Bridge of Reason

  For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17 What is the gospel? Now there is the question.   If it is, as the great Apostle Paul claims, the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, the answer to the question is of vital importance. To have the wrong answer is to put a person in eternal jeopardy. Sounding like the beginning of a joke, imagine a Mormon, a Jehovah’s Witness and a Roman Catholic walked into a bar and you asked them to explain the gospel, what would they say? Let us begin with the Mormon. The gospel is our Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness. The central doctrine of the gospel is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The first principles and or...

Halloween is going to be very different this year (2020). The country is at different levels of lock down because of the virus sweeping our world. Trick-or-treating won’t happen for most, and large parties are liable to incur large financial penalties. Commercial interests, however, are still making every effort to ‘sell’ this pagan festival, parents and children will still find a way to mark the day, and for pagans it is still a significant day in their calendar. The celebration of Halloween on 31 October each year goes back to the ancient  Celtic festival of Samhain  (pronounced Sahwin). Indeed this is still the pagan name for the festival that falls around the 31st October, depending on the phases of the moon. It was, and remains, a time when many people thought the barrier between the natural and supernatural worlds, between the living and the dead, broke down, and could more easily be crossed.  All Hallows Eve The church wanted to di...

  I recently heard of a story attributed to the late John Stott. He spoke of a man who, when ordering his breakfast at the hotel asked for egg and bacon. When his breakfast arrived, there was on his plate egg, bacon and a sausage. The man complained to the waiter pointing out that he only wanted egg and bacon.  The waiter duly took away the plate and returned a short time later with the man’s breakfast. This time there was only an egg on the plate. The man again protested, ‘I asked for egg and bacon’ he said. The waiter apologised, took away the plate, later returning with what the man hoped was the breakfast he had asked for. As the plate was put before him, the man sighed. On the plate was a fish! Credited to the author of the book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ Stephen Covey said: The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. I can say amen to that. But I do find it ironic that such a statement could come from a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of...

Paul, in Romans, carefully argues that Gentiles are unrighteous before God (1:18-32); Jews are, likewise, unrighteous before God (2:1-3:8); indeed, all are unrighteous before a holy God (3:9-20) In Romans 3 Paul shows, ‘ the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.’ (vv.21-22) F ather Abraham Our model of this kind of faith, Paul writes, is Abraham (Ro.4:1-15) ‘Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.’ (v.3) Paul carefully explains that this righteousness is not our due, as though we had earned it but, as with Abraham, it is a gift because we simply trusted God . In Romans 3 27-31 we read this gift of righteousness is for both Jews and Gentiles. Indeed, in Romans 4 we are assured that Abraham is the f ather of the faithful, both Jew and Gentile: ‘ We say that faith is counted to Abraham as righteousness. ...

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith." ( 1 Pet. 5:8-9 ) T hat enemy uses innumerable means to trap and devour the unwary. A ll he e mploys to frustrate and destroy the work of God has one thing in common; it appeals to the Adam in us all, the unholy ambition to be the gods of our own lives. Pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony, and sloth, the so-called seven deadly sins, appeal to our more base, self-serving, nature. False religion, the society of secrets, supernatural powers, appeal to man’s spiritual pride, his determination to be master of his own destiny, god of his own world. The Darkness of Spiritual Pride We see spiritual pride at the Tower of Babel, where men built a tower to make a name for themselves. We see it in the desert when God’s people built a golden calf, the chosen choosing for themselves. We see it in the worship of Artemis ...

Some time ago I posted a question on social media. The question I asked was this: ‘Which is more important Orthodoxy or Orthopraxy?’ The response was interesting, but not surprising. Apart from a couple of people who answered ‘huh?’, most people answered orthopraxy! Why Orthopraxy? When defined, the words orthodoxy and orthopraxy literally mean right belief and right action. So, my question revealed that most of those who responded thought right action to be of more importance than right belief. Now I believe that when people saw my question, they presupposed what I was really asking was, which is more important doctrine or people? The answer then in their minds would be obvious, it is people. In juxtaposing orthodoxy and orthopraxy and then asking a person to choose, I set up a false dichotomy because, orthodoxy and orthopraxy are of equal importance. They need each other. Right belief (orthodoxy) informs right action (orthopraxy). The problem comes when we have one without ...