Planted by Water

Christians must learn to disagree before they can learn to agree. It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable

Just a quick thought to end the week with. It seemed appropriate after some of the rather heated and the sometimes less than gracious tone of some comments this week. I believe in the need to have strong convictions and to be passionate about them. I share many convictions with those who commented. I believe that Jesus is going …

‘Repent you sinners for the Kingdom is at hand. Come all you who are heavy laden and he will give rest for your souls; come all you who are thirsty; forsake your wicked ways; take up your cross and follow the Master; be washed by the blood of Christ and be his disciples; be clothed in his righteousness and justified by his blood, that you may become inheritors of eternal life and live for the Lord’s glory!

In thinking about and discussing the idea of changing the world, it is important, as with any discussion and debate, that we do not set as opposites things that are not opposite, or mutually exclusive. It is not a case of either preaching for personal salvation or contributing to changes in society. We can and should do both. As I have often said, I agree with Howard Snyder who saw personal salvation as central in God’s …

I’ve said that I’ll use this blog to explore some of the ways in which, as Christians, I believe that we can and should help change the world according to God’s purpose of restoration. However, some people have asked me whether this is even a valid enterprise for Christians to be involved with. They would say that our purpose as Christains is simply to preach the gospel and to save people from this corrupt generation which is …

I liked this brief account of an interview with Eugene Peterson (writer of The Message) from LICC, about how words can become so cliched among Christians. I guess one thing you could never accuse Peterson of is being cliched (sorry I don’t know how to get an ‘e acute’ with my current typing facilities for my blog!) but I do feel it is a little unfair of him to quote actual Bible …

Thinking back to the posting I made at the end of last week about monuments or sons, I was also thinking about when David expresses his desire to build a temple, a house for God. It seem that God has mixed feelings about monuments too! Although he eventually ordains Solomon to build the Temple and it is part of his plan, even then there is a recognition of the limitation of physical buildings - ‘will God really dwell on earth?’ (1 Kings 8:27). The key to understanding why is shown when …