Marriage: antidote to loneliness

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There is an epidemic of loneliness today.  This is due, not just to the (hopefully) short-term effects of Covid-19 lockdown.  There is the wider, and more persistent, problem of loneliness which is linked to the decline in marriage rates and the increase in marriage breakdowns.

God, in his wise and generous love, has provided a wonderful blueprint for flourishing marriages, and has used this blueprint to point towards a yet deeper and more lasting marriage – that between Christ and his people.…

Why we need to be back in church (as soon as possible)

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I totally subscribe to the maxim, ‘Church is people, not buildings.’

But we are God’s gathered people, and something is missing when we are not able to gather.

David Gunderson and Peter Mead have both written about this, and what follows is based on their thoughts.

It’s important for us to gather, because

  1. We are embodied people.  See Gen. 1:26–27; 2:18–25; 3:20.  As a grandparent, I have learned afresh from my 3-year-old grandchildren that seeing and hearing people online is not the same as seeing and hearing them in the flesh. 
…

PS Central?

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As the pages of this blog testify, I gladly affirm the doctrine of penal substitution (PS).

The line I have tended to take is that this doctrine is one of a number of equally-valid and equally-important facets of atonement as taught in Scripture.  It takes its place alongside images such as ransom, reconciliation, ‘Christus Victor’, and so on.

I have been aware that a significant body of evangelicals regard PS as the pre-eminent account of the atonement. …

The Bible and race

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The killing of George Floyd, a black American, by a white police officer, has become the lightning rod for protests and demonstrations around the world.

Church leaders in the UK have responded by voicing support for social justice, but seem to have little else to say that is distinctively Christian.

But what is a distinctively Christian view of race?  Or, to put it better (since the concept of ‘race’ is itself bound up in colonial-era thinking), what is a distinctively Christian view of ethnic, cultural and national diversity?…

Luke 7:2 – ‘Highly valued servant’ or ‘gay lover’?

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Luke 7:2-3 A centurion there had a slave who was highly regarded, but who was sick and at the point of death. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.

(See also: Matthew 8:5 When [Jesus] entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him asking for help: 8:6 “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible anguish.” 8:7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”)…

Mark 6:45 – ‘To Bethsaida’

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Mark 6:45f ‘Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd. After saying good-bye to them, he went to the mountain to pray.’

Lk 9:10 appears to place the miracle at or near Bethsaida.  Matthew, whose account many judge to be based on that of Mark, omits the references to Bethsaida.  Was he, perhaps, correcting what he saw to be a minor problem in Mark’s account?  …

Gender: what does the Bible say?

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When seeking to apply the teaching of the Bible to current issues around gender, it is tempting to start with specific passages such as Deuteronomy 22:5 (‘A woman must not wear men’s clothing, nor should a man dress up in women’s clothing’) and 1 Corinthians 6:9 (which speaks of various kinds of sexual immorality).

Also recruited into the discussion is Jesus’ teaching about different types of eunuchs (those that were born intersex, those who have been castrated, and those who choose a life of celibacy for the sake of the kingdom; but note that this is in the context of Jesus’ affirmation that we are made ‘male and female’.). …

Attempted suicide rates in trans young people

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According to this set of ‘Key Stats’ from Stonewall, ‘almost half (48 per cent) of trans people in Britain have attempted suicide at least once.’

This is an alarming statistic; and our hearts must surely be moved with compassion towards any person who feels driven to attempt to take their own life.  Moreover, we should search our consciences to see whether our own attitudes and actions may have contributed to that person’s misery.

But is there an element of alarmism, both in the figure itself and in the way it is often used?…

LGBT: what does it mean to be ‘welcoming but not affirming’?

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In the eyes of many, the idea that churches can take a ‘welcoming but not affirming’ attitude towards LGBT people is absurd.  It inevitably leads to treating people as second class Christians, tolerated but not fully integrated into the life of the church.

The perceived absurdity is compounded by the myth that only two possibilities exist: either that of full and unconditional acceptance and affirmation, or that of rejection.  Any kind of middle ground is rarely explored.…

The Baptist pastor and his transgender friends

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In this video, Baptist pastor Mark Wingfield speaks about his experience of spending several months studying issues around transgender people.  He then wrote an article: ‘Seven things I’m learning about transgender persons.’  The article had, at the time the video was recorded, been read by over a million people.  Over 450 people had responded in writing or by phone to it.  A number of these were transgender persons, and their friends and families.  Mark Wingfield was then moved to meet some of these transgender people face-to-face, and valued friendships were forged. …