All together now

The legend of the founding of Rome tells us about two twins who fell out.

Imagine...

Imagine

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

John Lennon (1971)

John Lennon invites us to imagine what it would be like if there were no heaven or hell. Let’s do just that.

Why does God need a sacrifice?

Richard Dawkins has asked the question, “If God wanted to forgive our sins, why not just forgive them without having Himself tortured and executed in payment...?” Now Richard Dawkins was voted one of the top three intellectuals in the world, and although I am not one of the other two I think the answer is fairly simple and can be stated in three words, “God is righteous.”

Is hell for real?

Here is an article I was asked to write an article on this subject.

Good people go to heaven?

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

Some lessons from the "Accountant of Auschwitz"

I just heard about the conviction of the 94 year old, former SS sergeant, Oskar Groening, who has been convicted on 300,000 counts of accessory to murder. He has been sentenced to 4 years in prison (see here).

As I thought about this person, his trial and his sentence, there were three things that struck me.

Taking a stand...on what and for what?

I was talking to a lady last week and there are a few points worth passing on.

Freedom of conscience?

The year that has passed has seen a big squeeze being put on liberty in this country, the thing is that many people don't see it because they aren't being squeezed, or they don't care because at present they agree with the people doing the squeezing.

Confused!

I had an interesting chat with a man yesterday. I want to pass on some of the teachable points.

Why would God...?

Questions that begin in this way are notoriously hard to answer, and there's no shame in answering many of these questions with an honest, "I've no idea." The Bible does say that God's ways are past finding out. It ought to come as no surprise that there are things God does and allows that we don't understand. However, the question I recently heard asked does not fall into that category.

Further correspondence with the atheist

In my last post I showed you a letter I wrote to an atheist I had a conversation with a few weeks ago. He responded by totally ignoring what I said, and instead he sent me a list of "atrocities" and "contradictions" in the Bible. I will go through all that he sent in a subsequent post, but I'm going to let you see what I sent to him in response.

No substitute for penal substitution

The doctrine of penal substitution states that the Lord Jesus Christ bore the judgment of God in the place of sinners so that they can go free. It means that the Christian Gospel is the only message in the world that maintains that God is a righteous God and a Saviour (see for example Isaiah 45 v 21).

Good enough?

I had a pretty unpleasant conversation with a man this week. Alex was a very bitter and aggressive man who seemed to think that he was the only one in the whole world who was right in the area of scriptural doctrine and practice, (he doesn't meet at any church, and he will not be taught by anybody).

Why Sandy Hook makes me glad (and more sure) Christianity is true

The unspeakably tragic shooting in Connecticut leaves me praying for the families involved, but also praising God for the truth of the Christian worldview.

Still without a leg to stand on

I wrote last year about a man (Robbie) with whom I had a long and interesting conversation (see here, here and here).  Well, I just spoke to him again today, and sadly he still holds to the same denials of reason and reality, all the while denouncing those who disagree as unintelligent.

Eternal punishment and a click of the fingers

As you know, if you look on this blog from time to time, over the last while I have been writing quite a bit on the reality of hell.  I know that for some of you who come here you are looking for a simple outline of what the Bible says about the way of salvation, and how to be brought into a right relationship with God, and there is a lot on the site that is too involved or specified for you.  Can I encourage you to look at the labels, and click on Gospel or Salvation, and you'll find there how to know your sins are forgiven.

Sola, sola, sola, So long Martin!

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

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.

Sorry doesn't remove the stain

Richard Dawkins, straying outside his field of expertise (noticeably), has made many dogmatic but juvenile and mistaken assertions about religion in general and Christianity in particular.  In one of his attacks he asked the question, If God wants to forgive people why doesn't He just forgive them, why does He need blood?  Now Richard Dawkins was voted one of the top three intellectuals in the world, and it may surprise you to know that I am not one of the other two, but I can answer the question - the answer is because God is righteous and sin matters. 

Granny & Hitler, or, What good are good works?

"So you mean to tell me that a man like Hitler can say a wee prayer a minute before he dies and go to heaven, while my dear old granny who didn't pray the prayer goes to hell, even though she never hurt a fly? Can you be serious?" It's a common objection to the teaching that salvation is by faith alone, not of works at all - let's have a think about it.