The BBC: 100 genders, 92 league teams
‘That same BBC, the doyen of trustworthy news, has just announced that there are more genders than there are football teams in the English League. 100 to be exact, eight more than the teams I listened to. Yes, we’ve reached peak ridiculous. As this article in The Times reports, the BBC has produced a series of nine films for schools that tell teachers who work with 9-12 year olds that there are 100 genders.’
Thousands march in largest protest yet against abortion in Northern Ireland
I have commented here, here, here and here about this dangerous, liberal obsession with imposing abortion on Northern Ireland. There is cross-community support against the measure and those who have most vociferously argued against Brexit on grounds of jeopardising peace in the region seem entirely unconcerned about the effect of this policy.
The (phoney) war of the Christian life
‘We might inhabit the same geographical location as plenty of non-Christians, both at home and work. But whether or not we dwell amongst them is another question entirely. It’s far too easy for so many Christians to avoid spending time amongst those who don’t know Jesus, and spend all our non-work time in the Christian bubble. Another meeting to attend, another committee to be on, another youth club to run, another shift at the church foodbank/drop-in/café to get on with. All our mates are Christians, and sometimes we even enjoy spending time with them. When asked at the prayer meeting to give a name of a non-Christian we know well, and want to share the gospel with though, if we’re honest, it’s a bit of a struggle.’
I’d probably still cancel your short-term mission trip
Me too.
The quest for Evangelical identity
‘A group as amorphous as evangelicals will never enjoy theological Maginot Lines, but patching gaps and reinforcing boundaries wherever we can is a helpful step in the right direction. And as long as the world can’t tell the difference between Joel Osteen, Brian McClaren, and John MacArthur, we still have some fence building to do.’
Will unbelievers be annihilated or suffer eternally?
Tom Schreiner answers.
From the archive: why is the virgin birth important?
‘Muslims also believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, so there is no need to discuss whether it happened or not. What they do not have is a credible, theological reason behind its purpose. As far as they are concerned, it is simply another miraculous event that acts as proof that Jesus was a prophet of Allah. Christians, however, do have a specific theological reason for the virgin birth. It is essential if we are to uphold the impeccability of Christ. That is, the doctrine that the Son of God could not sin.’