When discipline becomes bondage
Church bulletin: I have some confessions to make. Firstly, I have never used a Bible reading plan. Secondly, I have never read the Bible from beginning to end in a …
Morality without the bible
Church bulletin: Quite often on Saturdays there is a group in Pitt St mall drawing attention to animal cruelty. They hold up placards and run videos showing chickens being butchered …
Why you are not a Christian
Church bulletin: On March 6 1927 Bertrand Russell delivered a talk at the Battersea town hall under the auspices of the London branch of the National Secular Society, entitled “why …
What is in a name?
Church bulletin: The other day I was talking to someone about church names. Ideally the name says something about the church – its locality or a doctrinal distinctive or denominational …
Thorns
Church bulletin: We have all felt the effect of a thorn in our shoes or socks. It doesn’t matter how healthy we are, how comfortable we are in the rest …
On the death of infants
Church bulletin: As we Baptists say, the Presbyterians did all the hard work putting together the excellent Westminster Standards, we just made a few improvements. Unfortunately one blemish (in my …
In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity
Church bulletin: Does the Bible present the concept of primary and secondary truth, or essential and non-essential truth? While all truth is truth and necessary, belief in some doctrines is …
Expecting the unexpected
Church bulletin: It first occurred a number of months ago – I was working on a sermon when the screen turned blue and a message appeared in white text, “your …
Loving people you do not necessarily like
Church bulletin: It is just a fact of life some people are not overly likable. And we know what the Bible says: Matt 5:43-48, “You have heard that it was …
I should be so lucky; lucky, lucky, lucky
Church Bulletin: Some words are so offensive we mention them only by their first letter. I want to talk about the “L” word – that commonly used obscenity, “luck”. I …