Historical difficulties in the New Testament

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Various kinds of difficulties are alleged:-

  1. Contradictions between different accounts, e.g. was the ascension immediately after the resurrection (Luke 24), or 40 days later (Acts 1)?
  2. Contradictions between the biblical account and other sources, e.g. the census of Quirinius (Luke 2:1) took place well after the time of Herod.
  3. Insufficient attestation from external sources, e.g. the alleged custom of releasing a prisoner at Passover time (Mark 16:6; Luke 23:25) is not attested elsewhere.
  4. The scriptural accounts relate unlikely or impossible events, e.g.
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Children and Communion 2

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I was once asked to present a discussion paper to our Church Council on this subject.  Here’s what I came up with:-

1.  A Statement of the Case

The Anglican Church, in common with most other branches of the Christian church, supports the baptism of adult believers and their children.

When a child is brought by Christian parents to be baptised, the minister welcomes the child with the words,

“God has received you by baptism into his church.”…

Quotes on Anger

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‘Of the seven deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun.  To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter controntations still to come, to savour to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back; in many ways it is a feast fit for a king.  The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. …

Accidents happen – or do they?

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I often find that Donald McLeod illuminates a tricky theological question with uncommon clarity and insight. 

Here’s what the Professor has to say about what we call ‘chance’ or ‘accident’ in the light of God’s fore-ordination:-

God’s fore-ordination does not eliminate contingency. It does not rule out what we call chance or accident. Very often we hear good and pious people saying there is no such thing as chance or accident. Our Confessions do not agree with that.

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Unlocking the mind of the unbeliever

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In a recent article in Evangelicals Now, Andrew Baughen reports on a gathering of UK evangelists with Tim Keller.  The Clerkenwell Sympsium, as the gathering was called, explored an approach to evangelism that seeks to uncover the various barriers to belief and to suggest ways of overcoming these, so as to lead a person, using a conversational approach, towards an understanding of God’s point of view.

A.  RELATIONSHIP BUILDING – Go to people as Christ’s ambassador

Lock 1: Truth suppressed by wickedness (Romans 1.18)

  • Unbelievers avoid Christians when they know they will be challenged about their lifestyle.
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Is Richard Dawkins still evolving?

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On 21st October 2008, a debate was held between Professor Richard Dawkins and Dr John Lennox in Oxford’s Natural History Museum.

An earlier debate between the two of them can be downloaded here, and a talk by Lennox can be downloaded here.

The subject of the recent debate was Has Science Buried God? – echoing the title of a recent book by Lennox.

Melanie Phillips has a piece in The Spectator in which she notes, among other things, that

Dawkins now concedes that ‘a serious case could be made for a deistic God.’…

Children and Communion

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Some time ago, I participated in a debate on this subject, and was asked to argue in favour of the following motion:-

“We believe that it is right and proper for children who are baptised members of the church to be admitted to Holy Communion prior to their confirmation but following suitable preparation and instruction.”

Here’s my argument.  (Please bear in mind that the debate took place within an Anglican context).

Specifically, the parish may ask for the bishop’s permission for children to be so admitted, providing that the child has reached the age of seven years; that the child is regularly involved in Christian teaching and attendance at Sunday worship; and that the child has undergone a period of instruction and preparation.…

Age of admission to the Lord’s Supper

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This is a summary of an article by Roger T. Beckwith in Westminster Theological Journal.

This is an issue which has been widely discussed in recent years.  The WCC Faith & Order Commission of 1971 supported the admission of baptised infants or children to the Lord’s Supper.

The practice rests on the following assumptions:-

1.  that, like infant baptism, infant communion is early attested in church history;

2,  that, if baptism is a ceremony suitable for children, then so is communion;

3. …

J. Oswald Sanders: the destruction of the Canaanites

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The destruction of the Canaanites is one of the most perplexing of the ethical problems in the Old Testament.  How could God condone, let alone command, the treatment meted out by his people on the previous inhabitants of the land?

J. Oswald Sanders makes some helpful points:-

1.  The nations were given the opportunity to make peace with Israel, Deut 20:10.  This is what happened in the case of the Gibeonites.

2.  These nations had been granted long probation and had received many unproductive warnings from Abraham, Melchisedec and others. …

John 4:29 – The woman at the well – sermon notes

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John 4:29: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?”

When was the last time you wore a mask?  Actually, we wear masks all the time.  We pretend to be what we are not.  We pretend to be happy, though really we are sad.  We pretend we are tough, though we are hurting inside.  We pretend we are confident, though really we are quaking in our shoes.  We pretend that everything is OK, even we have done something we know is wrong.…