Richard Dawkins is Sad. He’s Had His Facebook Account Deleted And He Wants to Know XY

I don’t agree with everything in this one by Stephen McAlpine, but I do agree with the general thrust. I am perhaps (depending on the situation and the occasion) a bit more for nuance, only because some things are a bit more nuanced. But I think his main point, and several of his secondary ones too, are about right.

The importance of not caring about Mark Driscoll

’50 years from now vanishingly few people will have any idea who Mark Driscoll was. They’ll also almost certainly have no clue who Andy Stanley was. Indeed, they will be wholly ignorant of virtually every celebrity pastor or evangelical influencer you can name, with perhaps one or two exceptions, but no more. So unless you have some very specific situation in which proper pastoral care requires caring about a certain celebrity, you should just stop caring.’

3 questions I ask during every bible study

These are good questions if you are doing a bible study from scratch with people who have not already done any work in the passage.

Newspaper coverage of A-level results day. It’s a failing grade

Many UK students received their A-level results last week. This one takes a look at how the papers typically cover such news and why many students will now hear certain “advice” that has been repeatedly reheated.

Reaching the next generation is easier and harder than you think

‘It’s easier in that you don’t have to have a PhD in cultural apologetics; and it’s harder, but also better, in that what God calls us to do is to love them, to speak the truth to the next generation, to be the sort of person whose life is marked by holiness.’

What you really should be saying to me about regular Bible reading

I think we need to understand the implications of this one more and need to perhaps find better questions to discuss what God has been teaching our people.

From the archive: how do you show Muslims we do not worship the same God and why does it matter?

‘The purpose in stating this basic fact is that our conception of God affects how we respond to him. Our religions are not the same specifically because we worship two very different deities who relate to creation in very different ways.’