Stephen Hawking and the God of the Gaps

Walking With Giants Posted on by

It is not only theists who commit God-of-the-gaps fallacies (“I can’t explain it, therefore God must have done it”).

Stephen Hawking, in his new book ‘The Grand Design’ claims that there is no need to postulate a god who lit the blue touch paper and set off the Big Bang:-

Because there is a law such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the universe exists, why we exist.

…

Was that an apology?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Those who are in the public eye often find it difficult to back down, to admit that they were wrong, to apologise.

The recent furore involving Pakistan Cricket chief Ijaz Butt is a case in point.

With members of his own team under investigation for allegedly fixing certain on-field events in order to defraud bookies, he declared, in an interview, that talk was rife that England players had been up to the same kinds of tricks. …

Some Roman Catholic proof texts

Walking With Giants Posted on by

A recent edition of Premier Christian Radio’s ‘Unbelievable’ show featured a lively discussion between William Johnstone, a spokesperson for ‘Catholic Voices’ and Duncan Boyd, of the Protestant Truth Society.

The topic for debate was, ‘Is the Papacy Biblical?’ – very topical, in view of the fact that the Pope was in the UK on an official state visit at the time.

In the event, the debate ranged more broadly than the question of the papacy. It was, I suppose, helpful that each protagonist was both clear and convinced about his own position.…

Five Points – of Arminianism and of Calvinism

Walking With Giants Posted on by

It is often assumed that the so-called ‘five points of Calvinism’ provide an adequate summary of reformed (that is to say, Calvinistic) doctrine. It is not really so. They were formulated (in 1618, at the Synod of Dort) as a response to a five-point Remonstrance put out by certain Belgian theologians a little earlier in the same century.

The theology of the Remonstrance, which came to be known as Arminianism, was based on the belief that faith is a free and responsible human act which is exercised independently of God, and that since the Bible commands all to believe, all must be able to believe. …

The Reformation: tell us the truth

Walking With Giants Posted on by

When the Pope arrived in Scotland a couple of days ago, on the first leg of his state visit to the UK, a welcome speech touched on the Reformation and mentioned the persecution of Catholics by Protestants.  It did not, however, refer to the treatment of Reformers by Catholics.

In a recent article in The Living Church, John Martin notes that in London stand two churches within a mile of one another, each commemorating religious martyrs:-

A plaque in St.

…

The Christian view of man

Walking With Giants Posted on by

The Christian view of man (i.e. of human beings) may be summed up in the following way:-

1. Human beings have worth. The biblical record explicitly and implicitly affirms the value and worth of humanity. This positive statement is grounded in God’s creative activity, the ultimate plan of redemption that has been revealed in Jesus Christ, and the ongoing care that God provides for all creation. The worth of humanity is not based on anything inherent in people but is the result of God choosing to grant worth and dignity to people.…

Guidance – perils and pitfalls

Walking With Giants Posted on by

Christians, as J.I. Packer reminds us, believe in divine guidance.  We believe that God has a plan for us, and we believe that God is able to communicate that plan to us.

We fall into error, however, when we think of guidance as inward prompting of the Holy Spirit apart from God’s written Word.

It is a mistake to narrow the focus of guidance exclusively to vocational guidance (Whom should I marry? Which church should I join?…

The Holy Trinity a Biblical doctrine

Walking With Giants Posted on by

B.B. Warfield, while recognising the obvious fact that the term ‘Trinity’ is not a biblical term, nevertheless maintains that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a biblical doctrine.

The doctrine of the Trinity lies in Scripture in solution; when it is crystallized from its solvent it does not cease to be Scriptural, but only comes into clearer view.

The doctrine of the Trinity, insists Warfield, not only is a biblical doctrine; it must be a biblical doctrine, because it is not discoverable by natural reason. …

What is the ‘soul’?

Walking With Giants Posted on by

“O God (if there is a God), save my soul (if I have a soul).”

Such, allegedly, was the tentative prayer of a soldier whose life was in mortal danger on the battlefield.

But what is the ‘soul’?  Does it have a separate existence apart from the body?

It needs to be recognised immediately, I think, that the biblical terminology is fluid, rather than fixed.  I don’t think, for example, that anything can be proven from any single use of the word psychḗ in the New Testament. …

Ryle on sin

Walking With Giants Posted on by

It was no accident that J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) gave the first chapter of his celebrated book on Holiness the simple title, ‘Sin’.  ‘I make no apology,’ he writes, ‘for beginning this volume of papers about holiness by making some plain statements about sin.’

Here are some of the rather striking things he has to say on this subject:-

1.  Wanted: clear thinking about sin

‘Dim or indistinct views of sin are the origin of most of the errors, heresies and false doctrines of the present day.…