Believe Differently

Large Christian gatherings normally freak the Jesus out of me - literally! But I absolutely love Greenbelt. I have just got back from this year’s festival – well actually, I got back Tuesday but this is the first chance I have had to write on my blog – and I thought I would point you [...]

I watched the Louis Theroux documentary, the other day, on the Phelps family and got into a conversation about whether what Pastor Phelps was saying was biblical or not.1 My point was that, actually, though we may not want to label his views as “Christian”, – though, no-doubt, some might! – I do reckon you could [...]

I am not certain where I first heard this phrase – I think it might have been Brian Mclaren – but I am absolutely convinced that “there is no such thing as a culture neutral gospel”. All of our ideas concerning God, Christ and his Gospel have been apprehended within, and communicated though, a cultural [...]

It is a little off topic, but I am really enjoying the conversation I am having with Saint Peter on my latest post on Romans 1. In my last reply, I caught myself writing/typing/saying the sentence: “[I do not believe] because the bible tells me so!” And I have to say, it felt kinda good [...]

I hate the phrase “biblical principle” – especially when it is used by smarmy television evangelist types! The phrase is always invoked – admittedly probably subconsciously by most users of it – to imply a kind of quasi scientific quality to a piece of bible teaching. The implication – as far as I can figure [...]

I am surprised that a couple of individuals in particular, who I note have subscribed already to this blog, did not pick me up on my post: “Struggling with Scripture”. In that blog I associated the literalist and fundamental perspectives, when in actual fact, the two are completely different - though the fundamentalist may not agree.  [...]

Although I hate the baggage that is now associated with the label, I am an Evangelical Christian. As such, I am passionate about Scripture, but I am not a fundamentalist, and I am not a literalist. In my view, such approaches to biblical interpretation violate the text. The Biblical text is textured, multi layered, rich [...]