It might be easy to think that when someone makes the decision to follow Jesus Christ they have to give up everything they enjoy and turn to a life that has about as much excitement as being kicked in the crotch by David Beckham. It's really not supposed to be that way.
Real Joy?
I remember having a conversation about this with a close friend of mine in our university cafeteria a few years ago. 'Rich,' she said, 'I think it's great that you take your faith seriously, but it's just not for me.' She continued saying, 'I love sex and I love going out and getting drunk. I don't want to feel bad about it.' A few weeks later I saw with her again in the same cafeteria. While crying, she told me about a guy she met that weekend at a house party. They both got drunk and ended up sleeping together. She felt completely used and worthless. I didn't say it at the time but I couldn't help but wonder if her definition of fun had probably changed since our last chat.
Reason Blog.
Posted on November 05, 2011
by Rich Spear
Categories: Bible
The most important question I believe that anyone can ask in their life is ‘Who is Jesus Christ?’. Straight away we are confronted with lots of questions. ‘How do I find out about Jesus?’, ‘Can an ancient bible really give historically reliable evidence?’
‘Roberts has put together an excellent, very readable, and accessible book without losing any of the quality of scholarship in the process’.
Posted on October 30, 2011
by Rich Spear
Categories: Bible, Faith, God, Jesus, Religion
Bad Experience?
This is a commonly asked question, which often betrays a pre-supposition: having to go to church is tantamount to a life sentence in prison. Many people like the idea of a personal connection with God, but that’s my experience, right? What does my spirituality have to do with a load of other strangers?
There may be many reasons that you could think that. It could be that you were brought up going to a church which frankly made joining a crown green bowling club seem exciting (I can relate!!). It might be that you had a bad experience with some Christians before, that left you feeling hurt or rejected. Does this mean you should reject church for good?
'This is not an optional extra for those that are extra keen. We all belong in the local church. This is where we will thrive, to accomplish what God has made us for!'
Posted on October 22, 2011
by Rich Spear
Categories: Religion
In the last ten years, Britain has continued to advance into more and more of a multi-faceted, multi-cultured society. In this time, there has been a growing fear with the rise of extremist Islam in the west, which has left many people (including Christians) unsure of how to relate to the many local Muslims, and to effectively share their faith.
''Nick covers interesting cultural issues such as ‘Should Christians eat Halal meat?’, as well as other theological hot potatoes such as ‘Should Christians call God Allah?’.''
Posted on October 08, 2011
by Ruth Preston
Categories: God, History
I have felt for quite some time that there has been a gaping hole in popular apologetics, namely, accessible and contemporary material on ethical issues arising from the Old Testament. The New Atheists have held up the God of the Old Testament as tantamount to an evil tyrant. Is God a Moral Monster? addresses some of these accusations head on. Paul Copan begins by quoting Richard Dawkins, who says:
Posted on September 25, 2011
by Rich Spear
Categories: Faith, Science
In the 19th century atheist philosophers would argue that the universe had always existed, but the discovery of the ‘big bang’ by the Roman Catholic priest and scientist Georges Lemaitre in 1927 (popularised by Hubble in 1929) put an end to this way of arguing, and atheists were now forced to admit that there was a beginning to the universe, which brought in a new line of questioning.
Argument from infinite regress
One way that we can end up at this question is through what philosophers of science call the ‘argument from infinite regress’. What this means is that if we ask the question on the origins of our universe, we may well come to the conclusion that the big bang started it. ‘Very well’ you may say, ‘but where did all the energy come from which led to the big bang?’ You may then get into various topics of discussion about different types of positive and negative matter, which again leads us to the question ‘Where did that come from?’
Posted on November 28, 2010
by Mark Hosmer
Categories: Bible, History, Jesus, Science
Scholars have been arguing over how to interpret the early parts of Genesis since at least the 3rd century (e.g. Origen c.185-c254), probably earlier. This is such an ongoing debate because it’s very difficult to come to concrete conclusions on certain aspects. Two common areas of uncertainty are creation, and the flood.
With the flood/Noah's ark, it might be helpful to break it down into a few parts and give a quick overview of each.
Is the flood described in the Bible using Global or Local language?
Did the flood cover the entire Earth, or just the region where Noah lived? For those that believe the Bible to be the word of God (myself included) this is an important question. It is very easy to come to conclusions based on particular words or phrases, but most of us rely on a translation of the original language. Does the intended meaning come across in the translation?
The flood account is one of the few areas in the Bible where this is unclear, experts in Hebrew are still debating subtleties in the language.
Posted on October 10, 2010
by Ruth Preston
Categories: Bible, History, Jesus
At face value it may seem strange that Matthew and Luke record different genealogies of Jesus. Many, including Richard Dawkins in The God Delusion, and Islamic apologist Shabbir Ally (Further Reading 4), have alluded to this comparison when accusing the Bible of contradiction.
However, these genealogies can be better understood with some general background information:
Biblical Genealogies
Biblical genealogies have different properties from the family trees that we are familiar with today.
Firstly, Biblical genealogies use the terms ‘son’ and ‘father’ loosely. They can mean either direct descendent or distant descendent. For example, we read in Luke 3:8 and John 8:39 that a group of religious teachers said to Jesus, ‘Abraham is our father’, which is absurd in the modern sense, since Abraham lived thousands of years before. Similarly, Jesus is described throughout the New Testament as ‘the son of David’ (Matthew 1:1), who lived hundreds of years before Jesus was born.
Posted on September 26, 2010
by Ruth Preston
Categories: History, Jesus
Introduction
In the last few centuries, there has been an attempt to relate the life, work and message of Christ to earlier mythology. Some of the arguments have led some to the conclusion that Jesus didn’t exist, but was mythological like the gods that came before him.
The most scholarly and influential works that champion the alleged similarity between Jesus Christ and pagan mystery religions and mythology are by Franz Cumont and Richard Reitzenstein, from the late 1800s and the first half of the 1900s. These theories today are thought inaccurate due to recent research:
‘In recent years, however, the critical discussion of principles and concepts have been advanced, especially by Italian scholars. As a result a gradual erosion of Cumont’s and Reitzenstein’s positions is taking place’ (10/p.2)
Yet, there has been a revival of Cumont’s theories in recent years, most of which has been produced on a popular level in the form of the Zeitgeist Internet movie, and works by Tom Hurpur and Achrya Sanning. These works claim similarities between Jesus and dieties such as Mithra, Horus, Attis, Dionysus, Adonis and Zoroaster.
Posted on September 05, 2010
by Rich Spear
Categories: Science
It seems fashionable these days to assume that Science and Religion are enemies of one another, with rationality trying to fight off the irrational ‘virus’ of faith. However, this is very far removed from Biblical Christianity which celebrates science as a wonderful gift from God. Proverbs 25:2 celebrates the searching out and discovery of new information that Scientists are accomplishing. Good science is completely compatible with Christian belief, which is not blind faith, but following the evidence where it leads. This involves a number of disciplines such as history, philosophy and science. As preacher and author Andrew Wilson says, we have God’s word and God’s world to reveal details about the kind of God we worship.
This week the UK’s most famous physicist Stephen Hawking releases his new book The Grand Design, co-authored with American colleague Leonard Mlodinow. Much interest has developed with extracts being leaked in the UK media over the past few days. In his latest offering, Hawking seems (at least on face value) to have radically departed from his closing paragraph in his best-selling A Brief History of Time where he wrote the following: