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.
Today is the 50th anniversary of my completing the reading of the Christian Bible for the first time as a 16 year old. I have re-read it daily ever since. Wondering how best to commemorate this day, I decided about a month ago to complete my brief online summary of the Bible. It is fitting …
Continue reading A Summary of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible
Last week, the former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond drew attention to "the whole truth" in the oath normally administered in sworn testimony. The Committee on the Scottish Government Handling of Harassment Complaints (Committee of Inquiry) had invited him to speak to the Inquiry as he had been the victim of a miscarriage of …
There are some centuries of Scottish history that are overlooked in favour of other ones. This morning I was at a meeting of about 30 senior men who were asked to name the main events in Scottish history. The list of options went all the way from the battle of Bannockburn (1314) to the Highland …
There are those who think that religion and politics don't mix. The truth is that their religion and their politics don't mix. However, religion and politics have mixed throughout human history, king and priest legitimatising each other's control over the people. Christianity and politics mix quite easily together, and it is Christianity which gave us …
Continue reading Those who think that religion and politics do not mix
The Establishment Principle is that biblical principle which states that God is sovereign over secular and ecclesiastical affairs, and that He has established a relationship between these two sovereign spheres in which the state and the Christian church are to acknowledge each other as divinely-appointed institutions, to mutually support and encourage each other, but not …
There is a movement afoot among orthodox Jews to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and to this end they have been looking for a red heifer without blemish to dedicate the temple. Although there have been discredited claims in recent decades, yet there are rumours that a suitable red heifer has been found and that …
Continue reading The ark of the covenant and the third temple
The biblical Millennium is mentioned in every verse of Rev 20:2-7. 'He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent who is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations …
Continue reading How long does the biblical Millennium last?
It is common to hear preachers say that the Gospel first came to Europe when Paul responded to the Macedonian call, ‘Come over into Macedonia and help us’ Act 16:9. This is wrong, and it is one of many manifestations of the readiness to copy ideas without checking out if they are true. The Gospel …
408 years ago today, Galileo's discovery changed our understanding of the solar system forever. His astronomical observations irrefutably confirmed the hypothesis formulated by Copernicus 100 years earlier that the Earth was not the centre of the solar system. This was an Earth-shattering discovery. Between 7th and 13th January 1610, Galileo discovered and observed the four …
The main message from the 500th anniversary of the European Reformation is that Scotland needs a Reformer. We have plenty of theologians and preachers, but no reformer. Scotland's Reformer was John Knox but we have fallen upon such backsliding times that we need a new one, but at present Scotland has no reformer. A reformer …
