The Post-Evangelical – 6

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The Post-Evangelical is entitled ‘Let Me Tell You a Story’.  This chapter deals with the failure of modern, and the rise of the postmodern, ‘stories’.

What is the new postmodern world that is emerging?

It is a world which understands itself through biological rather than mechanistic models; a world where people see themselves as belonging to the environment, rather than over it or apart from it; a world distrustful of institutions, hierarchies, centralized bureaucarcies and male dominated organizations. 

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Theology of Prayer 2 – Parts of Prayer (i)

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B.M Palmer begins chapter 2 of Theology of Prayer by suggesting that the parts of prayer are like the colours of the spectrum: they have a basic unity and merge into each other.

Adoration and praise are scarcely distinguishable.  Adoration has more to do with God’s nature; praise with his works.  In adoration we view God in himself, as revealed to us in the glorious proportions of his own nature and being; in praise we view him in the operation of his will, displayed piece by piece in what he does.…

The Post-Evangelical – 5

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In chapter 5 – ‘Woolly Liberals?’ – Dave Tomlinson informs us that he shares with evangelicals a rejection of theological liberalism.  But what he does not share are evangelicals’ reasons for opposing liberalism.

Indeed, he expresses amazement at ‘how paranoid evangelicals are about liberalism’.  Evangelicals are constantly patrolling their boundaries, lest one of their number should trespass into liberal territory.

This is not to suggest, says Tomlinson, that theology and doctrine are unimportant:

‘Far from it; but there is no evidence from the Bible that it is (sic) of ultimate importance. 

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Theology of Prayer 1 – Prayer: its nature

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Some time ago, I introduced B.M. Palmer’s book Theology of Prayer.  I now begin a series of posts summarising this ‘neglected masterpiece’ chapter by chapter.

Chapter 1 is entitled, Prayer: Its Nature.

Combining the wording of the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms gives the following definition of prayer:-

Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God for all things agreeable to his will, in the name of Christ, by the help of his Spirit, with confession of our sins and thankful acknowledgement of his mercies.

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The Myth of Christian Origins

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Dan Brown’s The Dan Vinci Code is well past its sell-by date now.  But it has given wings to a fanciful myth about Christian origins which had being crawling around in the academic world in the US and elsewhere but has now, thanks to Brown’s book, nested in the public consciousness.

What is this myth?  The redoubtable New Testament scholar N.T. Wright, in the course of a lecture given in 2005 which exposes the sillinesses of the above-mentioned book, outlines the five elements of the Myth of Christian Origins:-

1.  …

Slavery

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Slavery is ‘a state of servitude by which a man is the property of another man.’  Thus defined, it is a violation of an individual’s fundamental rights as a human being, and tends to breed cruelty and exploitation.

Slavery probably originated about 10,000 years ago.  Slaves were often people who had been captured in war, or were criminals or people who could not pay their debts.

Conventional wisdom runs as follows: slavery was tolerated uncritically by New Testament teachers such Paul, and allowed to continue unchallenged by Christians until the 19th century. …

Top Audio Downloads on Atheism and Christian Faith

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Here are some of the mp3s that I have found helpful on the atheism/Christian faith debate. 

  • Francis Collins – “The Language of God”.  Point of Enquiry’s website is committed to a sceptical approach to all things religious, but here offers a thoughtful interview with Collins, former Director of the Human Genome Project and a Christian believer.
  • Richard Dawkins – “Science and the New Atheism” (Point of Enquiry)
  • John Lennox – “God and Richard Dawkins”.  ‘Bethinking’, an excellent Christian apologetics website, hosts this engaging lecture.
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Ex 20:16; Deut 5:20 – ‘Words can never hurt me…?’ – sermon notes

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The Ninth Commandment – You shall not give false witness against your neighbour

Texts: Exodus 20:16 and Deuteronomy 5:20

Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words can never hurt me.

So runs the well-known rhyme.  But the truth is:

Sticks and stones may break my bones
But words can break my heart.

“Careless talk costs lives.”

“No physician can heal the wounds of the tongue.”

“The tongue has the power of life and death.”…

Psa 100 – Thanksgiving – sermon notes

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Our everyday lives are saturated with ‘thankyous’. Thankyou for opening that door for me. Thankyou for making that cup of tea. Thankyou for returning the mobile phone that I left in your taxi. Thankyou for helping me mend my bike. Thankyou for being patient with me. Thankyou for being you. Thankyou for thanking me.

But it is our God who is the source of every good and perfect gift, and it is therefore to our God that we owe our biggest debt of thanksgiving.…

The Post-Evangelical – 4

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Chapter 4 of Dave Tomlinson’s The Post-Evangelical is entitled ‘Longing to Grow’.  In this chapter, an attempt is made to explain the evangelical ‘problem’ in terms of a couple of psychological models.  ‘The problem’ for Tomlinson, as is becoming increasingly clear as the book develops, is that evangelicals are way too sure of themselves and need to grow up and start doubting things.

A couple of stories are given of people who started off as evangelicals but (you guessed it) became disillusioned with evangelical certaintism and found no welcome for their doubts and questions. …