more“What do you think about Lance Armstrong?” was a question I was asked the other day. This was against the background of mounting evidence that the cyclist was at the head of a highly developed and yet secretive doping programme that helped him to win the Tour de France an amazing seven times. I found
Read moreWe live at a time when there is a fascination with what is new, and a lack of respect for what is old. However, like a good wine, the old can often be better than the new. Last Sunday evening, we began a short series looking at the Apostles’ Creed. In my preparation, I came
Read moreBattles Christians Face is the title of a book by Vaughan Roberts, which was republished earlier this year. Vaughan is a hugely respected Christian leader and Bible teacher – he has even spoken at our church! In the new preface, he says that it “is the most personal of my books … Of the many
Read moreI gather there is a new relationships guide with the straightforward title, Why You’re Not Married… Yet (I haven’t read it myself… yet). It suggests the reasons why a single woman doesn’t yet have a wedding ring on her finger. Interestingly, the author Tracey McMillan has been married three times herself, so she may not
Read moreDualism is the idea that there are equal forces of good and evil at work in the universe – God and the devil. And it is very easy to slip into that way of thinking. After all, God is good and the devil is evil, utterly opposed to God and everything God wants or values.
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