Category Archives: Apologetics

Christian missionaries – a story of oppression?

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For many, the story of Christian missions is a story of oppression of other people and their cultures.

Colonialism

The activities of missionaries are often linked with those of colonists and criminals.  As one 1990 children’s book has it, “The Europeans regarded the Aborigines as a heathen people who needed to be converted to Christianity, and put to work for the benefit of Europeans…Aboriginal lands were confiscated, their children taken away and put in Christian mission stations, their water holes poisoned, and many of their people massacred.”…

The Calvary Miracles

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Miracles attended the birth, life, and death of our Lord.  The significance of these miracles: they are signs.  Consider those recorded in Matthew 27:-

1.  The Supernatural Darkness – a sign of the Divine Passion, Mt 27:45.

This signifies

(a) Jesus’ conflict.  See Lk 22:53; Jn 12:31
(b) Jesus’ comfortlessness, Mt 27:46

Remember this, when the dark clouds of despair case a gloom over your soul.  Remember that the wrath of God was poured out on Christ – for you. …

The influence of theology on science

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The relationship between science and Christian theology is much closer than many – including Richard Dawkins and the other New Atheists, would have us believe.  Colin Russell, Emeritus Professor of the History of Science and Technology at the Open University, has a number of ways in which Christian theology has influenced the growth and development of science:-

1.  The elimination of ‘myth’ from nature.  An animate nature is not susceptible to scientific enquiry, not compatible with the biblical injunction to treat nature as a dependent creation of God, Psa 29, 89, 104, 137, who alone is to be worshipped, Deut 26:11; Isa 44:24; Jer 7:18.…

Myths and stories

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As Philip Sampson points out in his book Six Modern Myths Challenging Christian Faith, all societies have their stories and myths. The stories of ancient Greece, such as the story of Hercules, were myths or legends which were not intended to be taken literally. They paint pictures of heroes and villains, of good and evil, of creation and destruction, and all with the feel of a bygone age.  The Bible has sometimes been read in this way.…

The body – a story of repression

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It is often supposed that the Christian faith has had, down the years, an overwhelmingly repressive attitude towards the human body.  This ‘story of repression’ is discussed by Philip Sampson in his book Six Modern Myths Challenging Christian Faith, (a book that deserves to be better known, I think).  Here are some of the things that Sampson has to say.

Jonathan Miller described Christianity as more concerned for ‘the metaphysical fate of mankind’ than for ‘the physical order of nature’.…

The trouble with Dawkins

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Professor Richard Dawkins is a clever chap, and a scintillating writer.  Some who read The God Delusion will be bowled over by his rhetoric.  But, as various replies have been showing, there are significant gaps in his knowledge and serious flaws in his argument.  For example, in attempting to demonstrate the extent to which people do Bad Things in the name of religion, he asserts that, conversely, ‘individual atheists may do evil things but they don’t do evil things in the name of atheism’ (p278).…