Honorari, Honoraria, Honorarium…

‘There is a curious institution in evangelicalism called the Honorarium. The word itself is splendid. It sounds dignified. Almost Roman. Helium, Tedium, Equilibrium, Delphinium, Honorarium. An honorarium is not a wage. It is not a fee. It is not a commercial transaction. It is a gift given in recognition of someone’s service. It is, quite literally, meant to be an expression of honour, a conveyance of gratitude. Which makes it slightly unfortunate that some honoraria communicate something closer to, ‘Thanks very much, that was fine, here’s a tokenistic token of ambivalence.’ The problem with the honorarium is that, on occasion, it does little in the way of honour.’

Should Christians eat halal meat?

Alistair Chalmers takes a look at what 1 Corinthians teaches about food, freedom and conscience.

Britain just proved that assisted suicide is not inevitable

‘When the assisted suicide bill was finally euthanized, there were cheers. There are very few days when good wins, and on those days, we must be profoundly grateful. This was a beautiful moment, and one to be remembered.’

The Perseverance of the (Fractious) Saints

This one, rooted in a missionary setting, takes a look at the perseverance of the saints and what that means in practice when people foolishly break away from the church.

Do We Need to Go to Church Every Week?

John Piper offers an answer in this one.

Why I’m Not a Christian Nationalist

JD Greer offers his personal view on why he is not a Christian Nationalist. Some of his arguments are more persuasive than others in this one.

From the archive: Death by a thousand explanatory notes

‘I wonder whether we sometimes treat people like idiots for fear that they might not fully understand a word or concept. But most people can work out from context, asking someone or looking it up what most things mean. In a bid to make sure people definitely understand every reference, we may end up patronising them. But more likely, I suspect we’ll bore them as we go to great lengths to explain every new concept and idea they might not have heard before and, when it boils down to it, our sermon dies the death of a thousand explanatory notes.’