Comments by the leader of the Scottish Christian Party on the secular, scientific, political and ecclesiastical scene and the application of Christianity to personal and public life.
Patrick’s Places – the difference between Law and Gospelby Patrick Hamilton, 1527. Patrick Hamilton was Scotland’s first Reformer and martyr, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic cardinal Beaton at St Andrews in 1528 for preaching the Gospel. Of noble birth, he graduated MA from the College of Montaigu, Paris, in 1520 and enrolled in …
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The Labour Party Conference begins tomorrow for four days. But...its website doesn't tell us the agenda nor timetable. Its conference page tells us a host of activities and details but not its agenda nor timetable! I hope those who booked to attend this conference know what they have signed up for. Yes - it is …
Following my blogpost on cold calling, another issue is the problem of identification. Occasionally British Telecom (BT) phone me. The most recent call was to remind me to renew my broadband with them. This needs serious consideration because tonight I sent an email which did not go through. What was the reason? This is what …
I have just finished reading The Unsinkable Dream by Johan Huibers, the Dutchman who has built a full-sized replica of Noah's Ark. Its Dutch title is Let Your Dream Sail. It is a wonderful read about an amazing project with so many lessons that you should simply purchase the book for yourself. The Ark is …
Many of you have probably had cold callers wasting your time. Rather than putting the phone down on them, you might want to waste their time, or better still, to maximise their time to good effect. My most recent call (the second one today) went like this. First, he asked about 'my recent minor car …
The Free Offer of the Gospel ‘Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you fears God, to you is the word of this salvation sent’ Act 13:26. The Gospel is 'good news'. The good news is that God's salvation is sent to you. Some people know about the Gospel, some …
We are familiar with three dimensional space. But our three dimensional world is travelling through time, so we call time the fourth dimension. This can be written down mathematically, and mathematicians can invent on paper any number of dimensions. The question is whether these extra mathematically-postulated dimensions have any practical meaning. It is on such …
So the Rugby World Cup 2015 has begun, with an England victory 35-11 over Fiji in the opening match. There was controversy over a disallowed try. Matawalu the Fiji scrum half made a spectacular break and made a solo run to be given a try in the corner by the referee. However the television replay …
There are many mistakes about exegesis. One of the commonest is to substitute eisegesis for exegesis. One's own opinion of the meaning of a text is not exegesis. Most scholars agree about the importance of determining the intention of the original penman as a basis for exegesis, but beyond this they do not agree. Some …
Biblical exegesis is a wonderful God-given skill. It enables the exegete to draw out of Scripture the meaning intended by the Holy Spirit, as opposed to imposing on Scripture a meaning that the reader has already determined (eisegesis is reading into Scripture one's own prejudices). There are many principles for exegesis, but one of them …
Donald's Thoughts 