If Easter hadn’t happened…
Don’t know if you enjoy the sliding door motif in stories. You run for the bus, and catch it, and on it you meet a mysterious stranger – and oh the adventures for good and ill that flow from that. Or you miss the bus by a whisker, are furious and frustrated, but actually spared the trauma you would have endured if you caught it. It can be fun to speculate like that. What would have happened if I said yes, instead of no, if I made that decision instead of the one I did – and so we can go on. But what about this one? What if Easter hadn’t happened. Or more precisely,...
Read MoreRefresh: Easter Cancelled. They’ve found the body…
Today’s Refresh is suited to the post Easter period. It’s wonderful to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, but how likely is it that it happened? The blog is a light taster of this important topic – if you want to read some of my more developed thoughts on this and other apologetic subjects, see my book Why Christianity is Probably True. But for now, enjoy this post from Sept 11, 2015. It was part of a short series on apologetics. Refresh: Easter Cancelled. They’ve found the body… Graffiti was an art form during my university days. It adorned three of the walls...
Read MoreEaster 2025 – Why Timing Matters
To be honest, it’s been a really busy week and so I asked myself, “Why not just use an old Easter post for resurrection Sunday? After all, it’s not as though the message of Easter 2025 is different to Easter 2024 or Easter 1924.” At a certain level that is entirely true – and at another level, entirely false. To some extent it depends on if you view Easter as primarily a comfort, or as a challenge. If you see Easter as essentially a comfort, there is a timelessness about the message. Easter is the reminder that even death by crucifixion could not destroy Jesus....
Read MoreOn Turning 67: Numbering our Days…
Psalm 90:10 makes the sobering claim that “The length of our days is seventy years.” That’s mildly alarming if, like me, you’ve just turned 67. What – only 3 years to go? True, the Psalmist goes on to note that we might reach 80, but warns that “their span is but trouble and sorrow”, before advising us “to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” OK – so what does this have to say to those who, like me, are in striking distance of some of those numbers, and does it also have something for those who haven’t...
Read MoreThe power of “yet” and “not yet”…
They can be two such frustrating words. You hear the question:”Have you figured out how that new app works?” or “Have you worked out how to put that IKEA chair together?” You know the answer will be those two words: “Not yet!” They can be even more worrying: “Have you got the new job you’re looking for?” “Not yet.” Perhaps its even worse, “Is your relationship any better?” or “Is the chemo starting to work?” And you hear the sobering response: “Not yet.” The first word is a negative...
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