Tag Archives: Church
Is the Bible actually “the word of God”?
In what sense is the Bible, “the word of God”? This sounds like a simple question to answer, but it is actually a long-running and very heated debate amongst Christians. Many claim that the Bible is “the word of God”, but they often mean different things by that statement.
The Holy Bible: Offering An Explanation for the Atheist
What can an Atheist be offered about why the Bible is important to Christians? Shouldn’t we (Christians) be able to describe the Bible in terms that an Atheist can understand and appreciate, even if they don’t share our view of it’s spiritual authority? The pithy, “the Bible is the word of God” really won’t do […]
A modern epistle: from the mouths of babes
Every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old (Matt 13:52). I was going through some old files on my computer and I stumbled on this one. It’s kind of an epistle, written to my own church community. At […]
Read MoreThe Ministry: “I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom…”
What possible value can come from simply “being there”? I’ve begun a habit of sitting in the Ipswich Mall every Tuesday. Several people join me regularly, a wide array of people I know come past during the day, and sometimes I also make new friends. I believe this is what God has for me at […]
Tithing: Unbiblical. Shouldn’t we prevent believers from doing it, then?
Is it Permissible to Tithe? Tithing is not a New Testament principle, and despite endless attempts to make it sound like Christians are obliged to tithe, the Good Book simply doesn’t say so. But does this mean that we must stop people from tithing? Is it spiritually dangerous? Is it like circumcision, about which Paul […]
Jesus and the Wineskins: What does it mean?
Nobody seems to understand what the wineskins are about! A friend asked me what Jesus was talking about when he mentioned sewing patches onto garments, and putting wine into wineskins. I didn’t know the answer, and a quick overview of the commentaries revealed that nobody else does either. Most theories produce problematic answers Whereas there […]
Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Booval
Visiting Sacred Heart I have attended Mass at the Sacred Heart church in Booval three times, now. For someone who’s church experience is predominantly in Protestant churches, I found a few things to notice with interest. High Church I might start by saying that, although “high church” traditions such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and […]
Read MoreHas the Eucharist been redefined?
Does the Roman Catholic Church still hold to Transubstantiation as a doctrine? I attended Midnight Mass at the beautiful St Mary’s Church in Ipswich on Christmas Eve 2011. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and will do it again this year. A couple of things caught my attention, and in my interest as a student of the […]
One Church, Across all Time
If there is “One Church”, and there always has been only one, then surely it’s the same Church…? I stumbled across a wonderful expression of the “One Church” phenomenon in a theological textbook. I gladly receive it and add it to the wonderfully compelling image of “One Church”: we are part of the same church […]
Church Leadership: Could Jesus be right?
What is leadership in the kingdom of God? The question of leadership in church life is a hot one. The Roman Catholic view, which consists of a single hierarchy of authority governing all aspects of church life, culminating in a single figure in the Pope, is profoundly different from the cell-church/home-church model consisting of as […]
Titles: “Who do the crowds say I am?”, “Who do you say I am?”, “I do not accept human testimony”.
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet! How important are titles? I am given various titles by various people, but I never ask for them, nor insist on them. I am frequently called, and introduced as, “Pastor Kev”, and I have been referred to […]
Bonhoeffer – A scholar, a gentleman, a rebel, a martyr.
What did Dietrich Bonhoeffer think he was doing? Bonhoeffer had much to say about discipleship, and was also a vocal critic of the Lutheran Church’s inaction against the Nazis. Was he just a busybody with opinions about everything? No, he had a view of discipleship that applies as much to the church as a whole, […]
Ecumenism in Roman Catholic theology: Lumen Gentium analysed for Ecumenism.
Summary – Lumen Gentium as an Ecumenical document Lumen Gentium, (“Light of Nations”, Vatican II, 1964) changed nothing in the ecclesiology of the Roman Catholic Church, and it was designed that way. But the whole process of Vatican II, including this document, did prove to be a catalyst for ecumenical dialogue in many ways. Again, this […]
Marketplace Christianity – In a Marketplace!
What is Marketplace Christianity really? Generally, the term “Marketplace Christianity” is used to describe the way in which a believer can represent their faith in their normal life – in most cases, at work. I do think its helpful for us to ponder how to live out our life in such settings, but is the […]
“Struggling with Sin” is not “normal”. Don’t settle for it.
Why would a preacher say that it’s ‘normal’ to be struggling with sin, when the Bible says that it isn’t? Several times recently I have heard a similar message from different preachers, essentially: we should anticipate an ongoing struggle with sin, or various kinds of disillusionment in our faith, or times of feeling that God […]
Read MoreGentleness and respect. Sharing your faith.
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect – 1 Peter 3:15 Some time ago I had a long (spanning 18 months) conversation by Facebook email, with an Atheist who sought me out after […]
How to: Converse with an Atheist about faith
How do we talk about faith with Atheists? I don’t claim to have the final word on the topic, but it’s about time for an initial word! For several hundred years, Christianity has too often approached the Atheist with pointed finger, and accusations and threats. All in “love”, of course! Because we don’t want the poor […]
Holy Martyrs
The Passion of the Holy Martyrs Perpetua and Felicitas The Passion of the Holy Martyrs (“the Passion”) offers insights into the beliefs of the church at a very early time because it was recorded in 202-3AD.[1] A vital piece of historical church literature, this document provides key insight into a range of contemporaneous issues, from theology proper, […]
Read MoreThe Crusades – What motivated people to “Take the Cross”?
This is a research essay. It may be a bit boring to read through, so I’ll blog about it separately, later. Abstract The study of motivations of the crusaders represents not only an interesting subject, but one which has arguably affected the modern world’s tensions between Islam and the West, Islam and Christianity, and Judaism […]
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Where did the Bible come from?
So where did the Bible come from? Rather than describing the process theologically, that is, in terms of how God spoke or what the role of humans was in the process, we can talk in terms familiar to the non-believer: Sociology. What is the sociological process involved in the formation of the Bible?
- July 20, 2012
- / Category Apologetics, Bible References, Commentary
- / Posted By Kevin Bennett
- / No Comments.
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