Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, May 31, 2011,
In :
Politics
Last week saw a great example of how impotent the world can be in the face of imperial power. It was all the more poignant because of the context – both historical and current – in which the incident took place.
The Business, Innovation and Skills select committee of the House of Commons released its report on the acquisition of the successful British company Cadbury’s by the American conglomerate, Kraft. The committee of MPs were particularly upset that Kraft’s CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, r...
Posted by Dyfed on Friday, May 27, 2011,
In :
Random
What is justice all about? It’s clear from our system that we believe it’s about blaming and punishing the wrong-doer. In court the one accused of breaking the law stands in the dock in view of all and then listens as the charges against him/her are repeated. The prosecutor then stands and gives more details of the crime before the defence solicitor offers some detail of mitigation. It is at this final stage that aspects of the accused’s better characteristics are heard – but only to ...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, May 25, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
As is now obvious to everybody, the rapture didn’t take place on Saturday – and it was never going to. While the return of Jesus to his creation is a fully biblical theology, I don’t believe the same can be said about the ‘rapture of the saints’. From the many Tweets, Facebook updates and blogs I’ve read it seems that there is some confusion between the two but they are most definitely not the same. I want to return to the whole issue of eschatology as explained by fundamentalist ...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, May 24, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
In Mark’s Gospel the word Gehenna appears only three times and all of them in the one passage and this passage is very similar to the ones Matthew records about Jesus’s teaching on ethical living. In order to keep from falling into sin he suggests we should cut off our hand or foot or pluck out our eye (Mark 9:43, 45, 47). Better to limp into heaven than skip into hell. Few would disagree with the view that Jesus was using hyperbolic and figurative language here to make a point about the ...
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, May 23, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
If creation is waiting eagerly for the sons of God to be revealed (Romans 8:19) (see previous posts here and here) then that we are his adopted children is a key point (8:15). Paul says that creation has been dragged into its current state by sinful humanity and is now eagerly expecting its restoration. The sign of that restoration – the offer of hope – is brought to it by seeing a restored humanity, the first-fruits of God’s restorative work.
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Friday, May 20, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
The Derren Brown film on
healing is still causing me to ask some questions. Here’s one for today: should
all miraculous healings be verified by doctors and then regularly checked for permanency?
Doing this would cover two aspects of concern, namely that the person either
wasn’t that ill or disabled to begin with and that the healing was the result
of hype in the meeting or street encounter.
Brown asserted that some
healings of return of sight, for example, were because the person was onl...
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, May 19, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
Is Paul’s concern the
salvation of individuals or is it far broader than that? New Perspective people
certainly fall into the second category and see Paul’s writings as being
concerned with far more than just the individual’s relationship with God. Tom
Wright in particular has emphasised Paul’s view on the whole of creation being
restored rather than just disembodied souls flying off to heaven for eternity.
Here, the corporate is as important as the singular.
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, May 18, 2011,
In :
Random
It’s always fish on a
Friday, at least if you’re a Catholic. The practice of abstaining from meat as
penance on the day Jesus was crucified is a long-held tradition within the
Roman Catholic Church, though substituting it for fish was a compromise that
many decided to make. And now the Bishop’s Conference of England and Wales have
decided to re-introduce the practice once more.
Leaving aside any
theological issue over the need to add to the sacrifice Jesus made (and there’s
a whole bag...
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, May 17, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
As we know, Jesus could be
really tough on those men of faith who were consistently hypocritical. Time and
again he used harsh words when he spoke to them and the Gospels paint a picture
of these religious men pitted against Jesus and his message of love and
forgiveness. We find one of the highlights (or is that lowlights?) of this
sub-plot in Matthew 23 where we find our next two examples of Jesus using the
word Gehenna. In verse 15 Jesus takes a pot shot at the missionary endeavours
of the ...
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Monday, May 16, 2011,
In :
Random
Say a prayer for the good
people of Abergele this morning as the top story in the region’s paper causes
them to splutter over their cornflakes. Causing the concern is the news that
north Wales cemeteries are ‘running out of space to bury the dead’. According
to the Daily Post the town’s churchyards are ‘virtually full’ – though if we were allowed to bury people in
cyberspace the issue probably wouldn’t arise.
Dig a little deeper (no pun
intended there – honestly) into the s...
Posted by Dyfed on Thursday, May 12, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
As every good Christian
knows, Saul of Tarsus experienced a dramatic conversion on his way to Damascus
– or did he? The New Perspective on Paul would question this reading of the
passages in Acts. It’s partly down to your definition of the word ‘conversion’,
of course, but based on the meaning that a person changes from one religion (or
non-religion) to another, Saul experienced no such thing.
To begin with, the NPP
school would argue, in Paul’s day Christianity was not seen as a sep...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, May 11, 2011,
In :
Musical moods
Last night we attended a
classical guitar recital by Jonathan Richards. Here he is playing a couple of
his own pieces. I’ve tried (half-heartedly) to learn the guitar – but not being
very musical, I failed. I do love the sound though and really enjoyed last
night’s performance.
Posted by Dyfed on Tuesday, May 10, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
In Matthew 18:8-9 the theme
of what causes us to stumble and sin is touched upon once again by Jesus as he
suggests that the limbs that cause us trouble should be cut off. A very similar
passage in 5:29-30 has been discussed previously but let me re-cap here that I
believe that Jesus is not to be taken literally when he, for example, tells us
to gouge out our eye if it causes us to sin. After all, we would have very few
limbs left if we were to follow such a suggestion to its conclusion.
Posted by Dyfed on Monday, May 9, 2011,
In :
Random
Being revealed to creation
as ones loved and restored by God is a key aspect of our life as followers of
Jesus (Romans 8:19) – so being hidden is surely the very antithesis of that. And yet because
of shame this is the condition many Christians find themselves in. For just as
the story about Adam and Eve recognising their nakedness shows us, shame always
makes us want to hide from others.
Shame can lurk in our heart
for all kinds of different reasons. We can be ashamed of how we appear, of h...
Posted by Dyfed on Wednesday, May 4, 2011,
In :
Emerging church
Traditionally, church has
asked us to do two things where the unbelieving world is concerned: tell them
about God’s love and show them that love in practical ways by serving them,
accepting them as they are etc. Nothing wrong with that, you say, and I agree.
But I want to add one other
thing we need to be doing that involves God’s love – showing creation what it
is to be loved. If creation is
waiting ‘eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God’ (Romans 8:19) then it
surely it is wa...
Posted by Dyfed Roberts on Tuesday, May 3, 2011,
In :
Random
Among the many and varied
responses to the death of Osama bin Laden have been comments about hell and how
he will be there receiving his just rewards. One such comment was made by the
American husband of a British woman who died in the 9/11 attacks. I can fully
understand this man’s sentiments – from his place of deep pain and grief he is
expressing his natural desire for justice. The truth is if this atrocity had happened to us we would feel the same.
