Author Archives: admin

‘A better story’ – 9

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Has the sexual revolution delivered on its promise to deliver more and better sex?

Probably not.

Oxford statistitian David Spiegelhalter reports that, contrary to popular perception, the frequency of ‘having sex’ is actually on the decrease.  No-one knows why this is the case, but it may have something to do with the general business of people’s lives, and with the availability of so many technological diversions – mobile phones, tablets, and computers.

So, if people are not having more sex, are they having better sex? …

‘If the church were Christian’ – 5

Walking With Giants Posted on by

If the church were Christian, then, according to Philip Gulley, ‘inviting questions would be valued more than supplying answers.’

Gulley says that he has come across ‘many’ Christians who are content to rest their faith on some decision, made years before, to ‘invite Jesus into their heart’.  They have no desire desire to explore, question, or deepen their outlook beyond that.  They are encouraged in this apathy by intellectually lazy pastors, teaching dogmatic truth as a package that must be accepted in its entirety without demur.…

‘A better story’ – 8

Walking With Giants Posted on by

A Christian critique of the sexual revolution must begin with honest self-examination.

So, quoting Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:4-5, writes Glynn Harrison.

Over the centuries, the attitudes of the Christian church have been beset by shame and hypocrisy.  These very attitudes have helped trigger create the discontent that has led to the revolution.

Too often, Christians have felt shame before issues of sex and relationships.  It was not so at the beginning.  Shame was no part of God’s original plan (Genesis 2:25), but entered immediately after the first, catastrophic rebellion against God. …

Do we meet Christ in everyone?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, recently put it like this in a Tweet:-

‘Each of us is made in the image of God. That’s why we have the chance to encounter Christ in every person we meet – especially those on the margins.’

It’s an attractive thought, and one that seems to be becoming increasingly popular.  But it involves some rather loose thinking, because we can agree wholeheartedly with the premise (‘each of us is made in the image of God’), while observing that the conclusion simply does not follow (‘that’s why we have the chance to encounter Christ in every person we meet’).…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 4

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In chapter 4 of If the church were Christian, Philip Gulley contends that in such a church ‘gracious behavior would be more important than right belief’.

This is, of course, the old ‘Jesus versus the Pharisees’ thing.  The Pharisees were sticklers for theological orthodoxy, yet their behaviour lacked grace.  Jesus, on the other hand, was relaxed about doctrinal correctness, but exuded love and compassion.

The valuing of belief over behaviour doesn’t just affect the doctrinally conservative:- ‘It happens wherever and whenever people insist that their way to the Divine is the superior path.’…

‘A better story’ – 7

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Sociologist Peter Berger has suggested that ‘cognitive minorities’ need to develop strategies if they are to survive.  Christians, once in the majority in the Western world, are now a ‘cognitive minority’.  Not only that, but they are regarded as an immoral cognitive minority.

Psychologist Solomon Asch demonstrated that human beings can be dangerously conformist:-

Asch’s work demonstrates how difficult it is for human beings to stick out from the crowd. We hate being the odd one out.
…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 3

Walking With Giants Posted on by

By the time we reach chapter three of Philip Gulley’s book If the Church were more Christian, the procedure is becoming rather predictable: tell a story or two illustrating how bad ‘they’ (other Christians) are, and then tell a story or two showing how ‘we’ get it right.  Throw in one or two references to the Bible (don’t take too much trouble about how you select, interpret, or apply them).  Job done.  Next chapter please.…

Banned, or just ‘not invited’?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

When the Christian Union at the University of Derby organised their carol service, to be held in the city’s cathedral, they invited Rev Melvin Tinker, vicar of St John Newland in Hull, to be the preacher.

It transpires, however, that the CU was not empowered to invited Rev Tinker to speak.  Such invitations have to be made by the Dean, the Very Revd Stephen Hance.  The Dean said: “I am aware of online comments this morning claiming that Derby Cathedral has banned the Revd Melvin Tinker from speaking at the Derby University Christian Union Carol Service.”…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 2

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Philip Gulley puts it like this:- If the church were more Christian, ‘affirming our potential would be more important than condemning our brokenness.’  (If the Church Were Christian. HarperOne)

The church’s teaching about the sinfulness of human nature, it appears, has done great harm.  It has brought the church into disrepute, and caused individuals to feel damaged and guilt-ridden.  Gulley supports this with anecdotes of horror stories from which every reasonable person would recoil with horror.…

‘If the church were Christian’ – 1

Walking With Giants Posted on by

In his 2010 book, If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus, Quaker pastor Philip Gulley offers a recipe for, well, making the Church Christian.  Richard Rohr thinks that the recipe is ‘superb’.  (Actually, if these two men are on the same page about what a desirable form of Christianity would look like, then I prefer Gulley’s more straightforward approach.  Rohr’s slipperiness is reflected in this wording…

‘Jesus is a model for living more than an object of worship’ (my emphasis)

…whereas Gulley says that if the church were ‘more Christian’:-

‘Jesus would be a model for living rather than an object of worship’ (my emphasis).…