Christian
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Merlin vs God
Have you been watching the BBC Series ‘Merlin’? Mrs Phil and I have been watching it virtually since the beginning, and very much enjoy it. It’s silly, it’s a bit of fun, but it has some great moments in it. Obviously the programme has its flaws… as someone pointed out the other day, for a…
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An Advent Prayer
This is one of my favourite collects (set prayers), a prayer for advent by Richard Baxter (apparently written in 1691): Keep us, O Lord, while we tarry on this earth, in a serious seeking after you, and in an affectionate walking with you, every day of our lives; that when you come, we may be…
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No More Page 3 and ‘Rape Culture’
I haven’t blogged about this before now, so firstly: if you haven’t seen the No More Page 3 campaign, I do encourage you to have a look and sign the petition if you agree. Frankly I think Page 3 is a dinosaur – a relic of a bygone age which should have been gone long…
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Positions on Scriptural Authority
A few days ago, after the news about women bishops had broken, I had a very interesting discussion on Facebook about the decision. One of the interesting things to come out of that was the positions that people had on Biblical Authority. It seems that this is an area where people have major disagreements: do…
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Reflections on Women Bishops and the “No” Vote
Now 24 hours has passed since the synod vote yesterday, and some of the dust is starting to settle, I thought it might be time to wade into the murky waters with my take on the whole matter. I’m honestly hoping not to upset anyone, although given how high the feelings seem to have run…
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Secularism and Humanitarian Punishment
Recently, I came across C.S. Lewis’ essay “The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment”. If you’ve not read it, I do recommend it: I think Lewis makes some excellent points about punishment. It makes quite a neat follow-up to my previous post on Atheism Plus and ethics. What I was talking about in that post was personal…
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Sermon: Gluttony [Galatians 5v16-26]
Last night I was preaching at Christ Church Cockfosters on the topic of gluttony, as part of their series “The 7 Habits of Highly Destructive People”. I found it a hard sermon to do – it was the first sermon I’ve done on a topic, rather than on a passage, and they’re not easy! Still, I…
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Random thoughts on ‘Atheism Plus’
Edit: 29th October – I have updated the post to make it a bit clearer following some feedback on Twitter and in the comments. One of the things that’s been making a few waves on Twitter lately is “Atheism Plus“. In case you haven’t heard of it, this is the official definition according to the…
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House, Marriage, and Grace
Over the past few months, Mrs Phil and I have been watching through “House, M.D.” If you’ve never watched the series before, I can recommend it – it is pretty compelling! That said, some of the time it is a bit frustrating: the series as a general rule seems to buy into many of the…
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The Untold Story of Islam vs The Resurrection
A few days ago I watched Islam: The Untold Story, which was based on Tom Holland’s book In the Shadow of the Sword. I read the book recently – following the review in the Oak Hill magazine – and really enjoyed it, so I was happy to see a TV adaptation. If you haven’t seen it…