How did Jesus become God?
11 May 2012 10 Comments
in Jesus Tags: Bible interpretation, christianity, doctrine, history, Jesus, New Testament
Bart Ehrman, a respected New Testament scholar who is not a christian, has recently written:
“Jesus is best understood as a Jewish apocalypticist from the backwaters of a rural part of the Roman empire, a Jewish preacher who got on the wrong side of the law and was executed for crimes against the state, how is it that within sixty years of his death his followers were saying that he was a divine being? And that within 150 years they were saying that he was the second member of the Trinity?”
What are christians to make of this?
Is your church heading in the right direction?
09 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Church Tags: Change the church, christianity, churches, doctrine, Leadership, making disciples, mission
Churches have been going through a remarkable revolution this past 50 years. Denominational barriers are much lower and less important. The Holy Spirit is more welcome. Christians are much more open to new ideas. But there is much more to come (I believe)!
One of the very positive influences on world christianity is the ‘simple church’ movement, and Felicity Dale (a sometime commenter on this blog) and her website Simply Church blog is one face of this movement. I subscribe to her blog and gain a lot of insight from it. And one brief recent post summed a lot of things up for me.
Who’s afraid of Yahweh?
07 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Doctrine Tags: apologetics, Atheism, Bible interpretation, christians, doctrine, ethics, God, Old Testament
It doesn’t take long before a thoughtful Bible reader comes across some rather odd and nasty things, especially in the Old Testament. And non-believers use the odd and nasty things as a weapon against christians: “How can you believe in a God who is genocidal?” they might say.
What are we to make of these things? Do they make it hard to maintain faith in Jesus? And how should we answer the critics?
Do christians believe for irrational reasons?
25 Jan 2012 6 Comments
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, Belief, christianity, doctrine, ethics, God, reason
These days, christians may have to face the common accusation that their belief is based on blind, reasonless faith, and not on evidence, and that therefore they should logically give up belief. “There’s no more evidence for the christian God than for Santa or Thor”, they may be told.
This can be a major source of doubt for some believers. But is the accusation fair?
Do we have a soul and is it immortal?
05 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in Doctrine Tags: christianity, doctrine, New Testament, what is human?
A friend asked me about this the other day, and I had to research it, so I thought I would post what I learned.
The idea of an immortal soul which lives on after death is part of many people’s understanding of christianity. But it probably isn’t true.
Why did Jesus come to earth?
25 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Jesus Tags: Bible interpretation, christianity, doctrine, Good news, Jesus, mission, New Testament
Whatever christians disagree on, we all pretty much agree that Jesus’ life on earth was pivotal in world history. But what was the purpose of his life? On that, you’ll get some different answers.
Barriers to belief: Exclusivity
30 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Apologetics Tags: apologetics, christianity, christians, churches, doctrine, western society
A recent survey in Australia identified common barriers that made it more difficult for people to believe in Jesus or attend church. I think it is important that we christians consider these barriers, and do what we can to remove them. I have addressed one, Church abuse, and now I want to look at exclusivity.
Christian leadership
25 Nov 2011 1 Comment
in Church Tags: christianity, christians, churches, doctrine, Leadership, making disciples
Leadership is an important matter for christians. A fundamental aspect of being a christian is meeting with other believers in churches and other groupings. How these groups are led – that is, make decisions, form attitudes, gain knowledge and encourage each other – will have an enormous impact on our success in carrying out the mission entrusted to us.
What if we have got it badly wrong?
Prayer is power sharing?
10 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Doctrine Tags: Books, christianity, christians, doctrine, prayer
I’m currently reading Knowing Christ Today by Dallas Willard, and I found this quote:
“Prayer is God’s arrangement for a safe power sharing with us in his intention to bless the world through us.”
I like this, because it touches on a number of important things.
Burned at the stake?
10 Oct 2011 Leave a Comment
in Doctrine Tags: christianity, churches, doctrine, religion
The stories keep on appearing – there’s definitely something happening here.
This time it’s the story of a keen mission-minded christian who was condemned by the ‘doctrine police’ for questioning a few of the less important doctrines of some sections of the church. So he left the church, to serve God in other ways.
Read Jeremy’s story at Till He Comes.
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