‘Marriage doesn’t work (just ask Bill and Melinda [Gates]) – so let me present some alternatives.’ This was the headline of a recent Guardian article by journalist Hadley Freeman which proved very helpful in demonstrating the ugly ‘fruit’ of a society that abandons the living God. Last year my book Biblical Marriage: Two Sinners…
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If you had no knowledge of Scripture but simply watched popular evangelicalism, you might reasonably infer that the church is under some order to imitate the world as closely as possible. Every popular fad or movement soon has a ‘Christian’ counterpart. Every product logo will eventually be mimicked with a religious slant, silk-screened onto…
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A pitfall of contemporary evangelicalism is to mistake quantity for quality. How many attended the meeting? How many hits has the website had? What’s the view count of that uploaded video? These can easily become acid tests for how well ministries are faring. However, surveys and statistics concerning the spread of the gospel do…
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Outside the snow has just fallen. It looks so lovely and white when it first falls to the ground. But I can also see that it is not pure on the street, for it mingles with the dirt and grime and becomes a mushy mess. Many years ago, a young lady saw in her…
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Like a swift flowing river, progressive culture seems to surge forward, sweeping all with it. Like dead branches, liberal churches are caught up in the stream. Sometimes evangelicals feel battered by the torrent, barely clinging to the bank. We need renewed confidence in the Spirit’s power. GK Chesterton stated ‘a dead thing can go…
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Last month we contrasted who we are (God’s image bearers) with how we are (scarred by original sin). Rather than defining ourselves and others by the (often sinful) strongest urges we experience, we must embrace the gospel hope of the master restorer. The Spirit of God patiently restores fallen image-bearers to the glorious original:…
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Struggling for the right words, the prop forward tried to answer the question. Talking about his feelings obviously didn’t come easily. ‘I really loved my wife and children’ he said, ‘but then I started to have these urges – and I had to be true to my urges’. The BBC interviewer obviously approved –…
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