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Theology

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Disclaimer

‘Let no one who is not eager for truth and peace enter here’ (Plato)

Articles on this site express varying points of view, to encourage mature thinking on serious issues. The assumption is that you will want to study a controversial topic from various angles before you arrive at a conclusion, rather than simply believe what someone told you when you were impressionable! (So some stuff here is ‘hot’. Proceed at your own risk!). See the Statement of Faith for John Mark Ministries' theological stance.

GOOD & EVIL

By and others ⋅ August 19, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

Every culture contains good and bad elements.  Every language has different concepts about what is right and wrong.     Consider:      Cruelty and wrong are not the greatest forces in the world. There is nothing eternal in them. Only love is eternal.  ~~ Elizabeth Elliot   The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes […]

QUESTIONS & RESPONSES: RAW MATERIAL FOR A NEW BOOK/BLOG

By and others ⋅ August 18, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

NOTE: THIS BLOG IS A POT-POURRI OF ARTICLES, NOTES, IDEAS – MANY STILL TO BE FULLY FORMED. I’M DRIBBLING SOME ARTICLES INTO THIS FOLDER ON jmm.org.au WEBSITE FROM TIME TO TIME… DEADLINE FOR FINISHED MSS.: was to have been OCTOBER 2014, but Mosaic Press (with whom I had a contract) has gone into liquidation, so […]

Doing Theology with ‘All that is within me…’

By and others ⋅ July 27, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

 ¢â‚¬ËœALL THAT IS WITHIN ME ¢â‚¬â„¢   Psalm 103:1,2   ¢â‚¬“ Bless the  Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.   Bless the  Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (KJV).   Bless the  Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the  Lord, O my soul, and […]

TRUTH/AUTHORITY: Why do we believe what we believe?

By and others ⋅ July 26, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

TRUTH AND AUTHORITY (A developing series of chapters in my new book: where would you take it from here…???) Jim was doing a course  at college called The History of Ideas. The lecturer talked about the notion, common in Western Europe until the fifteenth century, that women have one more rib than men do. Back then […]

Human Lives: which are most valuable???

By and others ⋅ July 25, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

MH17, Gaza and the value of human life Date July 25, 2014   Waleed Aly Illustration: Simon Letch I ¢â‚¬â„¢ve been thinking a lot lately about the value of human life. About the lives so cheaply lost on MH17. About the anger and grief this tragedy has unleashed. About the sense of sacredness and solemn ceremony that […]

MONKEY MIND (Richard Rohr)

By and others ⋅ July 25, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

(Richard Rohr on Dualistic Thinking)   There are many words for it  ¢â‚¬“ dualistic thinking,  associational thinking ¢â‚¬ ¦ It ¢â‚¬â„¢s all about our human need for resolution, judgment,  ¢â‚¬Ëœunderstanding ¢â‚¬â„¢ ¢â‚¬ ¦ The end-product of  ¢â‚¬Ëœunderstanding ¢â‚¬â„¢? Accusations of  ¢â‚¬Ëœheresy ¢â‚¬â„¢  (one side of the debate is superior, the other inferior) ¢â‚¬ ¦ Heresy must be destroyed – hence most disputes, wars, violence.   In the […]

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Some notes from a Progressive (Evangelical) Christian Viewpoint

By and others ⋅ July 16, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Some notes from a Progressive (Evangelical) Christian Viewpoint Note from Rowland: This article has been published in Gesher, the official journal of the Council of Christians and Jews (Victoria), Vol. 4 No. 5, November 2014.   As I write, today (14/7/2014) the story of a gay man who ¢â‚¬â„¢s just come out of his painful […]

Mavericks in the Church (may their tribe increase!).

By and others ⋅ June 15, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

IS THERE ROOM FOR MAVERICKS IN THE CHURCH? I came across an article the other day with this title [1]. It began with an IBM ad: ‘Dreams, heretics, mavericks, and geniuses. The story goes thatHenry Ford once hired an efficiency expert to evaluate his company. After afew weeks, he reported favorably except for one thing: […]

Satan And The Devil

By and others ⋅ June 15, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

Sometimes the original words of the Bible text are left untranslated ( ¢â‚¬Å“Mammon ¢â‚¬ , in Mt. 6:24, is an Aramaic example of this).  ¢â‚¬ËœSatan ¢â‚¬â„¢ is an untranslated Hebrew word which means  ¢â‚¬Ëœadversary ¢â‚¬â„¢, while  ¢â‚¬ËœDevil ¢â‚¬â„¢ is a translation of the Greek word  ¢â‚¬Ëœdiabolos ¢â‚¬â„¢, meaning a liar, an enemy or false accuser.  ¢â‚¬ËœSatan ¢â‚¬â„¢ has been transferred from the Hebrew […]

C.S. Lewis: The Problem of Pain

By and others ⋅ June 15, 2014 ⋅ Post a comment

JACEK BACZ The existence of suffering in a world created by a good and almighty God  ¢â‚¬” “the problem of pain”  ¢â‚¬” is a fundamental theological dilemma, and perhaps the most serious objection to the Christian religion. C.S.   Lewis 1898-1963 Known to his readers as a philosopher, a Christian apologist, a science fiction writer, an […]

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