WHAT IS YOUR LIFE?
When I was a teenager contemplating my future and possible careers I was arrested by the following passage from James: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not...
DOUBT
Thomas, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, was a twin. We don’t hear of his twin, and we know nothing about his childhood. But we know that he was always asking questions. He never accepted anything without asking for an explanation. That is what got him a few...
THE VIOLENT EARTHQUAKE
Almost every week there are reports of violent earthquakes somewhere in the world. People are killed and injured and many are made homeless. Have you ever experienced an earthquake? I have. I grew up on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand. Fault lines...
RESURRECTION OR DESTRUCTION
The cycle of nature repeatedly demonstrates resurrection to renewed life. Darkness turns to dawn. The new day begins. The ebb tide of the ocean turns and flows into fullness. The cocoon breaks open and the butterfly emerges as a different creature from its former...
HE DESCENDED TO THE DEAD
What did Jesus do, and where was he, in the days between noon on the first Good Friday, and his resurrection on Easter Sunday morning? This is the subject of, what we call the Intermediate State, what happens between death and resurrection. There is much conjecture...
ISLAM AND THE DEATH OF JESUS
Some years ago I was visiting the National Portrait Gallery in London, which was showing an exhibition of Leonardo Da Vinci’s drawings. There was one unfinished painting entitled The Descent from the Cross, which portrayed Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, John and...
WHAT KIND OF GOD DO YOU BELIEVE IN?
Most people believe in some kind of God. God is that which we give the highest priority in our lives. We can make a god of anything that we worship, i.e. give worth or value to. People worship at the shrines of all kinds of gods. Many today believe in themselves and...
WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?
The Creeds began to be used in worship as a means of expressing the faith of the Church. The earliest creed seems to have been simply “Jesus is Lord” (Romans 10:9; 1 Cor.12:3; 2 Cor.4:5; Phil.2:11). When believers were baptized they declared that Jesus was their Lord....
WHAT IS JOY?
C.S. Lewis entitled his autobiography up to his conversion to Christ, Surprised by Joy. He describes joy as that “of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply...
GUILT AND ITS REMEDY
One of the most read books in my library is When I Relax I Feel Guilty, by Tim Hansel. Having been taught that work is the highest virtue, and having been given a job to do every time my parents saw me sitting down, I used to find myself feeling guilty when I had...
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