flickr: Pink Sherbert Photography
A week ago it came, kicking its heels like a witless lamb. Spring. Didn’t it know it wasn’t due yet?
We’ve been locked down in cold for months. We swap war-stories of coughs and runny noses, risk suffocation under layers of bedding, and shiver in the school yard as we wait for the kids to emerge from over-heated classrooms. I listen to winter complaints but secretly love it: (more…)
If our whole beings are to be devoted to the gospel, what is the place of rest in the lives of those in ministry? Ben Boardman looks at the privileges and challenges for Christians in paid ministry as they organize their week. (more…)
Who made God? Searching for a theory of everything
Edgar Andrews
EP Books, Darlington, 2009, 304pp.
It is a common belief that science and religion are locked in an eternal conflict, from which science will eventually emerge victorious—if it hasn’t already. In Who made God? Edgar Andrews, Emeritus Professor of Materials at the University of London, seeks to equip Christians with arguments to use in answer to the scientific claims of the New Atheists, particularly Richard Dawkins and Victor Stenger. The title of the book refers to the common refrain of those who reject the idea of creation—“if God made everything, who made God?”—and the attempt of scientists to find a ‘theory of everything’, within which all physical phenomena may be accommodated. In response, Andrews puts forward the ‘God hypothesis’ as a true theory of everything that embraces both the material and non-material aspects of the universe. (more…)
Does God feel your pain? For many of us the question is a bit odd, like asking ‘Is God good?’ or ‘Does God love?’ We turn to John 11 and its description of Jesus being moved at Mary’s weeping, and his own weeping at the site of Lazarus’ grave. It is common to use this as proof that God is affected by our suffering, mourning, and death: that he shares it and does not stand aloof from it. “Don’t blame God,” we implicitly say, “He’s going through the same pain and suffering you experience. He cares.” (more…)
It is easy to read about God in the wrong way. Yes (*yawn*), he is big. Certainly (*stretch*), he is powerful. Absolutely (*droop*), he does stuff in our world. These truths are so commonplace, they sound boring to sinful ears. But this extract from D Broughton Knox’s The Everlasting God unfolds the biblical witness to reveal a God whose power is so immense, it’s frightening. And yet his power is the only guarantee of comfort in a broken world. We pray that you might read this slowly and learn again of the God who is there—the God whose infinite power is directed towards you, his friend.
Stuart Heath argues that the Christian life is more than just having faith, it’s about doing good.
This is Part 1 of a three-part series. Read Part 2 and Part 3.
“Being Christian is not about doing good things”, quoth the preacher. “It’s about trusting in Jesus.” Here is the uniqueness of the Christian story: God in Christ has acted on our behalf. We could never be good enough to satisfy God’s requirements—we deserve to be condemned. But Jesus took our punishment for us, rescuing us from God’s right anger. God calls us not to earn our salvation, but to trust that he can save us. This is a beautiful, soul-satisfying truth. But when we talk about being Christian, if we only ever speak about ‘believing in Jesus’, we are dangerously out of step with the New Testament. (more…)
Talk of creation, intelligent design and evolution doesn’t get far before the topic of Genesis arises—and rightly so. Sandy Grant takes us back to the foundational chapters of the Bible to see what they teach about the creation of the world. (more…)