Theodicy is the defence of God’s justice and goodness. It is something we naturally think about, and more often than not, it drives our preaching. You reach a difficult teaching of Jesus about hell, or a confronting passage of Paul’s about the role of men and women in the church, or even a verse about the uniqueness of Christ, and instead of listening to the passage, you start arguing with it. And sometimes God’s word seems to magically come around to your point of view. (more…)
Archives: andrew-barry
Should theodicy be at the heart of preaching?
Pastoral Ministry
Theodicy is the defence of God’s justice and goodness. It is something that we naturally think about, and yet, more often than not, it drives our preaching. You reach a difficult teaching of Jesus about hell, or a confronting passage of Paul’s about the role of men and women in the church, or even about the uniqueness of Christ, and instead of listening to the passage, you start arguing with it. And sometimes God’s word seems to magically come around to your point of view.
If the Lord God came down to us …
Thought
—and if he had not promised and prepared for thousands of years in the Scriptures—
—and if he did not come in human flesh— (more…)
The death of good intentions
Everyday Ministry
“I’ll pray for you.”
“I’d love to give money to support that gospel or mercy ministry.”
“I’ll be part of that Bible distribution.”
This is a raw topic for me. My heart pours out for every good work. I want to support gospel ministries and pray for people. On so many things, I have all the right intentions, but not all the right carry through. (more…)
What kind of discussion is this?
Up front
I picked up and modified this helpful rubric:
- Fight for what is right (truth).
- Argue for what will work (tactics).
- Keep quiet about everything else (preference).
Fight for the God-given biblical principles, argue for how to put them into practice, and just leave all the personality or preference issues up to each person to work out for themselves. I can hesitate on preference—in a meeting, I can even back down on my view of tactics—but I must never back down on truth. (more…)
Jesus IS a Jew
Thought
Is this a modern scandal for Christians—a truth that some find hard to swallow? I don’t mean that that Jesus was a Jew, but that he is one now.
We must focus on the Christian poor
Everyday Ministry
What kind of discussion is this?
Life
I picked up and modified this helpful rubric:
- Fight for what is right (truth)
- Argue for what will work (tactics)
- Keep quiet about everything else (preference)
The unease of the next generation
Up front
There seems to be a restlessness—an unease—among younger evangelicals. Something is wrong with the way we do church. How can we fix it?
(more…)
The unease of the next generation
Life
There seems to be a restlessness—an unease—among younger evangelicals. Something is wrong with the way we do church. How can we fix it? (more…)
The end of Mark’s Gospel
Life
To anyone who reads it, the end of Mark seems like an enigma. While there are longer endings, the oldest and most reliable manuscripts come to a stop at verse 8.
(more…)
Engaging with Barth
Review
Engaging with Barth: Contemporary Evangelical Critiques
Edited by David Gibson and Daniel Strange
UK edition: Apollos, Nottingham, 2008, 416pp.
US edition: T&T Clark, New York, 2009, 408pp. (more…)
The ethics of a balanced life
Sola Panel, Up front
Should we be extreme or should we be balanced? You know what I mean by ‘balanced’: be generous, but not too generous; take Christ seriously, but don’t be a religious fanatic; tell the truth, but not to a fault, and so on. This approach is as old, at least, as the ancient Greeks. Lots of voices in our lives call out for this balance: parents, colleagues, work, talkback radio, novels and academia. But are these the voices of wisdom? (more…)
Some thoughts on friendship
Job and prayer
Up front
What is the book of Job about? What do Job’s friends get wrong? What does Job do right? Job’s friends seem to be giving him some very good answers, and Job responds with some very strange ones. Do we go back and analyze everywhere Job gets it right and everywhere Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar and Elihu make theological mistakes? Let me suggest the answer to that is ‘No’. (more…)