Browsing Archive: June, 2011
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, June 30, 2011,
In :
Politics
A while back I posted a piece about the then impending air strikes against Gaddafi’s regime in Libya and suggested that we should stop the bombing for a number of reasons. In this post I want to look back at those reasons and see whether they still stand up to scrutiny three months after the bombing started.- My first stated reason was that innocent people would be killed by allied strikes.
- To be fair it would appear that very few civilians have lost their lives in this conflict as a result of...
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Wednesday, June 29, 2011,
In :
Musical moods
If you’ve never heard Chloe Leavers then this is one video you must watch. She has been described as one of north Wales’ ‘finest female folk singers’ with a ‘majestic sound’ – and that critic surely knows his music!Born and bred in north Wales and accompanied by Jon Hughes, Chloe has just released her first EP – All These Things – and the song featured on the video is the title track. She is also playing in the Ymuno Festival this weekend.If you have five minutes to spare to...
 When we become united with God does that mean that we actually change in our essence and become God or is there something more subtle going on? A key teaching among many church fathers was the doctrine of theosis – and indeed it still forms a key teaching within the Eastern Orthodox Church today. A famous quote by Athanasius will give a flavour of this theology: ‘God became man so that men might become gods’.So back to my question – does this mean that we change in our very nature and...
 Does our presence within creation affect our surroundings? Some of the old Celtic saints used to believe so. A couple of weeks ago I referred to the PhD thesis I’ve been reading recently on being revealed to creation – here’s another snippet of what I’ve learned from it.Some of the Celtic saints had an optimistic view of nature in that while they accepted there was some degree of alienation between humanity and creation because of the fall, they did not believe that creation itself w...
 Yesterday the Christian Institute said in a press release that attitudes in America towards marriage were overwhelmingly in favour of the traditional view. According to a poll taken on behalf of a Christian organisation 62% of American people think ‘marriage should be defined as a union between one man and one woman’ with only 35% disagreeing. The poll was released to support the view that the law should not change in order to allow same-sex marriages. With a majority this strong among t...
Let the circle be wide. So sang Tommy Sands in an evening of Celtic music at Bangor Cathedral last night. Though the evening as a whole was an expression of Celtic Christian spirituality, this particular song was probably not specifically Christian. But … there is something really powerful in the words about including others in the circle of our belonging.Church – maybe church in general and certainly conservative church – has a tendency to exclude and pull the circle in, making very l... Continue reading ...
The church appears to be among the best organisations in the UK at keeping people together in a group or community setting. That’s the good news that comes from the latest opinion survey released by Yougov and featured by the BRIN website. The bad news is that of those questioned about what organised group they belonged to only 6% said they belonged to a church or Bible study. (Non-organised community settings – like a pub – were not included in Yougov’s list – a serious weakness p... Continue reading ...
When the conservative church was so enamoured by George W Bush, was Brian Haw, the peace campaigner who died yesterday, a modern day prophet? I have no idea whether he was even a Christian or not, but I still feel the question should stand. Indeed, maybe the question should be strengthened a little by asking, ‘Was Brian Haw a prophet raised by God to speak to our day’s conservative church about the importance of the key Kingdom values – peace and justice?’It was a surprise to learn y... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, June 17, 2011,
In :
Random
A while back I reported (link here) on the way our large supermarkets were using their near monopoly to squeeze every penny out of farmers for their produce and that they were manifesting the same imperial spirit that has done so much damage to the nations. Well it seems they’re at it again – or at least our local branch of Tesco’s is.Apparently the staff at the Bangor branch are intending to go on strike. I have no idea what the strike is about or what problems there are between staff... Continue reading ...
How cultural is our expression of the Christian faith? How much is our way of doing things – our Sunday services in particular – a sub-culture among other Christian sub-cultures? Some jumbled thoughts for you today because of the sad experience I recently had.
I attended a ‘big meeting’ or as we say in Welsh, ‘cyrddau mawr’. The cyrddau mawr is the annual preaching festival that many a nonconformist chapel would hold as part of their diary of events during the year – though they... Continue reading ...
In doing some background reading for my preaching series on Romans 8:19 (sons of God being revealed to creation) I came across a note about a 2nd century writer called Basilides. Apparently he understood the phrase ‘manifestation of the sons of God’ as ‘the ascent of those who have sonship from the lower to the higher realms’ and there the ‘divine spark in them will come into contact with god’ and they will thus ‘escape bodily existence’.
This teaching, though quite fashionable...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, June 14, 2011,
In :
Random
It may be one of the richest sports in the world but motor racing surely must be one of the most boring too. In this post-modern world I suppose I should qualify that by saying that it’s only my opinion – but actually it’s not far from being an undeniable fact, is it? What is interesting, however, is the news that Sir Stirling Moss (yes, you can actually be knighted in this country for driving a car very fast) is to retire from the sport at the grand age of 81.
But it is the reason why h...
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, June 13, 2011,
Can you call God Father? If you can then you have the Holy Spirit – because according to Paul (Romans 8:15) it is by the Holy Spirit that we are the adopted children of God and are able to call him Dad. This was my theme for yesterday’s (Pentecost) sermon.
Actually it wasn’t my theme, it was pretty much the sum total of what I said. What more is there to say when we realise that God has entrustedus with his presence here on earth, when the truth sinks in that we are the temple of the Sp... Continue reading ...
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, June 9, 2011,
In :
Random
Everyone knows that the BBC has an anti-Christian bias. It’s obvious. Even its own research says so. Or does it? Recent reports would have us believe that the viewing public perceives the BBC as having a bias against the Christian faith. One such report was posted by the online Christian Today – a website that generally takes a conservative theological outlook on matters. Another was posted by the Daily Mail in its online edition on 1st June.
Dig a little deeper into the detail, however, ... Continue reading ...
You thought that last week's post on Gehenna was the last one? Hah! Hell is eternal and so is this series! There is one last use of the word Gehenna in the New Testament – James 3:6 – where the author says that the human tongue is very dangerous and that its untamed effects can have far reaching consequences. The origin of this danger is ‘hell’ [Gehenna].
In wanting to underline how destructive our speech can be James uses the imagery of fire, saying that a great forest can be set ablaz...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, June 7, 2011,
In :
Random
The Christian Institute is often a force for good in our country but when it gets things wrong boy does it get it wrong! An example is its statement released on May 27th this year where the headline read, ‘US gay blogger: We want to ‘indoctrinate’ children’. The piece goes on to suggest that the ‘homosexual lobby’ wants to indoctrinate children so as to undermine marriage and the heterosexual norm. Big news if it were true.
The context for this paranoia is the big anti-bullying cam...
Being revealed to creation as the children of God has been my preaching theme for the past few Sundays. The key thought comes from Romans 8:19 where Paul says that creation is waiting with eager anticipation for the sons of God to be revealed – and it must surely be right to include daughters of God in there as well. I think it’s akin to the act of celebrating communion being itself a proclamation of the good news about Jesus (1 Cor 11:26). That is, just by being the adopted children of G...
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, June 3, 2011,
In :
Politics
Fair Trade products have become popular and an easy way of helping us shop ethically. And as we know those who benefit are some of the poorest people on earth in developing countries. But should we be extending the Fair Trade concept to include UK farmers?
On Tuesday I highlighted the way imperial power has shifted to multi-national companies to the extent that they can ignore the demands of nation-states. Today I want follow-up that thought with some details about the buying power of our larg...
The final reference to Jesus using the word Gehenna in the Gospels is to be found in Luke 12:5 – ‘But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the one who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell [Gehenna]; yes I tell you, fear him’. From the context there is little doubt that Jesus is referring here to what could happen to us after death. There is no need to fear those who can kill us, he says, for there is no more that they can do. Rather, fear the one – presumably God – wh...
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Should a family doctor be free to share his faith with a patient during a consultation? That’s the question considered by the General Medical Council recently as it dealt with a complaint against a GP. Their conclusion was to reprimand the doctor for what he did though he is appealing against the decision claiming that he did no more than he’s done many times before.The details are a little sketchy but the story goes like this. A young man went to see his GP with some medical concern. Aft... Continue reading ...
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