Taking it to extremes

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My eye was caught by a review, in the latest (Summer 2012) number of The Reader, of a recent book by Marcus J. Borg.

Marcus Borg is well-known as a radical New Testament scholar.  He is a member of the notorious Jesus Seminar and is deeply sceptical about the historicity of the biblical record of Jesus of Nazareth.

What particularly struck me in Derek Wood’s review of Speaking Christian were the following words:-

Borg sees a twin-track Christianity, travelled by those who see the Bible as a literal and inerrant source of truth, and those who follow what he calls the historical metaphorical approach, understanding the culture from which the Bible books were written and looking for the meaning behind the text.

…

Same-sex marriage: not near so much like a ball

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“I should like balls infinitely better… if they were carried on in a different manner… It would surely be much more rational if conversation instead of dancing were made the order of the day.”

“Much more rational, my dear Caroline, I dare say, but it would not be near so much like a ball.”

(Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice)

Peter Tatchell and Peter D Williams recently discussed the question of same-sex marriage.  Tatchell is, of course, a well-known human rights activist and supports same-sex marriage. …

What would you pray for?

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“Irrespective of whether you currently pray or not, if you were to pray for something at the moment, what would it be for?”

This was the intriguing question posed in a recent online survey, conducted by ICM Research, of 2,000 adults in England, Scotland and Wales.

The most popular answers were:-

  • A family member
  • Peace for the world
  • Healing for another
  • Less stress in my life
  • An end to world poverty
  • Guidance
  • Thankfulness
  • My partner
  • Prosperity
  • A friend
  • Healing for myself
  • Marriage or relationship
  • Forgiveness
  • Work
  • My spiritual life
  • My church

Just 15% said that they would not ever pray for anything.…

The Lewis ‘Trilemma’ revisited

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What possible answers could be given to the question, “Who was Jesus?”

C.S. Lewis famously wrote:-

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.…

‘Already…not yet’

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According to Fee & Stuart,

‘The early Christians came to realize that Jesus had not come to usher in the “final” end but the “beginning” of the end, as it were. Thus they came to see that with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and with the coming of the Spirit, the blessings and benefits of the future had already come. In a sense, therefore, the end had already come. But in another sense the end had not yet fully come.…

The Sceptic’s Annotated Bible

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The Sceptic’s Annotated Bible (SAB) is a god-send for Christians.  If you want a convenient summary of the many and various objections that might be raised against the Bible, the SAB is just the thing.

There’s nothing new about it, of course.  Over a century ago two ‘freethinkers’ rejoicing in the names of Foote and Ball (I tell you no lie) produced their innocently-named Bible Handbook, which attempted much the same job.  I have previously written about this:-

‘Far from being an informative guide to the Bible it turned out to be a compilation of supposed errors and contradictions as uncovered by two ‘freethinkers’. 

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Ten reasons not to legalise same-sex marriage

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Writing for the Christian Medical Fellowship, Dr Peter Saunders comments that there is increasing pressure in Britain to permit same-sex marriage.  The question for many has become how (not if) the law should be changed.

Dr Saunders gives ten reasons why the law should not be changed:-

1. Marriage is the union of one man and one woman

Throughout  history in virtually all cultures and faiths throughout the world,  marriage has been held to be the union of one man and one woman. …

Has neuroscience killed God?

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I recently got round to listening to the podcast of a discussion on this topic on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable show.  The Revd Dr Alasdair Coles is a neurologist and a Christian.  His interest in the subject was stimulated by meeting a Christian patient who claimed to have some very powerful religious experiences but which, as it seems, were actually being triggered by epilepsy.  The sceptical perspective was represented by Martyn Frame, a psychological therapist.…

Knowing God, and knowing about him

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‘A little knowledge of God,’ wrote J.I. Packer, ‘is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about him.’

He continues:-

1. One can know a great deal about God without much knowledge of him.

I am sure that many of us have never really grasped this. We find in ourselves a deep interest in theology (which is, of course, a most fascinating and intriguing subject—in the seventeenth century it was every gentleman’s hobby). We read books of theological exposition and apologetics.…

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. …