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 …
Author: Donald
Exegesis and eisegesis
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 …
Hogmanay and a Happy New Year
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. …
Sermon preparation
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 …
The Starting Handle era
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 …
Three providences at Belladrum
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 …
Pope Francis’ defective theology
In his inaugural address on 19 Mar 2013, Francis the new Roman Catholic pope in Rome finished by praying to the dead. He said: "I implore the intercession of the virgin Mary, saint Joseph, saints Peter and Paul, and saint Francis that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry..." So he thinks that the Holy …
BT Yahoo limiting the number of domestic emails
I have spent about 1½ hours on a BT help call to determine: 1. those wanting to move away from BT will have their former BT email address supported for free for one month; this has been recently reduced from three months. After that, it will cost £1.60/month to continue to use it. 2. domestic …
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Titles in the book of Psalms
Are the Titles in the first verse of many of the Psalms part of Scripture? Frequently one finds people omitting the titles when reading the Psalms publicly. Presumably they do not think that these titles are part of Scripture. This arises because the title in some popular versions of the Bible is made a separate …
Roman pontiff Francis true to type
The new pope of Rome's reforms do not include the doctrine of purgatory. The Vatican offers 'time off purgatory' to followers of Roman pope Francis' tweets. Purgatory is a figment of the Roman Catholic imagination and is not found in the teaching of Scripture. Its practice and teaching contributed to the 16th-century Protestant Reformation when …
Donald's Thoughts 