Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
Whatever we are facing today, let's ask God to give us the strength to persevere in faithfulness.
Found - one piece of the cross?
The Romanian church-building boom
An attempt to overturn Jesus' conviction.
Will talking about biblical marriage soon be classed as hate-speech?
Encouraging the US Supreme Court to allow prayer
Disclaimer: The Good Book Company is not responsible for the content of external sites and does not necessarily agree with the content of articles listed.
Name: Cyril of Alexandria
When: c. 376 – 444
Where: Patriarch of Alexandria in Egypt
So what?
Cyril was at the centre of one of the most complicated debates in the history of the Church. Previous generations had established that the man Jesus was the divine Son of God. But now the difficulty was: in what sense was Jesus both human and divine? It’s actually a hard question to answer when you think about it!
In Cyril’s time, there were two basic camps, with two extreme wings in each camp:
There are a lot of books about! And it can be hard to know what to pop in your suitcase or download onto your Kindle as you prepare to relax on holiday. So we thought we’d share with you what the blog team here are reading this summer – Christian and secular:
Carl Laferton
“Wolf Hall”, by Hilary Mantel because I love history; it's won loads of prizes; my wife loved it; and because reading good, character-based fiction that's fantastically written stretches my brain in ways that non-fiction stuff doesn't.... continue reading
There were rumours and speculation aplenty. Those who had read the signs of the times knew that there was an unfinished storyline - that someone new was coming - someone who would put things right and rescue humanity from its darkest danger.
But who? Would he be young or old? Would he come as a peaceful compassionate lover of souls? Or would he be an avenging conqueror? And then to everyone's surprise the day of the great revelation came...
Not a bumbling do-gooder, but a serious, dangerous-looking man with hard eyes would be playing the new Doctor Who.
Who did you think I was talking about?
The new Doctor, it was announced on live TV last Sunday night, will be 55-year old Scottish actor, Peter Capaldi - best known for his recent role in in the award-winning In the Thick of it where he played a foul-mouthed government spin doctor. The acting range he brought to that role - passionate and venomous outbursts of anger, and an ability to portray vein-throbbing rage will give new impetus to the scriptwriters for the next series.
But, beneath the veneer of looks and personality quirks, the doctor remains the same deep down. A penetrating understanding of people and situations; burningly passionate about protecting humankind; desperately wanting to redeem even the worst of his enemies; offering mercy but unleashing uncompromising justice on those who refuse his mercy.
Perhaps what makes this show so timeless and watchable is how the Doctor reflects so many qualities that we see in a saviour who is far from fictional.
In today's Explore Bible-reading notes, I made an editorial mistake which meant that the notes said something that is totally wrong…
In Colossians 1 v 24, Paul says: "I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions". The notes comment: "What he can't mean is that there is nothing lacking in the sufferings of Christ when it comes to salvation." That is precisely the opposite of the truth—Paul (and the rest of the Bible) repeatedly teaches that there in fact IS nothing lacking in Christ's sufferings when it comes to saving us—his death is sufficient (eg: Colossians 1 v 21-23; 1 Peter 3 v 18). The notes should therefore have said: "What he can't mean is that there is SOMETHING lacking…"... continue reading
We live and work among a great variety of gods—not only those of other formal religions, but also the gods of wealth, celebrity, pleasure, ideology, achievement. Our era can be characterized by the phrase which sums up the book of Judges: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25, ESV).
So despite the gap of over three millennia, there are many parallels between our situation and the time of the book of Judges, which recounts the history of God’s people, Israel, between the time of Moses and Joshua, and that of the first kings—around 1200BC. This was a time of spiritual pluralism. The society of Canaan—the land God had promised to give his people, and where they were now living intermingled with other nations—was a mixture of believing and pagan people. It was a time when God’s people daily faced the choice between looking to God as their Lord, or following the spirit and preferences of their age. It is mainly the story of how they failed in this task—of how they constantly turned from knowing, loving and obeying God to do “what was right in [their] own eyes.”... continue reading
I was reminded this morning of one of our set texts at school—Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. In particular of Barkis, the local cart driver. Specifically of the minimalist way he proposes to Peggotty, the Copperfield family’s servant. Barkis got the young David to take the message:
"Tell her, 'Barkis is willin'!' Just so."
What a romantic he was.
It’s 40 years since I read David Copperfield, but “Barkis is willin’” has stuck tenaciously in my mind. And it came back to me this morning as I wondered about that word “willing”. It struck me that, although it can sound conditional, it’s really a statement of intent. Like the bride who says: “I will”. So I looked it up in Collins English Dictionary:... continue reading
Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Psalm 90:1-2
A terrible train crash in Spain, SAS trainees die on exercise, another street stabbing, Zimbabwe back in the news with allegations of rigged elections and an oppressive dictator. Where is God in all this? What is He doing?
Christians believe that God is all-powerful and could sort out the problems of the world. And that's right - God can do anything. But that fact can leave us floundering. If God has the power to act but doesn’t then maybe He doesn’t care about the suffering or maybe He has chosen to do nothing to help us. If we were God wouldn’t we sort it out?
The truth is, God cares about the mess of the world and has acted. He offers no quick fix to suffering now, but He has provided the long term solution. He sent His son to die on the Cross and take the punishment we all deserve for our wilful disobedience of our loving Heavenly Father. Jesus entered this suffering world and knew physical pain. Jesus himself called out on the cross as he hung there in agony “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”. Being a Christian and continuing to trust God does not mean denying the pain – or being a stoic – it’s OK to weep and Jesus weeps with us. But being a Christian gives us even more than that. It gives us hope.
John Dickson in his book If I Were God I'd End All the Pain looks honestly at our questions. He looks briefly at explanations provided by other religions before coming back to what the Bible itself says about God, justice and suffering. And what he find there is an encouragement to anyone honestly looking for answers to the problem of pain.
Read more and buy it it here at 20% off!
