Category Archives: Christianity

All those differences!

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[This post is a work in progress!]

According to Acts 21:17-26, when Paul and his associates arrived in Jerusalem they were told that some Jewish Christians were troubled by a rumour that Paul had been teaching that, upon conversion to the Christian faith, they must abandon their adherence to the law of Moses, stop circumcising their children, and give up various other Jewish customs.

Paul accepts a proposal that he demonstrate his denial of these things by publicy associating himself with a Nazirite vow that was currently being undertaken by four members of the Jerusalem church.…

Our faithful Queen?

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“Never speak ill of the departed” is reasonable advice, even if it sometimes leads to representing a drunken lout as ‘the life and soul of the party’, or a foul-mouthed youth as merely ‘cheeky’.

In the case of her late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, a lot has been said and written in praise her charm, wit, intelligence, steadfastness and worldwide influence for good.

And her Christian faith.

After her death, church leaders scoured her Christmas messages and other utterances for signs of orthodox and vital religion. …

A legacy of violence?

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In his book Disarming Scripture: Cherry-Picking Liberals, Violence-Loving Conservatives, and Why We All Need to Learn to Read the Bible Like Jesus Did, Derek Flood claims that OT texts which represent God as encouraging, or even commanding, genocide ‘have been used repeatedly by Christians to justify genocides, beginning with the crusades and continuing up to present times.’

Flood mentions the Crusades, the killing by Oliver Cromwell of large numbers of Irish Catholics, the slaughter of many native Americans, and the killing of nearly a million Tutsies in the Rwandan genocide. …

What is ‘progressive Christianity’?

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A century ago, it was ‘liberal Christianity’ that was putting out its newer, kinder, more modern agenda for the Christian faith.  Around the time of the millenium (no, not that millenium, but the one we’ve already lived through) it was the Emerging Church that was seeking to free itself from the shackles of traditionalism.  Now, it seems, the most popular self-designation for those disenchanted with orthodoxy is ‘Progressive Christianity’ (PC).

As is the case with all these movements, PC is a bit difficult to pin down. …

‘A better story’ – 12

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Our ‘better story’ for sex and marriage begins as we are welcomed into God’s reality.

Five truths underpin this.

1. God has spoken.  We no longer have to strive to construct our our ‘reality’.  God has spoken in his Son and in his Scriptures.

2. We are God’s creatures.  This is his reality, not ours.  Our nature and purpose need to be understood in the light of our creaturely dependence on him.

3. We flourish when we work with the grain of God’s reality. …

‘If the church were Christian’ – 2

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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

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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).…

‘If the church were Christian’ – intro

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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’, and restates it in the following words:-

  1. Jesus is a model for living more than an object of worship.
  2. Affirming people’s potential is more important than reminding them of their brokenness.
  3. The work of reconciliation should be valued over making judgments.
…

Who is Christianity for?

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Christianity is not for the self-sufficient, but for those who know they are needy.  Jesus takes the poverty-stricken, and makes them rich.  He takes the foolish, and gives them wisdom.  He takes the weak, and gives them strength.  He takes mourners, and gives them comfort.  He takes nobodies, and makes them somebodies.  He looks for the lost, and finds them.  He takes those who have not, and gives them all they need.  He doesn’t call those who think they are good, but those who know that are bad.  …

Cake decoration for beginners

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I wouldn’t normally expect a satirical news show to make a point defending Christians (who, after all, are regarded as such soft targets for ridicule).  So I was surprised, and pleased, when Ian Hislop did precisely that on last night’s Have I Got News For You.

Judges in Northern Ireland have recently found a bakery business, run by Christians, guilty of discrimination for refusing to bake a cake that carried a pro-gay slogan.

Hislop simply asked what the outcome would be if a bakery run by Moslems was asked to bake a cake with a depiction of Mohammed on it.…