Category Archives: Apologetics

Greasy inclines (an almost lousy argument)

Life

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Having exhausted a couple of the more obvious examples of arguments that aren’t arguments at all (see posts 1, 2), I thought I’d try my hand at a trickier argument that does the rounds from time to time: the infamous slippery slope. (more…)

Of pots and kettles and other things that aren’t black anymore (or another lousy argument)

Life

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It’s kind of funny the way the English language dates. How my pot (which is made from stainless steel) could call my kettle (which is constructed from high quality white plastic now beiged with age) black is a mystery that I’m sure my children could ponder without resolution for some time. Nevertheless, the saying persists as another one of those lousy arguments that get better with age.

It’s right up there with “Get that log out of your own eye” and “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. Both of these (rather like our proverbial water boiling appliances) are excellent pieces of godly advice, but hopeless ethical arguments. Before you lynch me for speaking about the Bible like this, let me explain.

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Windex for ministry

Resource Talk, Sola Panel

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Of the many funny and endearing things about the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, one of my favourites is Gus’s habit of solving every problem with Windex. Pimples, backaches, grazes, smudges, stains—according to Gus, there’s very little that a squirt of Windex won’t fix.

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A house divided

Word Watch

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Over the centuries, the Bible has contributed many familiar, everyday expressions to the English language—far more than most 21st-century unbelievers would be prepared to credit. For example, there’s the expression ‘a house divided’. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech at the Republican State Convention in Illinois in which he said, (more…)

Letters to the editor: A Christian writes

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Why write?

I write letters to the editor for a particularly idiosyncratic reason. About five-and-a-half years ago, my middle daughter was born and, unlike my eldest (who once slept uninterrupted for 13 hours), Ruby woke like clockwork at 4 in the morning. I was the one who scored the early shift with the bottle, and while she was being fed, I felt like I needed something to do with the extra time in the day that the Lord had decided to give me. Caring for my daughter is not enough. Give me action! (more…)

Dawkins’ dilemmas

Thought

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Melvin Tinker puts the work of evolutionary theorist and arch-atheist Richard Dawkins under the microscope.

A vicar was travelling on the train one day when a scientist happened to sit next to him. The scientist was an astronomer, and he smiled as he saw the vicar reading his Bible. He said, condescendingly, “I like to think that religion can be summed up by the words, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’”. The vicar, having discovered the scientist’s profession, replied, “Yes, and I like to think that astronomy can be summed up by the words, ‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are’”.

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Reason vs. prejudice

Couldn't Help Noticing, Life

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I recently had the pleasure of sitting in on a preaching workshop with David Jackman from the London-based Cornhill Training Course. David made some telling points from a survey of apostolic preaching from Acts 17-20, and one in particular struck me.

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Just a matter of opinion? Straight answers to curly questions #3

Everyday Ministry

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In this series, we have been developing robust and creative responses to some of the most common objections to Christian faith heard today. The first was that all religions are the same, for which we developed a logical response. The second was that religion is just cultural, to which we developed an empirical response. The third idea many people today have is perhaps the most difficult to respond to: it is the idea that religion belongs entirely in the domain of personal opinion, and that one person’s opinion is as good as another.

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Isn’t religion just cultural? Straight answers to curly questions #2

Everyday Ministry

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In the first article in this series, we looked at the commonly raised objection that all religions are basically the same, and developed a logical response. In this article, we continue to explore common objections. The second feeling that people have revolves around the ‘lottery factor’—the feeling that a person’s religion is largely a product of the country they happen to be born in—that it’s all just cultural.

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Straight answers to curly questions #1

Everyday Ministry

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‘Can Jesus really be as special as you say?’ Sooner or later, this question will come up when people learn that we are Christian. It may emerge in a number of forms, and be asked in a number of ways, but it is rarely far from the surface. In this three-part series, Kim Hawtrey helps us to understand this basic question in its different forms, and equips us with a variety of ways to answer it.

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