Bridge of Reason

A Meditation and Devotion for Christmas Christmas is many things to many people. A busy time, a time for family, 'all about the children,' nativity plays, gifts, remembering loved ones, carol services, good cheer, painful memories, a festival of colour and warmth in the middle of winter, an opportunity to invite friends and family to church and hear the good news, have them understand the 'real meaning of Christmas.' Of course, some in this season face tragic circumstances, have sad memories, and entertain painful regrets. Not for them the Christmas cheer we all look forward to. For me it is a time to remember that we worship a God who keeps his promises. To remember that, at the time of the greatest tragedy in man's history, his terrible and devastating fall, God made this promise: 'I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.' (Gen.3:15) This i

1. Jesus claimed to be God. 'I told you that you would die in your sins; unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.' (John.8:24) What we believe about Jesus is essential to our salvation. Unless we believe correctly we will die in our sins. Here Jesus declares, 'I am he.' Who is he? I AM is the name God gave to identify himself to Moses in Ex.3:14. We read further: "'Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.' So the Jews said to him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.' So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple."  (John 8:57-59) Here Jesus clearly claims to to have pre-existed Abraham. Not only so but, instead of saying, 'before Abraham was, I was,' he declares, 'before Abraham was, I am.' He uses the present tense to

Recent years have seen the Mormon Church redouble its efforts at repackaging itself for a new generation. They're use of Search Engine Optimisation, content marketing, and social media is astonishingly slick and professional. Enter the word 'Bible' into your search engine and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will appear on the first page of results. 'Christ' gave me the same result third entry down on that page. 'New Testament' gave them second place. Type in Mormon and top place is given to mormon.org, with half the page given over to Mormon sites. You have to be impressed.   Mormon.Org Mormon.org is a simple ( you might say simplistic) introduction to Mormonism. It has 12 simple, click and play short videos that present a misleadingly disarming picture of the Mormon faith. Are these the new Articles of Faith? You can ask questions in a live chat with a missionary, and link through to I'm a Mormon , a carefully selected set of testim

  By What Authority? Ask a cult member about their faith and they will come up with a rote answer, often couched in the language of testimony. This is meant to redirect your attention away from the question, to the claims of the cult thrown in a positive light. Usually someone 'went back to the Bible,' 'had a vision,' 'felt led by God to do something,' and 'when I did the same thing I came to the same conclusions.' Charles Russell and his Bible study group studied the Bible for themselves and found 'The Truth'. I did the same thing and discovered 'The Truth' too. Joseph Smith went into the woods and prayed and got an answer, I prayed and got my own answer. This becomes the authority for every subsequent claim and robust apologetic study is bypassed by personal knowledge/revelation. Challenge them and they will quote their own leaders as the final authority on – everything. This leads to unquestioning loyalty and blind belief in a worl

by Jon Taylor Background A decade ago, Zondervan published Rob Bell’s first book ‘Velvet Elvis’ i which caused quite a stir amongst evangelicals although that was just a ripple compared with the tidal wave caused by his 2011 publication ‘Love Wins.’ ii In particular, John Piper was deeply concerned about Bell’s thoughts on penal substitution and the atonement. iii Rob Bell usually writes in a mysterious and provocative style, appealing to a postmodern audience, often leaving questions unanswered before raising another issue. There is typically a lack of clarity leaving the intended meaning open to discussion. Although not expressly stated in the respective texts, both books have come under criticism for either bordering Universalism or presenting Universalist ideas. At the time of authoring ‘Velvet Elvis’, Rob Bell was the Pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan which is not to be confused with Mark Driscoll’s former church, Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. In fact D

The American 19 th Century was a religious boiling pot from which all kinds of ideas, abstractions, and movements emerged, from the early days of the Seventh Day Adventists, through the followers of William Miller (Millerites), and John Thomas (Christadelphians), to the Watchtower Society in the latter part of the century. Such groups were overwhelmingly preoccupied by the second Adventism that grew out of the 18 th century. With Christ's return insistently taught as imminent, caution was thrown to the wind as people sold off their properties, gave away money, and confessed teachings that, on reflection, they might have treated with greater caution. Date setting was commonplace, failed prophecies were legion, and teachings were not-so-subtly changed to accommodate new circumstances.   144,000 King-Priests We are familiar with the Watchtower teaching regarding the Old and New Covenants, that the Old, or Law, Covenant is between Jehovah and Israel, and the New Covenant is betwee

What do you think of when your hear the word ‘sanctified?’ Paul’s first letter to Christians in Thessalonica is best summed up in verse one of chapter four, ‘How to live in order to please God.’ The context is very important if we are to appreciate its application today. Paul was writing to a church living in what was a hostile environment for Christians, calling them to live sanctified lives. We are beginning to experience this environment in what was traditionally a ‘Christian country.’ You might be aware of recent controversial developments in Ireland regarding gay marriage. Ireland (Eire) has voted to change the constitution to allow gay couples to marry. This has proved an enormous challenge to the Catholic Church that takes a traditional, biblical view on marriage . You might remember also, in Northern Ireland, Ashers Bakery was successfully prosecuted for refusing to bake a cake with a pro-gay message on it. They didn’t refuse custom to a gay man, but simply refused to put