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Lent: Day 2 - Mathetes to Diognetus, pt. 1

...tizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men, and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death, and restored to life. They are poor, yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things, and yet abound in all; they are dishonoured, and yet in their very dishonour are glorified. They are evil spoken of, and yet are justified; they are reviled, and bless; they are insulted, and repay the insult with honour; they do good, yet are punished as evil-doers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life Leave your thoughts in the comments below!...

Christians and the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

...ut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. How relevant this is to the coronavirus, I can’t say, but it is surely a principle of Scripture that mass repentance and prayer leads to change and healing from God, so even if we are isolated, sick or feeling generally overwhelmed and helpless in the face of this virus, we can always pray. Church leaders across the UK have declared a National Day of Pra...

The Gospel of Jeffrey Dahmer

...There’s a new Netflix documentary out at the moment which has hit the news recently about the infamous serial killer Jeffery Dahmer. I haven’t watched it, but I knew of him as a serial killer though I didn’t realise just how horrific his crimes were until I read the Wikipedia article about him! Not for the faint of heart, that’s for sure. But this post isn’t really about Dahmer, not entirely, but rather the reactions to some recent social media posts about him and the (often vitriol) responses they’ve got. Here’s one example: Dahmer is probably in heaven and experiencing eternal joy. If this bothers you, you don’t know the depths of your o...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 1

...s high as heaven” (Isaiah 7:11). Whether or not there was a prior fulfilment Matthew sees the birth of Jesus as the ultimate fulfilment of this prophecy making that connection directly after recording the angel stating unambiguously that he is Jehovah while drawing specific attention to the meaning of the name “God is with us” something he wants his readers to take seriously and not to miss. Second, some may wish to mention that the Lord’s given name was “Jesus” not “Immanuel”. It is perfectly clear that Matthew well knows what the Lord’s given name is, (Matthew 1:21), without even referring to the use of the name “Jesus” throughout the re...

When did Christians become so whiny?

...tizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men and are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned; they are put to death and restored to life. They are poor yet make many rich; they are in lack of all things and yet abound in all; they are dishonored and yet in their very dishonor are glorified. They are evil spoken of and yet are justified; they are reviled and bless; they are insulted and repay the insult with honor; they do good yet are punished as evildoers. When punished, they rejoice as if quickened into life; they are assailed by the Jews as foreigners and are persecuted by t...

7 things the Lord hates (spoiler: questioning doctrine isn't one of them)

...By now, most people (in Christian circles, at least) will have heard about the Jars of Clay controversy. For those that are thinking "how on earth could there be controversy over some jars?" let me clarify: they are a contemporary Christian music band. The controversy is because the frontman, Dan Haseltine, tweeted some thoughts on the topic of gay marriage. Shocking, I know.   This is what started it all: The treatment of people as less than human based on the color of skin is crazy... Or gender, or sexual orientation for that matter. — Dan Haseltine (@scribblepotemus) April 21, 2014   Not meaning to stir things up BUT... I...