This may not be true in your Christian circles, but I tend to hear about popcorn. Perhaps it reveals a suppressed hankering from those who miss going to the cinema because they have overloaded the schedule with church activities. But what does popcorn have to do with Christianity? Is this a critique of junk food | Read More…
A leader with Christ’s heart differs from leaders in the world as light differs from darkness. Jesus taught as much and lived as such. Think, for instance, of how he loved all those he led. Worldly leaders, by contrast, love goals and achievements. Think too of the final measure of Christ’s loving leadership: he moved | Read More…
Last week in Cor Deo we were looking at John 6. It is one of Jesus’ great moments. In a rare glimpse of ministry up north (rare for John), Jesus has impressed the crowds with a mighty Moses-like miracle. Unlike the tension he faces down south in Judea, Jesus is a bit of star in | Read More…
This week’s post is from Huw Williams. The issue of repentance is of vital importance in all aspects of gospel ministry, and in this post he probes the problematic issue of faking repentance. Huw was part of Cor Deo in 2011, is now pastoring the International Church of Torino, Italy, and will be co-leading the | Read More…
Job’s pain pushed him to ask God for a reprieve and also for an explanation. In effect, “What, oh my God, are you doing?!” In the dialogue with his friends Job knew something of what the Bible reader knows from the start. He was not, as his friends presumed, a very evil man facing | Read More…
This weekend my wife and I finally got to the cinema to see Les Miserables. Absolutely fantastic! Victor Hugo’s epic story of Jean Valjean and his pursuer, officer Javert, is an impressive movie adaptation of the stage musical (which we also want to see again). Jailed for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his | Read More…
Is God good at expressing himself? The question matters, especially if we profess to have the ultimate God of the Bible as our own deity. Faith produces avid listeners and we can reasonably assume that our Creator will speak at least as effectively as we do. Why, then, do many people who claim to know | Read More…
One of the challenges we have in reading the Bible in English is that we tend to read everything individualistically. In reality a lot of the content of Scripture is written to a corporate “you,” which means our “me-only” mindset can easily misread what was written. At the start of Paul’s second epistle to the | Read More…
Why questions? A number of answers jump to mind. With questions we probe the unknowns of life. A scientist uses questions to break new ground in a given field. The archaeologist literally breaks ground in asking, “What happened here in past years?” Questions help us find our way when we’re lost in an unfamiliar part | Read More…
Good advances don’t have universally positive fruit. For instance, I wonder if our advances in literacy and scholarship might have undermined our theology in some respects. For instance, what do we look for when we read the Old Testament? Walter Kaiser suggested that the Old Testament is treated by many Christians like their Grandmother’s attic: | Read More…
