What David teaches us about why Christian leaders fall
Almost every week seems to bring another headline announcing the fall from grace of a Christian leader into one horrific sin or another. Ravi Zacharias, Steven J. Lawson, Iain D. Campbell, the list of tragedies goes on. How has it come to this?
Responding to the US election as Christians
In this episode of our podcast, Michael, Josh and Ryan discuss how as believers we should react to the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.
Thinking for yourself
‘Do you think for yourself?’ asked the conspiracy theorist keen for an opportunity to get onto his favourite soap box and deliver his spiel about Bill Gates, the Rothschilds, the Pope, the World Economic Forum. Conspiracy theories aside, he raises a good question, how many of us genuinely do our own thinking?
Where is our compassion?
Compassion is the emotion most ascribed to Jesus in the Gospels. Sometimes it seems like the emotion most missing from Christian hearts these days is compassion. When did we stop caring?
Artificial intelligence: a Christian perspective
Unless you live under a rock, chances are you’ll have heard the term artificial intelligence bandied around a bit lately. Amidst all the hype, it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction. Where did this AI thing come from? What actually is AI? Is AI going to take over the world, or is it just another buzzword? Should Christians be worried?
What ever happened to good works?
Today it seems that many Protestant Christians can sometimes slip into practical antinomianism, living as though it doesn’t matter how we live because only faith saves. So what role do good works take if only faith saves? What did the Reformers believe about the role of faith and works?
Reading Psalm 119 one verse a day
I followed an old Puritan challenge of reading one verse from Psalm 119 each day. The psalm is all about the psalmist’s love of God’s word so it lends itself quite naturally to this practice. Here’s what I learnt along the way…
Rediscovering the wonder in the Lord’s Supper
The Lord’s Supper or Communion is an event which the Christian church has been celebrating for the last two thousand years. Yet in so many churches it seems to be rushed or tagged on at the end of a service; or it is a source of contention. We need to rediscover the wonder of the Lord’s Supper, understand why it has been neglected and how we can restore it.
Charles Spurgeon on suffering, depression and humour
For those uninitiated into the colourful world of one of the most gifted and flowery nineteenth-century preachers, you’re in for a treat! However, one side to Spurgeon which doesn’t get too much attention is the very real struggle he had with depression throughout his own life.
Mind over emotion
Emotions are not really helping us.
We live in an emotion-fuelled world, and it often seems that decisions, from politics to consumer choices are based on how we feel in the moment. It does seem that in many church services there is an over-emphasis on our feelings and emotions. Whether that be the prayers, the preaching, or perhaps more obviously, the songs.
Context, context, context
What are the words you will most likely hear in a history lecture?
‘Context is key’
I have had that ingrained in me ever since I began my history undergraduate some years ago. Yet, ‘Context is key’ is also what we should remember when we open the Word and read Scripture.
Adoption: the most amazing but the most forgotten Christian doctrine
God has many titles to us as Christians: Creator, King, Lord, Redeemer, Saviour. All awe-inspiring in their own right. But our relationship to God is even more tender and precious than that: ‘Father’, writes James Packer, ‘is the Christian name for God’.