Joy and peace

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing… (Romans 15:13)

The gospel in 25 words

 A gospel message based on John 3:16.

What is faith?

I had a very frustrating discussion with someone recently about faith. This word is being mangled beyond recognition such that, when people hear it, something comes to mind which never would have occurred to anyone using the word at any other time in history.

Presumptuous?

Here's another wee video I was asked to do on the question, Is it presumptuous to say I know I'm saved?

Good people go to heaven?

Here's a wee video I was asked to do on this subject.

Justified on justification

I had a chat last week with a "Jehovah's Witness" called Norman about the subject of justification. There are a couple of things worth reporting.

What is faith?

The Bible is crystal clear on the fact that salvation is by faith (e.g. Romans 3:28), and given how long eternity is, how awful hell is and how wonderful salvation is, if salvation is by faith we must make sure we know what faith is. Sadly this word is widely misused and abused. I hope this clears the air from the clouds of confusion and mists of misrepresentation.

Blind faith

I had a really interesting and enjoyable chat on a plane a while ago with a young man, and I just want to pass on some of the details of the conversation.

No hope?

I want to conclude the wee recap of the conversation I had with the JW lady last week. After speaking about the resurrection of Christ she told me she would look into it. I encouraged her to do so because there was no salvation without a real, risen Christ.

"That's it!"

Let me tell you about a young man I know who recently was desperate to become a Christian. He had come from atheism to realise the message of the Bible is true, and he knew that he needed to take this step of conversion.

Walking as He walked

I had a brief chat with a lady today that I want to tell you about.

It's all there

I was thinking recently about the purpose John tells us he had in writing his Gospel

How do you know?

I encounter this question a lot in various contexts.

I'm good...?

It's one of those things that annoys the more easily annoyed among us - the influx of American phrases.  This means that when you enquire about someone's health you will sometimes hear the response "I'm good."  The fact is you aren't!

The twists, tricks and tragedy of Watchtower indoctrination

I was intrigued to listen to a debate on the Unbelievable? radio show over the last couple of weeks on “Jehovah’s Witness” doctrine.  I found it quite striking that they had to get a disfellowshipped American to defend the Watchtower beliefs because no one from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society in the UK was prepared to participate.  Anyway...

Where's purgatory?

I was in a conversation recently with a lady from a Roman Catholic background, and she asked me my views on purgatory.

Sola, sola, sola, So long Martin!

481 years ago (last Tuesday) Pope Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther from the Roman Catholic church.

What about your good works?

When people hear about the Bible's clear teaching that salvation is by faith in Christ alone a common response is to ask something like, "What about all the good things I do?"  My response is "What about all the good things you do?!"

Nobody's perfect

I just want to recount a recent conversation I had with a lady on the subject of how we can be accepted by God.

Either / or, or both / and

I had a really interesting conversation with a man recently in which he was objecting to various matters relating to God and His justice and mercy.