2 + 2 = 5?

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William Jennings Bryan is reported to have said: “I believe the whale swallowed Jonah because the Bible said it, and if the Bible said that Jonah swallowed the whale I would have believed it simply because the Bible said so.”

Much more recently Peter LaRuffa, who is on the staff of Grace Fellowship Church, Northern Kentucky, said:-

If, somewhere within the Bible, I were to find a passage that said 2+2=5, I would believe it, accept it as true and then do my best to work it out and understand it.
…

Preaching to the ‘fuzzy faithful’

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Randal Pelton quotes from Linda A. Mercandante’s 2014 book, ‘Belief Without Borders‘:-

“It has always been obvious to religious leaders that there are many ‘fuzzy’ faithful sitting in their pews; people who are neither completely clear, completely in agreement, nor completely faithful to the tenets of their religion” (p. 11).

Obvious or not, says Pelton, preachers would do well to work out strategies for speaking to these different groups of hearers:-

To the slightly confused I could say: “Let me try to make that clearer.…

What the ‘spiritual but not religious’ want to know

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In Belief Without Borders (2015), Linda A. Mercandante says that the ‘spiritual but not religious’ frequently ask the following questions:-

1. Is there anything larger than myself, any sacred or transcendent dimension, any Higher Power?

2. What does it mean to be human?

3. Is spiritual growth primarily a solitary process or is it done with others?

4. What will happen to me, if anything, after death?

Although based on research conducted in the US, the UK is probably similar enough for it to be relevant here.…

Three degrees of agnosticism

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As Samuel Leith [sic. he means, I think, ‘Leith Samuel’] once pointed out, here are three kinds of agnostics. One says he doesn’t know, but wishes he did. The answer to him is the promise of Christ. Seek and ye shall find. He won’t be an agnostic long.

The next is the agnosticism of someone who spends all his time in nightclubs cruising for sex. “I don’t know and I don’t care.” This guy doesn’t require an answer.

…

Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing

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‘The Christian life oscillates between these two poles — the overflowing joy of the “already” redeemed (Ephesians 1:7) and the tearful yearning of the “not-yet” redeemed (Ephesians 4:30). Not that we ever leave the one or the other in this life. We are always “sorrowful yet rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10).’

John Piper…

Preach this Christmas

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Ian Paul has commented on the thoughts of David Walker, Bishop of Manchester, about the distinctive needs of occasional church attenders (i.e. those who might attend an annual carol service, but not much else).

In addition to some sensible, if unremarkable, suggestions (stick to traditional words of carols, mention other events coming up in your calendar, and so on) David Walker offers the following advice:-

If there is to be a sermon (and at carol services, it really is not a good idea)…

Ian Paul rightly asks, Why?…

Mk 11:6; 15:13 – “Hosanna!”, “Crucify!” – one crowd, or two?

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When preachers compare the response of the crowd on Palm Sunday (“Hosanna!”, Mk 11:9; Mt 21:9; “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”, Lk 19:38) to that of the crowd just a few days’ later (“Crucify him!”, Mk 15:13; Lk 23:21; Jn 19:15) they often explain this in terms of fickleness (“How quickly they change their minds about Jesus!”).  I’ve done it myself.

So also in the hymn ‘My Song is Love Unknown’:

Sometimes they strew his way/And his sweet praises sing…Then “Crucify!”…

Downton: a God-free zone

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Alistair Bruce, the person responsible for historical accuracy in the ITV series Downton Abbey has said that he was forced to leave out religious references in the show for fear of offending viewers.  The show was set between about 1910 and 1925, and at that time Christianity would have had a key role in British social life – especially that of the aristocracy.  They would have attended church, and they would have said grace before meals.  …

Godly blogging

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I’ve said before that this blog is nothing if not up to date.  So I guess that makes it nothing, then.  Because I want to go right back to 2008 (when I was just a blogger-in-arms), and the ‘Ten Commandments’ for bloggers proposed by the Evangelical Alliance:-

1. You shall not put your blog before your integrity.

2. You shall not make an idol of your blog.

3. You shall not misuse your screen name by using your anonymity to sin.…

The domesticated Bible

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Going back over some back issues of Third Way magazine, I came across a piece by Stephen Tomkins in which he takes some of the more awkward bits of the Bible and compares what it actually says with what we would like it to say.  Of course, issues of genre, idiom, culture and so on come into play here.  But it’s a good reminder to read and interpret the Biblical text with integrity, facing up to its challenges and not wishing them away.…