Comments by the leader of the Scottish Christian Party on the secular, scientific, political and ecclesiastical scene and the application of Christianity to public life.
The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) have many similar stories, but with very slight variations. For example, Mark tells us Jesus healed blind Bartimaeus Mk 10:46, but Matthew tells us that Bartimaeus had another blind companion Mat 20:30, with the same request at the same time Mat 20:33. So why did Mark mention only …
Continue reading The Synoptic Solution to the Synoptic Problem
Most of those acquainted with their Bible have heard about the rich, young ruler. He came to Jesus and asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life. He received the surprising answer - to sell all that he had and follow Christ! At this, he went away sad because he had great possessions. …
Continue reading Was the rich young ruler actually Saul of Tarsus?
The Gospel is the good news of the free offer of eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the only Advocate and High Priest for sinners. The apostle Paul summarised the essential elements in the Gospel at the beginning of his famous defence of the bodily resurrection of the …
At a conference of Christian political party leaders in Leissigen, Switzerland, in 2013, I heard the following observations made by Valeriu Ghiletchi, a member of the Parliament of Moldova and a former President of the European Baptist Federation. He drew attention to four stages of the apostle Paul's life and ministry, to show his changing …
The Lib Dem peer, Lord Oakeshott, said on Question Time 30/1/2014 that if he was put in the position of choosing between defying his party leader, Nick Clegg, by voting for the ban on smoking in cars with children present, or defying his wife who is a doctor, there was no contest. If he voted …
As a divinity student in 1980 I came across the term 'exegesis' in reference to the exegesis of Scripture. It means 'drawing out' the meaning of a written text and Scripture in particular. I became aware of the opposite process – people reading into Scripture their own opinion and thus putting into Scripture something that …
We brought in the New Year with our growing family. Since the children have left home a few years ago, Elizabeth and I have become accustomed to watching their lives from a distance. However, there are happy reunions when they make their occasional and seasonal return to Ebenezer, and this Hogmanay was one of them. …
Some bullet points on sermon preparation. 1. Have an interesting introduction. In Lectures to My Students, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, 'the prince of 19th-century preachers', says that every notice should have the word “Attention!” at the top; and so every sermon should call attention to the topic of the sermon. It should be composed last, when …
Older people will remember the days when the car would not start and one had to use a starting handle to start the engine (until people learned about ‘bump-starting’ the car with a push). The handle was inserted in the front of the car and one cranked the engine into life. Sometimes the handle ‘kicked …
We had a great night as Street Pastors at the Belladrum Tartan Heart Music festival, just outside Beauly, a family-orientated event with a different emphasis compared to RockNess festival at Dores two months earlier. There were some remarkable providences. Not least, the weather was warm after a washout the night before. We had come prepared …
Donald's Thoughts 