Take the blog out of your own eye

As evidenced by the fact that you are reading what I have written, I am part of the generation that blogs. Those who find themselves a part of this generation probably blog thanks to a slightly overinflated ego. One of the most common threads in these blogs is that of criticism because there's always someone who's doing or saying something stupid. They're all a bunch of hypocrites though...

Ignoratio Elenchi (Latin title: probably irrelevant article)

For a few months I have been considering writing something brief on a remarkably popular line of reasoning that is often employed and yet, utterly fallacious. I began thinking about writing this after proofreading an essay for someone at college who made this mistake. I began actually typing stuff out after John MacArthur did it.

So if you are not hindered by reason, read on...

Fools and Firebrands (The Ethics of Deceit in Gameplay)

From lying in a game of Survivor in front of millions of viewers in order to win the million dollars, to a dummy pass in rugby for a clear run to the try line: a great deal of gameplay involves deceit to some degree. The question raised is, how much of this is innocent fun and how much is sinful?

In this (slightly modified) essay for Ethics III, I explore this question.

Lying Jews (and the art of biblical narrative)

Hebrew authors, it seems, have a propensity towards the prodigious use of direct speech but rarely reported speech and it seems clear that they were willing to summarise conversations into little speech bubble type reports which they recorded in direct speech.

Read more and I'll try to explain a bit more about the license I think we often forget Hebrew authors are willing to take in their writing.

The Spirit, Marriage and Adoption

To many of us "Spirit" is a colourless and vague word. The Holy Spirit is a faceless enigma beyond the grasp of our understanding. Yet, He - not "it" - is the One responsible for applying salvation to believers.

In the last two days I have heard of an engagement and an imminent adoption. It struck me as I have been studying for an exam on the Holy Spirit and salvation that in spite of the fact that often doctrine courses can leave students in the clouds (or on occassion, at sea), marriage and adoption are exquisite shadows of a reality that the Spirit actualises.

The Limits of Emotional Intimacy between Christians

“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22, ESV)

It is the goal of this essay to explore the ethical limitations of emotional intimacy between Christians. For this to be done, we must, of course, understand what emotional intimacy is – this calls for us to forge a definition of emotional intimacy. We shall then mine the biblical data for its positive and negative statements concerning the ethics of emotional intimacy. Due to the complexity of the issue, the purpose of this essay is not to go far beyond this point. The essay does not aim to suggest practical implementation strategies of the conclusions we reach; we shall not go beyond the ethical boundary lines we draw into the life-situations they impact.

How a friend becomes a hero

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I've just gotten back from visiting a friend who has recently been told by doctors that there is nothing more they can do to help him. His story goes back a long way, but basically he has a long-term, life threatening illness, which has taken a severe turn against him.

What struck me was that I sat with a husband and wife who were facing grim realities. But that was exactly it. They faced them. There were no trite superficialities. There were no spiritual platitudes. They were honest about what was happening. And they were honest about how they were feeling. They weren't sure what was going to happen. But they were fighting to love and trust their Father.

Theology in History

I wanted to make the title, "God is History" but that doesn't work practically as well as "Theology is History". Of course, "Theology is History" doesn't have quite the same provocative effect. So instead, I went with something that actually describes the content of this post. I've been thinking recently about the relationship between history and theology. This, particularly with reference to Old Testament narrative; how we are to regard the literary nature of narrative arguing theology to actual history. I've come up with three points because Bible college has had an effect on the structure of my thinking. This is my thinking thus far:

Emotional Reflection #1: Greek Philosophy & Our Emotions

So, off the back of Feel, I've been thinking about how Greek Philosophy has crept into our thinking and negatively influenced us. For those of you who are sold out on Greek philosophy, I don't hate Greek philosophy, and I do think it has lots to offer us. I'm just here wanting to think about one point that appears to me to clash with a biblical worldview.

The element I'm thinking of in my white, middle-class, Western-influenced-African culture which has been influenced by Greek philosophy is obviously our emotions. We seem to believe that emotions are to be suppressed and controlled, rather than understood and dealt with (if they are seen as bad) or cultivated (if they are seen as good). It is, perhaps, more accurate to say that only a portion of the population has taken on this understanding. There is another section of the population who are suspicious of reason, and believe we should follow our feelings or desires. In the post on Feel, Grace helpfully points out that Elliott is close to swinging the pendulum in that direction. Although we shall not directly deal with this other part of the population, the points below will be framed in such a way that my line of response to this group shall be evident.

What is the place of 'emotion' in the Christian life?

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"Listen to your heart" - is that good or bad advice?
Should we subdue or accept what goes through our hearts?
Does God care about the state of our emotions and feelings?

If there is one question which has been on my mind lately, it is this:
What is the place of 'emotion' in the Christian life?

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