I promised a follow-up on this parting greeting. It is a very useful one-liner. The purpose of one-liners is to capture interest and to convey information in short compass. It provokes thought on an important topic. There should be many one-liners in the repertoire of Christians who wish to be effective in Christ's kingdom. One …
Category: Theology
‘Catch me if you can’ politics
It is hard to hit a moving target. This seems to be current policy in Holyrood and the Brexit process. The SNP Scottish Government Yesterday the SNP Scottish Government supported a Bill to ban smacking of children and to criminalise parents who smack their children. Today the SNP Government published a Bill to begin the …
Evangelistic one-liners
Recently I drew attention to Goodbye meaning 'God be with you'. This is one in a series of evangelistic one-liners that Christians should practice. Christians need to learn how to use one-liners. The role of one-liners There was a time when people read books. As advertising became more prominent, leaflets were used, not so much …
Sport is for all – except active Christians
In Australia, the boss of New South Wales Rugby Union said that "we must ... ensure that our game remains a game for all, no matter people's background or beliefs" – inexplicably while 'explaining' why an overt Christian was sacked for expressing Christian beliefs. It seems that Christian beliefs don't count. The Eurovision Song Contest …
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Bullying report uses subjective definitions
The Report into Cultural Issues related to allegations of Bullying and Harassment in NHS Highland has been published and confirms that the whistleblowers have publicised legitimate concerns about bullying in NHS Highland. The Scottish Secretary for Health Jeane Freeman MSP apologised to those affected and said that the other health boards should learn lessons from …
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What constitutes a ‘good’ sermon?
The answer to this question is subjective, although it ought to be objective. The difficulty in making it objective is that everyone has a different idea of 'good'. The preacher will have a different assessment from his hearers, and the hearers will differ according to their readiness to receive instruction from the preacher. Even Jesus …
Living in fear in the UK
Many people in the UK are living in fear – workers are afraid of losing their job, politicians are afraid saying the wrong thing, top footballers are in fear of racial abuse, and Jews are in fear of antisemitism. Even children are in fear of being abused on social media. Parents fear social workers removing …
Hate crime is selective secular morality
Hate is not a crime – it is a sin – a sin of thought, which may manifest itself in speech and behaviour. Christian societies do not criminalise hate but teach and encourage self-policing by naming and shaming sin. Secularism has no such ability so it calls in the help of criminal sanctions to force …
Why we need Christian voices in public life
A Christian voice is a Christian articulating a Christian perspective on issues. It is not enough to have a Christian perspective, but one needs to articulate it. The Scottish National Party measures everything in terms of Scotland, the feminists in terms of gender, the homosexuals in terms of sexuality, the Greens in terms of the …
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Misreading public confession
The predictable media storm has erupted around the notable example of public confession by Liam Neeson that he once felt that he wanted to kill a black man and that he harboured the intent for about a week almost 40 years ago. The reaction on social and main stream media is predictable. The public opening …
