‘May I never,’ writes Paul in Galatians 6:14, ‘boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’
Let us note, says J.C. Ryle, what the Apostle Paul did not boast or glory in. He did not boast in his
John Stott spells out one important aspect of ‘living under the cross’:-
…The cross is a revelation of God’s justice as well as of his love. That is why the community of the cross should concern itself with social justice as well as with loving philanthropy. It is never enough to have pity on the victims of injustice, if we do nothing to change the unjust situation itself. Good Samaritans will always be needed to succour those who are assaulted and robbed; yet it would be even better to rid the Jerusalem-Jericho road of brigands.
Christians, no less than many of their critics, can get in an awful muddle about the question of whether we are supposed to have a positive or a negative view of human nature; whether we are to affirm or repudiate it.
John Stott clarifies by noting that what we are is partly the result of our creation by God in his image, and partly the result of the defacing of that image in the Fall. Stott explains:-
Whatever we are by creation we must affirm: our rationality, our sense of moral obligation, our sexuality (whether masculinity or femininity), our family life, our gifts of aesthetic appreciation and artistic creativity, our stewardship of the fruitful earth, our hunger for love and experience of community, our awareness of the transcendent majesty of God, and our inbuilt urge to fall down and worship him. …
Reflection on the death of Christ and its achievement, so far from being a sombre experience, actually leads to a type and degree of celebration that can be found nowhere else.
For the cross brings us into a new relationship with God. This relationship is marked by boldness, love and joy. And these do not belong merely in the interior experience of the individual believers, but are to distinguish our public worship.
As W.M. Clow points out:-
‘There is no forgiveness in this world, or in that which is to come, except through the cross of Christ. …
Interested in seeing what has been published recently on the relationship between science and Christian faith, I chanced upon some reviews on Amazon of Andrew Parker’s The Genesis Enigma (Black Swann, 2010).
Some of the reviews were favourable, others not. Among the latter, one individual informed us:-
[This] book is not worth reading.
Another opined:-
…[This book has nothing] interesting to say at all. [It is] candy for believers, a comforter which has nothing relevant to contemporary discourse.
There is not a word in the Bible which is extra crucem, which can be understood without reference to the cross. (Martin Luther)
This one event of the cross of Christ is a final revelation both of the character and consequence of human sin and of the wonder and sacrifice of divine love. (Alan Stibbs)
Calvary shows how far men will go in sin, and how far God will go for man’s salvation. (H.C. Trumbull)
In the cross, sin is cursed and cancelled. …
C.S. Lewis famously wrote of ‘The Problem of Pain’, and Christian apologists generally regard the reality of suffering as one of the most serious objections to the existence of a good God.
However, it is not difficult to see that at least some types of pain are absolutely necessary for our well-being.
Nick Lane’s recent book Life Ascending (Profile Books, 2009) is subtitled ‘The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution’. Writing as a biochemist, sets out his ‘top ten’ as follows:-
Although adopting a strictly naturalistic stance, Lane’s discussion of pain is of relevance to theodicy (i.e.…
It had been a mountain-top experience to top the lot. Right there, in front of three of his disciples, Jesus had experienced a brief but amazing transformation. His face shone; even his clothes became dazzling white. Two godly men from long ago, Moses and Elijah, had put in personal appearances. And God himself had spoken: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
As they come down the mountain, Jesus gave Peter, James and John a solemn instruction, v9: “Don’t tell anyone about what you have just seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”…
‘Bias confirmation’ refers to the tendency that people have to notice evidence that seems to confirm their existing beliefs, and to ignore or discount contradictory evidence. It amounts to unconscious ‘cherry-picking’ from the available evidence, and can lie behind expressions such as, “There – I told you so! Now will you believe me?”
To a lesser or greater extent, we are all prone to bias confirmation. We cannot objectively and rationally evaluate all the sense experiences that come our way, and yet we need quick and easy ways of making sense of things, and of fitting them into our existing world views.…
It would be easy to moan about the negative impact that television has had on our ability to think.
So here goes.
Despite the impact of computer technology, television continues the shape the way people think, feel and behave. And in some ways the impact of TV may be greater even than schools, families and churches.
Many people get their news, and have their opinions moulded by, television (rather than by books and newspapers).
This creates a peculiar climate for Christian apologetics. …
