Genesis 3 records the scene in which the first humans, given great freedom to enjoy God’s good creation, defied his clear command. But their bid for freedom, far from making them ‘like God’, dragged them down into a state of brokenness, of fallenness.
We are created, but fallen – and every aspect of our humanity is affected by this: we are all prone not only to bodily sickness and decline but also to disorders of our intellects, emotions and wills.…
According to Genesis 1:27 (quoted by Jesus in Matthew 19:4), ‘God created mankind in his own image…male and female he created them.’
We are creatures, and therefore our identity is found, not by asserting our independence, but by embracing what our Creator has made us to be.
We are not machines; we are ‘flawed masterpieces’. If you set out to restore an Old Master, you don’t think: “This would look better with a car, rather than a hay cart”: you must be true to the work of the original artist.…
One result of the Enlightenment was that reliance on revelation was replaced with reason as the authoritative source of knowledge. But our society has now largely lost its confidence in reason, and therefore has abandoned the concept of objective truth as applied to the ‘big questions’ of meaning and morality.
We live, accordingly, in an age of subjectivism, of individualism, of personal freedom. I am free: free to think and live as I want. Free to be me. …
Here’s the first instalment of my summary of Vaughan Robert’s short book on this subject:-
Transgender is today’s big social, ethical and cultural issue. Stories of transitioning, debates about which public bathrooms to use, documentaries on transgender children, are impacting us on almost a daily basis.
How are Christians to respond:- not only to the issues, but also to the people involved, as we come into contact with them?
‘Transgender’ covers a range of experiences in which an individual’s sense of gender does not match their biological sex. …
John 1:29
(Naismith, 1200 Scripture Outlines)…
(a) How does the story of Joshua relate to the great promise that Abraham had been given in Genesis 12:1-3?
(b) The story of Rahab in Joshua 2 is the story of how a Gentile woman of dubious morals found that she mattered to God. The Old Testament focuses on the Lord’s dealings with his chosen people, the Jews; but can you think of other instances where Gentile people find God’s favour? And what do you make of Matthew 1:5?…
(a) Daniel found himself, as a young man, in a very alien environment. To what extent do find yourself, as a young Christian, to be in an environment where you are made to feel that you don’t belong?
(b) One of the most striking things about Daniel is his discipline. Quickly scan these chapters to see how much evidence you can find for this. What do you thing we can learn from Daniel’s example in this regard?…
(a) Israel wanted a king (why?). The Lord didn’t want them to have a king (why?). And yet the Lord allowed them to have their king (again, why?).
(b) Some people assume that God has a single, fixed, plan for everyone. If we depart from that plan, then we can never experience God’s full blessing again. In what ways does this passage tell us that things are not as simple as that?…
