Today, millions of Christians across the globe will join together to celebrate the end of the world as we know it. I’m talking, of course, about Good Friday—the celebration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This is an event of cosmic significance—an event in which the world as we know it came to an end and the new creation came into being. (more…)
Archives: thought
Looking back, looking forward
Thought, Sola Panel
Whenever I look back over the history of The Briefing—all 366 issues, all 21 years—I find it almost impossible to resist thinking about my eldest daughter, who (like The Briefing) was born in April 1988. In fact, I’ve used the image so often in the past, I’m sure long-term readers are heartily sick of it by now. (more…)
Driscoll’s New Calvinism
Thought
Time magazine has called ‘The New Calvinism’ (whatever that is exactly) the third most influential idea changing the world right now. In response, Mark Driscoll has produced his list of four ways in which the New Calvinism is different to the Old one. For the sake of the discussion, let me repeat them below:
(more…)
On being generous
Thought, Sola Panel
I keep hearing calls for a ‘generous orthodoxy’—one that is kind and open-minded towards those who differ, and that doesn’t come down hard on every mistake or variation in doctrine. This is a useful and attractive idea, as well as a dangerous one, of course (Carl Trueman has commented insightfully on the issues over at Reformation21). (more…)
Truth in labelling
Thought, Sola Panel
The movement for truth in labelling reached another milestone in my state recently. Supermarkets are now required to itemize the unit cost of goods rather than just the total—so that, when faced with a 437g pack of Weaties for $4.23 and the super-bonus-jumbo-econo-family 714g pack for $6.41, consumers don’t have to do the maths for themselves. Each price label will tell you how much it is per 100g. (more…)
Lies, damned lies, and … (#2)
Thought
At the end of my previous piece about empiricism and ethics, I suggested that there were a number of implications that needed to be drawn out—the most important of which, for my money, involving the way we present the truth of the gospel (both inside and outside of Christian circles). (more…)
Fallen short
Thought
Psalm 19 is famous and rightly so:
The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
Lies, damned lies, and … (#1)
Thought
Okay, so I wanted to write about statistics, and I’m hopelessly unoriginal (I’m sure some people will be able to suggest a better title). This is one of those posts that started out as a rant inspired by one of my pet peeves, but hopefully it ends with some helpful reflections. We shall see!
(more…)
This is not a real church
Thought, Sola Panel
Some years ago, an elderly relative visited our church. She was a churchgoer herself—of a rather traditional kind. Afterwards, I asked her whether she had enjoyed church that morning—at which point, she looked straight at me and said with characteristic bluntness, “This is not a real church”. (more…)
The obedience of faith
Thought
What does faith in Christ mean? What do people ‘do’ when they believe in Christ? Do they ‘do’ anything? If they ‘do’ something, how do we avoid faith becoming a ‘work’ smuggled in through the Protestant back door? Presumably if we have ‘done’ something (when we believe in Christ), we may justifiably be a little proud of what we have done and think that our belief is some kind of achievement or virtue. So how do we accurately describe the nature of faith in such a way that we exclude human pride? (more…)
The image of Jesus?
Thought
At first glance, most Christians would dismiss this as blasphemous. The idea that Jesus was controlled by the unjust prejudices of his culture, that he did not understand God’s compassionate love and that he needed a Canaanite woman to teach him God’s ways is an attack on the incarnate Son of God. (more…)
The very practical doctrine of total depravity
Thought
A hitchhiker’s guide to the underworld
Thought, Sola Panel
What is the underworld? What are evil spirits and demons? Should we fear death and the devil, and does Jesus really make a difference with these things? Tony Payne talks to Peter Bolt, author of Living with the Underworld, to get some answers.
Podcast: A hitchhiker’s guide to the underworld
Audio
Tony Payne interviews Peter Bolt, author of ‘Living with the Underworld’, about demons, death, the devil and the difference Jesus makes (MP3).
Evangelicals then and now
Thought
Before Christmas,Tim Thornborough got together with three stalwarts of the UK evangelical scene to gather their views on the past and future of Evangelicalism. (more…)