The Pastor's Blog

Be A Man

2011-01-17T20:00:00.015Z

The other week in our Thursday evening Bible Study we were discussing Paul’s teaching about how Christian men and Christian women ought to behave. Somewhere along the way I made a comment to the effect that young men these days are not so manly as young men were in times gone by. Neal – you can always count on Neal not to let you away with a thoughtless comment. – pulled me up with a few

When Protestants Protest

2010-09-14T18:20:00.000+01:00

This week Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Scotland to begin his visit to the UK. A group of 60 members of the Free Presbyterian Church, led by Rev Ian Paisley will also travel to Scotland to stage a legitimate and peaceful protest against the Pope’s visit. I neither question their right to do so nor do I disagree with any of their concerns: quite the contrary. Here is my problem. Last Sunday

The Right Tools for the Job

2010-08-10T10:48:00.000+01:00

To be able to understand anything properly you need to have the right mental tools for the job. I mean, if you did not know about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division how would you know how many potatoes to boil for a family of six. And, as for a trip to Tescos, you would be easy prey (Which is better value, three packs of six at £1.00 or two packs of nine at £1.60?). You began to

Take The Plunge

2010-08-07T17:31:00.001+01:00

I have been enjoying our Sunday morning services lately. Paul’s prayer at the end of Ephesians 3 holds up the tantalising possibility of depths and heights of Christian experience that most of us have never imagined. I am convinced that the reason we do not know the things Paul is praying for is that most of us are too scared to take the plunge. Either that or — more likely — we are not prepared

Youv'e Got a Friend In Me

2010-07-20T15:00:00.000+01:00

Rent A Friend has just been launched in the UK. Rent A Friend is a web site that allows you to rent friends anywhere in the country. You can rent a local friend to hang out with: someone to go to a movie or restaurant with, someone to go with you to a party or event, someone to teach you a new skill or hobby, someone to show you around an unfamiliar town. It is all strictly decent of course —

Its Not Enough To Go To Church

2010-05-11T20:09:00.003+01:00

I could not help noticing that The Times yesterday made a point of mentioning, albeit in passing, that Nick Clegg had taken time out from his busy round of negotiations to attend church.As I write, Gordon Brown has tendered his resignation to the Queen. David Cameron is on his way to Buckingham Palace and to becoming our next Prime-Minister and Mr Clegg is set to hold a position of some influence

Relate To Relate?

2010-04-29T19:33:00.002+01:00

It is hard to feel sympathy for Gary McFarlane. In 2008 Mr McFarlane was sacked from his position as a relationship counsellor with Relate Avon. He claims the service refused to accommodate his Christian beliefs with regard to same-sex relationships and sought leave to appeal a judgement made against his claim of unfair dismissal last November. That right to appeal was turned down by the High

Even O'Leary Can't Argue

2010-04-20T08:33:00.001+01:00

It has been interesting to hear the comments people have been making about that cloud of ash. “It’s really scary.” “Makes you think.” “You see all these things happening and it’s like the end of the world is coming.”Of course that is what it was meant to do — make people think — the Bible says so. It tells us God sends disasters and catastrophes to remind us that we are not in charge."Or those

Persecution of Christians in Britain

2010-03-22T16:31:00.001Z

I have been told, and I have no reason to doubt it, that a young American street preacher was arrested in Glasgow on Friday afternoon. He was charged with causing a breach of the peace and inciting hatred. The reason? When asked if he believed that homosexuality is a sin he responded by reading an appropriate passage of Scripture. Also in the course of his message he is sayed to have stated his

We Are Not Amused Getafix

2010-02-19T10:11:00.001Z

Reasons to have confidence in your Bible: number 9The Bible has not just had an influence on English literature: it has had an immeasurable influence on Western culture. Its words are inscribed on public buildings, officials are sworn into office with their hand on it, law-makers have drawn on its standards. it has influenced politics. its values underlie many of the world’s welfare programmes

Nothing Beats A Good Read

2010-02-11T10:30:00.006Z

Reasons to have confidence in your Bible: number 8No other book has inspired so much writing — just take a look in Mervyn’s bookshop! Commentaries, books of sermons, works on theology, philosophy of religion, apologetics, biblical languages, church history and missions, textbooks of Religious Education, Christian biography, Christian novels, hymnbooks… and that is just the stuff written by

Could You? Would You?

2010-01-27T15:40:00.005Z

Reasons to have confidence in your Bible: number 7Lewis Sperry Chafer, the founder of Dallas Theological Seminary, said something along these lines: "The Bible is not the kind of book a man could write if he would or the kind of book he would write if he could."You might want to think about that. Here is what I think he meant.No mere man could do what the writers of the Bible did. No man of their

The Stones Will Cry Out

2010-01-20T19:52:00.017Z

I watched a fascinating programme on BBC this week: Lost Kingdoms of Africa 2. Ethiopia (it will be available on the iPlayer until 2nd February if you are interested). It is an examination of the archaeological evidence to support the belief that the emperors of Ethiopia descended from King Solomon and the Queen of Seba. What a fun-packed life I live.It was fascinating to see how small clues can

Who knows what's around the corner?

2010-01-12T14:03:00.013Z

Predicting the future is a risky business, as these quotes from people who should have known better show. The fact is, no one knows what is around the corner. We all know that, for we have all made our guesses and got them wrong, but for some reason we still keep trying. Some go to fortune tellers, some listen to “experts,” most of us just rely on our hunches and the expectation that on the whole

I'll Have Chips With That

2010-01-07T16:10:00.010Z

It used to be a badge of honour for a Christian to carry a battered Bible and I have my suspicions that not a few preachers may have deliberately roughed theirs up to make them look well used. But battering the Bible has gone to another level since a couple of Glaswegian “artists” decided to have one deep fried in chip shop batter and put on display at the McLellan Galleries. They said it was

Do What The Auld Lad Says — It's In The Bible

2009-12-28T18:52:00.013Z

One of the questions on Brain of Britain the other day caught my ear. It concerned the "Wicked Bible." That is the name given to a 1631 edition of the King James Bible in which Exodus 20:14 reads, “Thou shalt commit adultery.” 1000 copies were produced, the king and the Archbishop of Canterbury were enraged, the royal printers, Robert Barker and Martin Lucas, had to pay a colossal fine and orders

Harry Potter Eat Your Heart Out

2009-12-22T10:33:00.008Z

Reasons to have confidence in your Bible: number 2It seems that every book you pick up now is the number one best seller! I suppose it all depends how you look at it: number one best seller for the publisher, number one for the author, number one that month, number one that week. There is one book that has outsold every other by so much that its status is beyond dispute. In fact, most of the

Get A Life Getafix

2009-12-14T15:46:00.006Z

One of the ladies from church met a druid outside Tescos the other week. Who would have thought we would see the day! Said druid tried to convince her that the Bible, having come through many successive copies handwritten by monks who were stoned out of their minds, is full of errors and totally unreliable. She was somewhat thrown by the profundity of his argument. I mean, how do you respond to

I think I need another book

2009-07-27T17:26:00.007+01:00

I paid a visit to Mervyn’s bookshop this morning. It's a great place. I could spend hours there. Actually, come to think of it, I did. He has a vast selection of books and his prices are the best around: it’s a preachers’ paradise. He will even do mail order to anywhere in the world, so here’s a link — you can check it out for yourself.I bumped into a lady I knew somewhere between The Puritans

Dear Christian Brother,

2009-05-20T22:00:00.004+01:00

As predicted, the report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, published today, makes for shocking reading. No doubt there will be a great deal said about it in the media over the next few days and rightly so; the report itself calls for debate and reflection.Nothing can undo the immeasurable damage, wipe away the memories, remove the pain. Our best response to this document is to mourn

A Moral Lesson For The Honorable Members

2009-05-13T19:54:00.006+01:00

There was something comical about Tony Blair presuming to tell the Pope that the Church should "accept that the world is changing” and rethink its position on certain moral issues. I mean, how long has he been a Roman Catholic? Laughable, but there was a serious side too. When the would-be President of the European Union, or any other politician for that matter, publicly criticises any religious

If pigs flew...

2009-05-01T11:46:00.003+01:00

The thought of Jesus ascended to heaven, seated at God’s right hand and exercising unlimited power and absolute authority over everything — that’s what it says in Ephesians 1:15 – 22 — is an amazingly comforting thought. I mean, why would you worry if you know that the One who is in charge loves you as much as Jesus doesIt doesn’t mean that nothing bad will happen, but it does mean that there is

Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

2009-04-22T16:44:00.008+01:00

Last week’s bulletin from The Christian Institute makes for some disturbing reading. “Christian faces sack for chatting about beliefs,”“MEPs' wishlist is threat to churches and faith schools,” “Christianity slated on Corrie Easter special.” So read the headlines. Click on them if you want to read the full stories.I do not know if you have been aware of a subtle shift in popular thought about

Sailing Into The Perfect Storm

2009-03-19T18:16:00.001Z

The Perfect Storm was not much of a film, in spite of all the hype before it was released. It has some pretty neat special effects but I would not recommend it. It is the semi-true story of a group of Glouster fishermen who were lost at sea in the storm of the century — a storm caused when three hurricanes converged. For no good reason, except that they had had some bad days fishing and needed to

Blest Be The Tie

2009-03-04T13:43:00.011Z

There has been an interesting flurry of correspondence in The Times this week. It was sparked by grumblings at the Garrick Club, where members are unhappy that a loosening of club rules, to allow ties to be shed at lunch in the Coffee Room, has been reversed. The controversy has prompted a spate of letters arguing that the tie is indeed a useful item of male attire and not, as one correspondent

Where Do You Do Your Barnacles?

2009-02-18T16:31:00.002Z

From all the hype last week about the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth — funny there wasn’t much about Abraham Lincoln who was born the same day — one report caught my interest. It concerned Darwin’s young son, George, who was visiting a friend’s house. He looked around for a study and when he was told that his friend's father did not have one, he asked, wide-eyed and incredulous: "But

Atheists On A Bus To Nowhere

2009-01-20T12:31:00.005Z

The British Humanist Association, Richard Dawkins, Ariane Sherine and the 877 other fools (I didn’t call them that, God did — Psalm 53) who have put up £136,000 for the atheist bus campaign say there probably is no God. It is hardly surprising; it is what you would expect them to say. I don’t like that they have spent their money to write it up on buses all over the UK — and my hat is off to Ron

As the Archbishop Was Saying Only Yesterday...

2008-12-19T12:13:00.005Z

The Archbishop of Canterbury has been reading this blog. At least, the comments he made about the present economic crisis on BBC Radio 4's Today programme bear a striking resemblance to what he would have read here so either he has been reading this blog or the things we are both saying are not hard to see.It is the job of the church to interpret events in the light of Scripture: to look at what

Harsh Justice?

2008-12-09T18:36:00.003Z

Sometimes I think justice is cruel. It was sad to read this morning of a father who lost four of his seven children when the Land Rover he was driving went out of control and crashed into a river. The children died. I cannot imagine what that man must be suffering.Now, following an investigation by the police, he has been brought to court accused of causing their deaths by dangerous driving. It

10,000 Presbyterians Saved

2008-11-28T15:44:00.002Z

Spotlight (BBC1, Tuesday) was an investigation into the activities of the Presbyterian Mutual Society. Well, more of a witch hunt than an investigation really. It was hard to watch the programme and avoid the impression that reporter Stephen Walker was out to find blame and pin as much responsibility for it as he could to the Presbyterian Church. That should not surprise us; everybody likes to

Think Till It Hurts

2008-11-20T18:28:00.004Z

Today is World Philosophy Day and the BBC has provided us with an opportunity to stretch ourselves beyond puzzling over Karolina Kurkova's lack of a belly button and why John Sargeant quit “Strictly” to grapple with some serious thinking: Four Questions To Make Your Brain Hurt. Click on the link and go check them out (but don’t forget to come back).Seems to me you might as well trust God. You

Useless, Or What?

2008-11-10T16:14:00.004Z

I had not known that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was so close to the World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001. This morning the Times published an extract from Rowan’s Rule: The Biography of the Archbishop, written by Rupert Shortt and due to be published by Hodder and Stoughton later this week. It describes how Dr Williams narrowly escaped death himself on that tragic day

Berlusconi's Blunder

2008-11-08T18:01:00.004Z

The Ross-Brand saga rumbles on. Now there’s a witch hunt for Jeremy Clarkson gathering momentum and I hear Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is coming in for some grief for describing Barack Obama as "young, handsome, and tanned."What Ross and Brand did was way out of line. Clarkson’s joke was in bad taste. I can’t, for the life of me, see what the problem is with Berlusconi’s quip but no

Spookee!

2008-10-28T18:28:00.001Z

Someone asked me this morning if I believe in ghosts. The question took me back a bit; I don’t think I have been asked that one since I was at school.Well I believe in daemons and if daemons can manifest themselves physically – and they can – yes, sure I believe in ghosts. I believe in witches too. I was speaking to one just the other day. Nice lady. Would really go out of her way to do you a

Sarah Palin’s New Clothes

2008-10-24T18:10:00.007+01:00

You can be sure that the £90,000 spent on Sarah Palin’s clothes, make-up and hairdos is only the tip of an iceberg. Add in voice coaching, advertising and all the rest of it; the Republican National Committee is forking out a fortune. At that level in American politics you would think the purse strings have to be controlled by some pretty tough and astute people so it must look like a pretty good

A Good Time To Reconsider Your Investments

2008-10-16T16:46:00.006+01:00

OK, so I over-simplified it! To reduce the explanation of a world financial crisis to a single word is, I will grant you, a bit ridiculous. You are right; there are other factors to be considered beyond greed, but sometimes it is good to simplify a complex problem; details can obscure core issues and greed is the core issue.One thing that has become clear these past weeks is that the entire world

When It Comes To The Crunch

2008-10-08T21:57:00.012+01:00

It seems just about everybody who’s anybody is talking about “the credit crunch” so last night I reckoned it was time I found out what on earth it is.If you are as ignorant as I was and want to be informed, google “credit crunch explained” and you will come up with way over three hundred articles. I am not suggesting you read them all but somewhere in that vast pool of knowledge you might find

Did You Say Christian Counselling?

2008-09-30T11:30:00.003+01:00

Counselling is a boom industry these days. It would be interesting to speculate as to why it is, but I will resist the urge. For whatever reason, the provision of counselling services has mushroomed and so has the demand for those services.Christians, being people who genuinely care, understandably feel that this is something they want to be in on. And why not? Who better to give counsel than

Rogers the Dodger

2008-09-22T18:45:00.010+01:00

Don't blame Dennis the Menace for the state of things (see last week’s post). Euan Kerr himself said that children know the difference between a comic and reality, and I agree. Kids are not stupid. Their behaviour can be influenced but not that easily. No, I blame Carl Rogers.“Carl Rogers, the creator of client-centred therapy and counselling, student-centred education, and person-centred

Now Who's The Wally?

2008-09-17T17:27:00.004+01:00

As one who was forced to stop reading The Beano when the price soared above 3d (no the “d” is not a mistake) I was interested to read some comments made by Euan Kerr, editor of said literary masterpiece between 1984 and 2006. Speaking about a book due later this month, Mr Kerr revealed that Dennis the Menace was forced to tone down his torment of Walter the Softie in the late 80s for fear that he

We're Still Here

2008-09-11T12:58:00.003+01:00

Panic’s over. It’s Thursday and we are still here. The Large Hadron Collider – the world’s most ambitious and expensive scientific experiment ever – has been switched on and the world has not been sucked into a black hole. Well, not yet.Apparently some people have been getting quite worked up about the possibility. In east India, thousands of people rushed to temples to pray and fast while others

Would you buy a house in New Orleans?

2008-09-04T16:44:00.004+01:00

It’s amazing how many of the world’s cities live under threat of imminent disaster (Paul Simons in this morning’s Times). Istanbul, Bombay, Shanghai, Naples, San Francisco… and most of them nowhere near prepared for it. Why do people live there?OK, maybe some of them have no choice but come on, we’re talking about sudden no warning death and destruction on a massive scale and if there is any

The Tyrrany Of The Blog

2007-08-15T12:03:00.000+01:00

Blogging is one of those things which, once you start it, you have to keep satisfying its demands for regular fresh input. As you can see I have been successfully resisting them. If only I was as good at resisting some other things that make demands on the resources God has entrusted to me.People who return form visits to

That Thing You Did Does Matter

2007-04-26T17:50:00.000+01:00

Forgiveness is a pretty important thing for us Christians. It is one of the things that make us different. Every other religion demands that you earn your way to paradise by some mixture of hard work, self-discipline and sacrifice but us Christians — we are forgiven — we get all the good stuff absolutely free. That’s why we are such happy people (most of the time) and thankful people (forgiveness

What About A Spot Of Forgiveness?

2007-04-06T18:18:00.000+01:00

All this talk about justice is depressing. How can anything move forward if everyone demands justice? Come to think of it, what hope is there for any of us if God demands justice?And there’s the dilemma. God does demand justice — there can be no compromise on that one — but justice means everybody getting what he deserves: death, wrath, hell. Which is exactly why Jesus had to die. Our only hope

The Interview

2007-04-05T18:22:00.000+01:00

I’m not a political animal. Never have been. Oh sure, I have my views on things but I have never gone on the campaign trail to influence anybody’s vote and I am not about to start now. That is why I have hesitated to comment on the events of the last two weeks in Northern Ireland. Last night’s interview changed my mind.What do you mean, “What interview?”The interview — Ian Paisley on BBC Northern

Time To Drop An Anchor

2007-03-20T14:58:00.000Z

Of course, it doesn’t surprise me that moral standards are drifting. I mean, it’s inevitable isn’t it? Without God there is no anchor: it really does come down to, “anything that annoys me is wrong and anything that doesn’t is right,” so what do you expect in a world that has pretty much thrown out the idea of God?The drift is not surprising. The surprising thing is that so many Christians are

Sure what's the harm?

2007-03-14T09:42:00.000Z

Apparently 84% of us believe that adultery is wrong, but that doesn’t seem to stop too many. It seems the latest thing in online dating is a website for those who are “married but looking” (The Times, Tuesday). It wasn’t the idea that caught my interest — you will be glad to hear — so much as the lengths Darren, the guy who came up with it, went to to justify what he is doing. Why did he think he

Who knows who's right?

2007-03-05T21:56:00.000Z

According to the Times this morning (Monday — those who heard yesterday’s sermon will appreciate the irony) blogging has taken over from the writing of diaries and the British Library is concerned. Who will carry on in the great tradition of Samuel Pepys, Anne Frank, Captain Scott, Adrian Mole and Bridget Jones? Well, they have come up with a solution to the problem. They are going to buy up and

Is there no justice?

2007-02-26T21:49:00.000Z

It’s a rotten world. I mean just pick up a newspaper. The government is full of twisters. Terrorists and criminals get off scot-free, or if they don’t they are handed a sentence so lenient it would be laughable if it wasn’t nauseating. And as for trying to make an honest living… Don’t get me started. Regulations, bills, endless repairs. Why does it have to be such hard work? Why is there no let