Category Archives: Jesus Christ

Christ’s resurrection – Unbelievable?

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On a recent edition of Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable programme, the question under discussion was “Is apologetics a waste of time?”

Answering in the affirmative was atheist James Croft.  Obviously skilled as a debater, he projected himself as a calmly reasonable person who has considered the truth-claims of Christianity and found them wanting.

I think that his underlying unreasonableness came across in two particular ways.

Firstly, he complained that Christian apologists such as W.L Craig keep coming out with the same arguments, even though (he said) these arguments have been comprehensively refuted time after time. …

Imagining the Kingdom

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‘Imagining the Kingdom: Mission and Theology in Early Christianity’: This is the title of Tom Wright’s inaugural lecture at St Mary’s College, University of St Andrews 26th October 2011.

Here is the full text of that lecture.

It is something of a tour de force, and I’m going to attempt to sketch out the main steps of the first part of Wright’s argument.

The four Gospels are remarkable documents, and we should not allow their familiarity, or the existence of purported rivals (such as the ‘Gospel of Thomas’ or the hypothetical ‘Q’) to blind us to ‘their remarkable blend of page-turning narrative, vivid portraiture (especially of their central figure), historical verisimilitude and sophisticated theology.’…

Disappointed with Jesus

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An episode of Premier Radio’s Unbelievable show (20th August 2011) featured a thoughtful and civilised discussion between Rebekah Bennetch & Sheridan Voysey.  (The show’s host, Justin Brierley, also played a major a role in the conversation).

Rebekah had offered to appear on the show in order to explain her ‘deconversion’ from Christianity to atheism.  She had been raised in a strongly Christian family, had attended two Bible colleges, taught in Sunday School, and served with her parents in the mission field.…

Jn 21:15-25 – “Do you love me?” – sermon notes

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I recently heard a true story about a bishop and a dentist. The dentist had just finished fitting the bishop out with a complete set of new teeth. As soon as the dentist had finished, the bishop went over to a mirror. And as looked at himself and inspected his mouthful of fine teeth, he said, “Jesus Christ.” And then again: “Jesus Christ.” The dentist was rather appalled when he heard such profane language coming from a man of the cloth.…

John 19:1-16a – Rejected – sermon notes

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Of all the different kinds of pain that men and women have to suffer, few can be more agonising than the pain of rejection. For a wife to hear her husband of 20 years say, “I can’t stand the sight of you; you no longer have a place in my life”; for an employee to be told by her boss, “Your knowledge and skills are surplus to our requirements; you no longer have a place in this organisation; you are redundant”; for a student to be notified by his university, “You have failed your examination, you no longer have a place on this course”; all are deeply wounding.…

Christ’s illegal trial and condemnation

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Outline of a sermon on Luke 23:23f by John Flavel (1628-1691).

I.  The trial of Christ was conducted most maliciously and illegally by his unrighteous judges.  The righteous Judge of all the world is judged most unrighteously.

1.  He was inhumanly abused, both in word and action.

2.  He was falsely examined by a court (the Sanhedrin) that had no authority to try him.

3.  He was absurdly accused of perverting the nation, and of denying tribute to Caesar.…

How should we refer to the Saviour?

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Don Carson writes of an awkward correspondence he had with an individual who criticised him for repeatedly referring to “Jesus” (rather than “the Lord Jesus Christ”) in an address.

The criticism was based on Romans 10:9 (‘if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”…you will be saved.’)

As Carson points out, there is no reason to suppose that Romans 10:9 provides a necessary and unvarying formula for how we refer to our Lord.  By such reasoning, Matthew 1:21 (“you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins”) could equally be insisted upon as a formula.…

Love for Christ

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The love that a Christian has for Christ is a practical, as well as an emotional thing.  It has its own distinguishing marks.

J.C. Ryle expressed it very well, I think:-

1.  If we love a person, we like to think about him. We do not need to be reminded of him. We do not forget his name or his appearance or his character or his opinions or his tastes or his position or his occupation.…

‘The Nativity’ – too much doubt, not enough joy

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It all came together in last night’s final episode of the BBC’s ‘The Nativity’.

Jupiter, Saturn, and Regulus came together in an improbably brilliant and sudden conjunction.

Mary and Joseph came together in a somewhat contrived joining of hands as she gave birth to her first-born.

The shepherds came together to greet the new baby, as did the three Magi a few moments later.

As with the previous three episodes, there was something rather thoughtful and human about the reactions of the various participants. …

Much ado about ‘The Nativity’

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The Daily Express has melodramatically announced that there is ‘fury over BBC’s nativity insult’:-

The BBC has angered Christians with a TV drama in which the Virgin Mary is branded a prostitute and sex cheat.

Already, there is a danger of too little light being obscured by too much smoke.  The Express only cites one angry Christian – Stephen Green, of Christian Voice.  And I think his criticism is misplaced.

I’ve seen the first three episodes of this drama (the fourth and last is to be broadcast tomorrow). …