🎉Cyber Week Sale: Get 30% Off Everything!
This is an extract from the recently published Engaging with Atheists.
I grew up in a wonderfully loving family in France, near Paris. My dad was a mathematician and computer scientist, and my mother “religiously” devoted herself to the well-being and education of her children. All in all, I was pretty happy with my life, and in a thoroughly secular culture.
On holiday, I met a girl from New York, who believed in God—an intellectual suicide by my standards. We started dating, and my new goal in life was to explain to her why all this was untenable, so that she could put this nonsense behind her, and we could be together without her misconceptions standing in the way. So I started thinking about the whole thing. What good reason was there to think God exists, and what good reason was there to think atheism was true instead?... continue reading
This is an extract from the recently published Engaging with Atheists.
One of our key principles I want to impress upon readers is that we want to give people the word of God—that means the Bible.
I like to challenge some of my atheist/agnostic friends as to what kind of agnostic they are. I point out that there is intelligent agnosticism and that there is dumb agnosticism. In order to explain the difference, I ask them to imagine that I am sitting in my living room, watching Barcelona vs. Real Madrid in the European Cup Final.
The doorbell rings and it’s a complete stranger who asks me: “Do you know your house is on fire?”. I reply that I don’t know. I am agnostic about it. A dumb agnostic in that situation says: “I don’t know and I don’t care”. An intelligent agnostic says: “I don’t know, but it’s a pretty big deal if my house burns down, especially with me in it, so even though I don’t know you, and I am more than a little suspicious of you, I will go and investigate”. Likewise, you can encourage your atheist/agnostic friends to investigate. Perhaps by reading a book you give them, perhaps by going to something like Christianity Explored or Alpha, or perhaps by simply going to church with you.... continue reading
Christians have a wonderful message to tell the world. As the angel said at the birth of Jesus, it is “good news that will cause great joy, for all the people” (Luke 2 v 10). But at times we have been slow to take that message of forgiveness and new life to others.
Sometimes it’s because we have become distracted. There are so many things that can push the need to tell others from its central place in our calling as individuals and churches. We get wrapped up in our own church issues, problems and politics. Or we get sidetracked by the very real needs of our broken and hurting world, and expend our energies on dealing with the symptoms rather than the cause.... continue reading
Let me ask you a strange but important question: Are you more hippo or frog?
I’m not talking about physical stature (you’ll be pleased to know), but about the way you respond to discovering there are idols in your heart. Are you more of a wallower or a jumper?
Hippos are wallowing creatures. If they see a patch of warm, muddy water deep enough to envelop their enormous bodies, they will head for it and sit in it for hours. They snort and they snuffle, they rub and they roll in the filth that surrounds them.
And some of us do that with our idols. We see the things we want more than God—maybe we see them clearly for the first time—and we get overwhelmed by the dirt and rebellion present in our lives. We get hit by a tidal-wave of realisation that we are not the beautiful people God calls us to be, not even the half-beautiful people we thought we were, and we become paralysed by the enormity of who we’ve become. We wallow. We sit, inert in our sin, shrouded in despair and unable to believe that change is an option.... continue reading
So many Christian women struggle with a secret fantasy life. So many Christian women dip into books like 50 Shades of Grey. So many Christian women - up to 20% - log on to porn sites either regularly or occasionally. And the implications for our personal lives, our relationships with others and our relationship with God are serious. But there is hope - there is help - there is forgiveness - there is a better way ...
If you have a secret life of fantasy or pornography use, or have a heart to stand alongside those who do - why not pre-order Purity is Possible?
A life has been lived that was supremely, perfectly, beautifully self-controlled. Self-control has been modelled for us by Jesus Christ. It’s worth reading through a Gospel account of his life with this theme of self-control in your mind. You see temptation under control (Matthew 4 v 1-11); fear under control (26 v 36-46); power under control (26 v 47-56); speech under control (27 v 11-14); and those are just a few snapshots from the life of Christ.
That’s the kind of man I want to be. How about you?
But… it’s tempting at this point to try to find some gaps in Jesus’ resumé:
“What about family? Jesus was never a dad, so what does he know about being pushed to the limit by sleepless babies, tantrum-throwing toddlers or hormone-crazed teenagers?”
“What about work? Jesus didn’t have a proper job, so surely he can’t relate to the demands of working a long day, the pressure of paying bills, or what it’s like to have a boss who does none of the work and takes all of the praise?”
“What about… (insert your issue here)?”... continue reading
Last week was an exciting time of filming in the States. Here, cameraman Luke Stanley adjusts the microphone for Erik Raymond, pastor from Omaha and writer of the Ordinary Pastor blog. Watch this space for more news of the Gospel Shaped Church curriculum we're working on with The Gospel Coalition.
This week we're getting ready to launch two fantastic new books in our Live Different series.
Here author, Dai Hankey introduces his latest work: A Man's Greatest Challenge:
One of the reasons we want to encourage systematic Bible preaching and teaching in churches is because it forces us to focus on the harder parts of scripture. If we just pick and choose, we end up filtering out the difficult bits, or the things that will stretch us or disturb us.
It's the same with daily Bible reading. Over about a five year period, if you stick with our popular Explore daily Bible reading notes, you'll work your way through the whole Bible, and be exposed to the whole counsel of God. Including all the tough bits, the stories that make you squirm, and the parts that just have you scratching your head in bewilderment!
Image caption: Brooklyn Museum - Woe unto You, Scribes and Pharisees - James Tissot - Public Domain... continue reading
Porn in unexpected places
I walked down the office carrying a pile of pornography. I'd wrapped it in two bags so my colleagues wouldn't see it, but I still worried. What if I tripped and broke my neck? After failing to resucitate me, the first thing people would discover was my pile of porn.
Thankfully, it wasn't as bad as it sounds, but is a salutary tale nonetheless.
It started on my ride to work. The subway under the A3 always collects litter - usually crisp packets, coke cans and the odd condom. Not cards. Not a full pack of playing cards. And certainly not pornographic cards. I glanced down as I wheeled the bike through the tunnel, wondering who'd dropped their playing cards, to be faced with umpteen nude women. I was slightly shocked, but late for work so kept on going.... continue reading
