Bridge of Reason

A British charity, the Amos Trust, has produced a traditional nativity scene with a political twist. Made by Palestinian carpenters with olive wood from Bethlehem, they have a dividing wall symbolising Israel's controversial security barrier. Established around the work of Garth Hewitt in 1985, the Amos Trust helps underprivileged people around the world. However, I wonder if, with this project, they have gone beyond Biblical truth? It is understandable to use an event that brought the message, ‘Peace to all men’, to highlight a wall dividing two communities. But I wonder if it needs to question whether a country is allowed to defend itself from suicide bombers? Injustices between the two communities will not be solved by taking this wall away; only by removal of the dividing wall of enmity mentioned in Ephesians 2, that Christ started to deal with in His birth and completed in His death and resurrection. However, what struck me most was the comment that this nativity is one where

Language is a powerful weapon. The ancients knew this and some societies put such great store by it that they wouldn’t even commit it to writing. Enormous feats of memory were developed to pass on the stories of the community from one generation to another and in such communities writing was regarded with great suspicion, as placing your story at the disposal of your enemies. If it could be written it could be owned by others and altered. In those societies where writing developed and oral traditions were committed to writing the people guarded their written texts as their greatest treasures, copying them with meticulous attention to detail. The ancient texts of the Bible were copied with careful and detailed checking and correction and modern archaeological discoveries confirm the incredible accuracy of modern translations when compared with recent discoveries of ancient texts. It is little wonder since a word can change your world or worldview. One word change can reverse entirely th

Much has been said about the parallels between Mormonism and Islam. A BYU professor has written: “…there are many important elements of Mormon thought in which we feel closer to the followers of Muhammad than to the contemporary Christian culture in which we have been located since our beginning” (Spencer Palmer quoting BYU Professor Noel Reynolds, Mormons and Muslims, p.8). The parallels are striking and you can find a list of them here http://www.bible.ca/islam/islamic-mormonism-similarities.htm

The Anglican Church of Canada continues to Haemorrhage bishops as retired Anglican Bishop Malcolm Harding of Manitoba became the second bishop in a week to align himself with the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, which takes in most of South America. He followed Bishop Donald Harvey of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, who announced last Friday he would come out of retirement to offer pastoral guidance to conservative Canadian Anglicans. James I. Packer, Professor of Theology at Regent College in Vancouver, British Columbia, author of "Knowing God" and widely regarded as one of the most important Protestant theologians today, has said the Anglican Church of Canada has been "poisoned" by a liberal theology that "knows nothing of a God who uses [the Bible] to tell us things and knows nothing of sin in the heart and in the head." He said the Church is being ruined by its attempts to "play catch-up with the culture" by adopting whatever "

THE ISSUE OF BLOOD After the emotion comes the careful reflection. One Jehovah's Witness has died and it might be that refusing blood was a contributing factor. However, is one possible life necessary? Are others going to play 'Russian Roulette' with their lives? However, there are those who work with former Jehovah Witnesses who urge us not to be hard on the rank and file members of the group. Doug Harris is Director of Reachout Trust, an Evangelical Christian group that has worked with these people for the past 26 years. Doug said: "We should show nothing but love and compassion for the rank and file members, they are only following what they believe are God's directions to them. Having faith is a food thing; wanting to serve our Creator is something we should applaud. The problem is not with them but with the Leadership." Doug added, "This family will be feeling really sad and our hearts should go out to them and we should put no further pressures on t

A very good example of what can happen when local churches prove indifferent to the cults. A good read Time 2 Change Churches!: "Mormo" and the Mormons!

On Nov. 20 Associated Press reported: "A judge in Utah sentenced a sect leader to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison for his role in the arranged marriage of teenage cousins. Warren Jeffs, 51, was convicted of two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in the marriage of a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin in 2001. It will be up to the Utah parole board to decide how long he serves. Jeffs is head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members practise polygamy. The Utah parole board's first opportunity to review Jeffs' case comes in 2010, although it could decide to wait longer." This has been the year of polygamy for Mormonism. Warren Jeffs, the charismatic leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), was finally captured on Monday 28 August 2006 in Las Vegas with his brother and one of his many wives. Jeffs had been on the run since May 2004 after being charg

A few years ago a friend of mine gave me an ornament he had made in the shape of the name of God. It must have been about eight inches long, three inches high and perhaps half an inch deep. The idea was that it should sit on the mantle piece ready for when Jehovah’s Witnesses visit in the hope that it would be the first thing they would spot on entering our sitting room. What a conversation starter! How could they now claim that we do not know or use “the Name”? Well, it worked – after a fashion. The Witnesses calling on me that summer were charming people and we got along just fine. One of them was intrigued by the name of God sitting above the fire, and we discussed its origins and purpose. I explained that it served as a reminder of the God we serve and as a witness to the fact that we know Him by name. His wonder at the idea that I, a “born-again” Christian, should both know and use the name of God turned to astonishment when, saying that I knew how precious it might be to him, I m

I have been thinking recently about the idea that the earth might be flat. I mean it isn’t that long ago that it was a commonly believed that if you sailed far enough you would fall off the edge. “Thank goodness,” think the people who propagate this fiction, “that we have come so far since those dark days of religious superstition and ignorance.” Of course, this is all nonsense. There was a time when people believed the earth was flat but, given the dearth of information in earliest times, that might be forgiven. However, by around 600BC, Pythagoras had come up with the idea of a spherical shape for the earth. By 240 BC Eratosthenes had measured the earth’s circumference. By the time of Jesus it was a commonly accepted view of the world. Soon Ptolemy was to work out the system of longitude and latitude. Knowledge continues to grow and inform as we now see pictures of the earth from space and we continue to learn. Despite this we regularly hear people trot out the argument that, just th

Jewish scholars tell us that as many as 20% of first century Israel may have accepted Jesus as the Messiah. We know that three thousand came to the Lord on the Feast of Pentecost (Acts 2:4) and shortly afterwards another 5,000 men plus any women and children became believers (Acts 4:4). Acts 6:7 then records that a large number of priests became obedient to Christ. Many years later when Paul came back from his third missionary journey, probably around 60 AD, we read that the number of true Christians had already grown to tens of thousands - see Acts 21:20. The Greek word used in this verse is murias, which according to The New Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament , literally means; "a ten-thousand; a myriad or indefinite number; an innumerable multitude; an unlimited number" (p.419). See Luke 12:1, Acts 19:19 and Jude 14 for examples of the use of this word. If there were already so many believers in 60 AD, there would be no places left between the 1870

Whether its being picked for the team, winning prizes at school or getting the promotion we feel is long overdue, we love to be noticed. You might say it is in our nature and that kudos is something we understand instinctively even if we can’t quite define the word. Lamech, fifth from the star-crossed Cain, boasted to his no doubt long-suffering wives Adah and Zillah: Listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, A young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven times, Then Lamech seventy times (Genesis 4:23-24) I am sure that when they married Mr Right they had no idea his first name was “Always”, but Lamech made his mark and they probably never heard the end of it. I can just see him leaning against the bar at his local inn telling those good old boys all about it. We all love a good story, especially when its us telling it. At the Tower of Babel we discover that working together in a common cause can have its own rewards. Enlightened self-int