To the Cross

"We would prefer the bliss of a kingdom without moral absolutes, presided over by a God without wrath and entered through a Christ without the cross. But the price of this would be to discard not just this or that bit of the Bible but the whole God - given book, for in it God has revealed his absolutes and that He is a God of intense, fiery holyness. Jesus died bearig our sins in his body on the cross, for that is what sin merits, and saving us from the wrath to come, for that is where sin leads." (Alec Motyer: 'Exodus' 2005) Some may read this passage and feel condemned, others will read it and discover God's grace (perhaps for the first time). For me the good news is that we are all in the same boat - that is to say, All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory (Romans 3: 23) we are all in need of a Noah's ark to escape the wrath of God - and that ark has been provided through the blood of Christ. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, s...

I write this post in response to the person who has decided to become a follower of my blog using a pseudonym and photo (for a joke?) that suggests that he/she is involved in pornography. First to note is that I have blocked their picture and name (not them as follower).* Some Statistics World wide in excess of £100 Billion is spent on accessing pornography every year (what might be achieved if the world put that sort of money to good use?) In a US survey 20% of those asked admitted to accessing pornography at work 40 million US adults admitted to visiting pornography websites on a regular basis 10 % of adults admitted to internet sexual addiction. I haven't got statistics for British pornography but I would assume it follows similar trends to that of the US. Like many of Satan's prisons, pornography causes breakdown in marriages, breakdown in family relationships and drags people into a dark lonely existance. Since the day's of Adam and Eve, Satan uses glamour as he tries...

"What sort of knowledge of God’s action in Christ’s death may we have? That a man named Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate about AD 30 is common historical knowledge, but Christian beliefs about his divine identity and the significance of his dying cannot be deduced from that fact alone. What further sort of knowledge about the cross, then, may Christians enjoy? The answer, we may say, is faith-knowledge: by faith we know that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Yes, indeed; but what sort of knowledge is faith-knowledge? It is a kind of knowledge of which God is both giver and content. It is a Spirit-given acquaintance with divine realities, given through acquaintance with God’s word. It is a kind of knowledge which makes the knower say in one and the same breath both ‘whereas I was blind, now I see’ (Jn 9:25) and also ‘now we see as in a mirror, darkly . . . now I know in part’ (1 Cor. 13:12). For it is a unique kind of knowledge which, though real, is n...

"I do find it rather comical anyway that you need to scrabble around for ‘evidence’ (often pretty dodgy evidence) when it suits and then spend ages refuting any empirically tested evidence with all ‘sound and fury’ when it doesn’t suit." (A comment posted to me on an earlier post) I have yet to see any empirically tested evidence that a creator God does not exist. Or that Jesus did not resurrect from the dead. Or That after receiving the 'death sentence' from doctors my friend wasn't miraculously healed of cancer IMMEDIATELY after another friend prayed and heard Jesus say that he (Jesus) was going to heal him - even the doctors were quoted in the papers as stating this was a miracle! If there is empiracally tested evidence for such things, why is that many who I suspect are greater and more intelligent thinkers even then those who post negatively on my blog (if that be possible - given the rudeness and patronsisation of some 'intellectual' protestors) beli...

Man is nothing but: FAT enough for seven bars of soap IRON enough for one medium size nail SUGAR enough for seven cups of tea LIME enough to whitewash one chicken coup MAGNESIUM enough for one dose of salts PHOSPHOROUS enough to tip 2,200 matches POTASH enough to explode one toy crane SULPHUR enough to rid one dog of fleas (C E M Joad) OR PERHAPS MAN IS SOMETHING MORE THAN THIS .... PERHAPS HE IS SOMEONE WHO CAN EXERCISE FREE WILL! PERHAPS HE IS SOMEONE WHO IS ABLE TO RATIONALISE! PERHAPS HE HAS A SOUL AND A SPIRIT! PERHAPS HE HAS A REASON FOR BEING! The human soul consists of our mind, our free will and our emotions. To say that free will does not exist, that the choices that we make are random, would make the penal system unjust. Why should one be sent to prison for murdering (even a child) if all we are is a combination of physical matter? It would also rob us of any sense of conscience any purpose or meaning of life. Evidence for the soul can be based on experience of ourselves -...

Is the Old Testament God a God of wrath and the New Testament God a God of Love? This is the question we have been looking at tonight at a superb presentation by two leaders in our church. In the next few days I will attempt to summarise what has been said and add a few thoughts of my own. Meanwhile what do you think?