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Is God the Ultimate Boeing 747?

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In chapter 4 of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins attempts to demonstrate that the existence of God is extremely improbable.  He gives pride of place to his ‘Ultimate Boeing 747 gambit’.  This argument, he says, is ‘the big one’.

The starting-point is the comment attributed to Fred Hoyle that the probability of life originating on earth by chance is no greater that a tornado in a junk-yard asembling a fully-functioning Boeing 747.  Theists often like to say that that the universe is so complex that only God could have brought it into being.…

The fight

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In his celebrated book, Holiness, J.C. Ryle writes with his customary vigour about the Christian fight.  He takes as his text 1 Timothy 6:12 – “Fight the good fight of faith.”

What follows is a summary.

Many are fascinated by warfare and fighting.  But there is a warfare that is as real as any human battle, and of far greater importance.  It is waged by every Christian man and woman who ever entered the world.…

Eternal torment

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This is a hard post to write.  If there is one aspect of revealed truth that both saints and sinners wish was not there, it would be the doctrine of the eternal punishment of the wicked.  Christians – including evangelical Christians – have become almost completely silent on this point, sometimes from misplaced humility (‘Who am I to speak of such things?’), sometimes from fear of what unbelievers will think (‘Non-Christians have a low enough opinion of Christianity, without alienating them even more with this talk of hell and judgment’), and sometimes from actual doubt as to whether Scripture does actually teach which it appears to teach.…

Inerrancy and infallibility

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Inerrancy and infallibility, writes Timothy Ward, are not to be thought of as the most important things that we say about Scripture.  Rather than being of central or foundational importance, they are implications of our belief in the trustworthiness of the Bible.

What follows is a summary of Ward’s views on this subject.  (I have set out my own views elsewhere).

‘Infallibility’ is often taken to mean that the Bible is entirely trustworthy is matters of faith and conduct.…

2 Tim 4:1-8 – Keep faithful to the word – sermon notes

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Here we have some of the very last words spoken or written by the apostle Paul. They were probably recorded just weeks, perhaps even days, before his martyrdom (he is believed to have been beheaded on the Ostian Way, near Rome).

The prospect of death, of course, concentrates the mind wonderfully. And there can be no doubt about what Paul is concentrating on in our passage tonight. It is all about faithfulness to ‘the word’, v2.…

Halloween and the reinvention of paganism

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There seems to be more fascination with Halloween with each succeeding year.  Much of this is due to simple commercial exploitation.  For many retailers, it is now the third most lucrative event of the year.

But for the increasing numbers of people following the various resurgences of paganism, there is a more serious significance.  According to this BBC article, Samhain is for pagans one of the most important religious festivals, a time when the barriers between the physical world and the spiritual are at their thinnest.…

Christ-Centred Worship

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Bryan Chapell, whose book Christ-Centred Preaching: Redeeming the Expository Sermon has proven helpful to many, spoke a while ago to Christianity Today about his more recent book, Christ-Centred Worship: Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice.

What is Christ-Centred Worship?

Christ-centered worship is not just talking or singing about Jesus a lot. Christ-centered worship reflects the contours of the gospel…Opening moments offer recognition of the greatness and goodness of God that naturally folds into confession, assurance of pardon, thanksgiving, instruction, and a charge to serve God in response to his grace in Christ.

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Extra-terrestrial life: theological perspective

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Earlier in the year, Professor Paul Davies was interviewed for the Guardian’s Science Weekly podcast.

Professor Davies is committed to the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.  He thinks, however that rather than earthlings receiving intelligible radio messages from aliens, still less being actually visited by beings from elsewhere in our galaxy, it is more likely that we will one day detect some kind of ‘beacon’, which we will infer could only have been caused by intelligent life. …

Puritan preaching priorities

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In a recent article reprinted in The Banner of Truth, Johann Odendaal sets out some of the principle priorities of Puritan preaching.  These help to explain why these men should be regarded as ‘God’s giants’:-

1. Good preaching to them was the primary means of God’s grace to man. It was the highlight of public worship. Through the preaching the Holy Spirit would apply the Word in power to save people from their sins. It is primarily through the preaching of the Word that believers are built up in their faith.…

Faith and assurance

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In his celebrated book Holiness, J.C. Ryle writes:-

Bare simple faith in Christ shall save a man, though he may never attain to assurance; but will it bring him to heaven with strong and abounding consolations? I will concede that it shall land him safe in harbor; but I will not concede that he will enter that harbor in full sail, confident and rejoicing. I would not be surprised if he reaches his desired haven weather-beaten and tempest-tossed, scarcely realizing his own safety, till he opens his eyes in glory.…