The Quiet Revival & statistics

‘We need to ponder the apologetic usefulness of information about cultural turns toward Christianity in our society. The gospel is not validated by statistics or by famous people identifying as Christians or cultural Christians. There is one statistic that matters: “One man has been raised from the dead, demonstrating that he is the Son of God, our saviour!”’ Also worth checking out this one on the same topic.

The IOC is Late Out of the Blocks in its Transgender Ruling

‘The trans movement has worked hard to get acceptance of its reality; that gender is a construct and that biological sex is not determinative of gender, and that biological reality should be subsumed in all instances under gender. And since sport is so clearly gender-categorised (hello Ben Felton and Lekina Amebaw), then sport must fall at the feet of the new reality in order to embed it in our cultural plausibility. To fail at this hurdle means that transgender ideology may be at risk elsewhere. This is a zero-sum game. If organisations such as the IOC stare it down, then that surface reality begins to crack. Which is exactly what is now happening, and exactly for the reason of it being a surface reality.’

The Plurality of Elders Protects a Pastor (& a Church) from Disaster

I don’t think plurality of elders is the entire answer to this problem, but it is certainly a key part of an even wider answer. This one helpfully lays out the importance of plural eldership in protecting pastors and churches. I say more on this in my recent book Independent Eldership, which you can get here.

What’s so spiritual about spiritual gifts?

‘My observation is that we have the same lazy habit in talking about spiritual gifts in the Christian life as we do in talking about gifts in general. That is: we appeal to something spooky to explain where they come from, and we yearn for them as a marker to our identity. What’s more, the idea of a non-deliberate, almost spontaneous experience simply sounds more authentic than something we have rationally considered. I think this is based on a false dichotomy between the ‘natural’ and the ‘supernatural’.

With the Resurrection, the Evidence Tells the Story

‘Today’s scholars seriously discuss the resurrection’s historicity. They recognize that the ancient sources tell a coherent narrative about the days following Jesus’s death. The mainstream view among historians today is that it’s more probable than not that Jesus’s tomb was empty and that people genuinely believed they saw the resurrected Jesus.’

Debunking the debunking (video)

Michael Kruger debunks a lot of the misinformation that always tends to float around at Easter in an attempt to debunk the resurrection.

From the archive: Celebrating Easter isn’t in the bible

‘Easter is not in the bible, it is not a command of Christ, you can enjoy or avoid it such as you feel led. But it should also make us a little cautious about judging others based on cultural things like Easter celebrations. Your love for Jesus is not determined by one day a year. Your commitment to the gospel is not determined by whether you acknowledge a man-made festival. Following the church calendar is not the essential mark of genuine faithfulness. Jesus is far more interested in your weekly, regular walk with him – far more than he cares about what you do on one culturally appointed day of the year.’