Bible Stories

The idea that the body of a saint or divine being glows is well established. For centuries, the halo has been regarded in art as a sign of purity. Christian artists evolved a whole code of symbolism to confer different ranks of spiritual awareness on their subjects. Read more

The New Testament seems to contain a strange mixture of optimism and pessimism. On the optimistic side there is a heaven and so everything must work out all right in the end. But on the pessimistic side is some of the teaching of Jesus: ‘Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. There will be terrible earthquakes, famines and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky.’ So what are Christians - optimists or pessimists? Read more

The New Testament teaching about the future is not that we look forward to what we do not have at the moment. For the Christian, the present and the future are closely tied together. So before we look at how Christians should prepare for the future, we need to look at the way the present and the future affect each other. Read more

The theme of God’s judgement appears consistently throughout the Bible. Although judgement is an unpopular idea today, it is something we have to face up to. But how will God judge? What standards does he expect?

God’s standard

Some people say that they are reasonably good people - better than some - and that they have done the best they can. But even if that were true, is it enough? Read more

The Christian hope, first and foremost, is in God himself. Because we know God, and learn to have confidence in him, we know that what he has promised will be fulfilled.

The resurrection

Our hope is not for the release of our souls from our bodies, as many people imagine. The teaching of the New Testament is that at the last day, the day when Jesus returns, we shall be raised from death to be with God for ever. Paul expresses it in this way: Read more

The central Christian view of race is that there is only one race: the human race! As the apostle Paul said to the Athenians, ‘God created every race of men of one stock to inhabit the whole earth’s surface.’ At the pivotal points where God dealt with humanity -when he created us, Read more

The modern family differs very strikingly from families in ancient times. We talk today about the ‘nuclear’ family — the somewhat isolated unit of mother, father and children. The historical reasons for this are quite well-known. Read more

‘God created mankind in his own image: male and female he created them,’ says the writer of Genesis. In Greek legend Zeus first created a sexless being. Later, in a fit of divine anger, he split this into man and woman. The division of humankind into two sexes is thus understood to be an imperfect state, a weakening of mankind’s power, because the two sexes pull in different directions. Read more

Art has a lot to do with religion. Most of the ‘art-works’ unearthed by archaeologists link in with some religious practice or other. Until recent times the church was the most important patron of the arts. Contemporary artists regularly discuss their work in ’spiritual’ terms. Read more

One writer has confessed, the longer I live, the more faith I have in Providence, and the less faith I have in my interpretations of Providence.’

Providence is the care God takes of all existing things. So its range and depth are immense. The word itself is taken from

Abraham’s promise to his son Isaac on the way to sacrifice: ‘My Son, God will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.’ ‘There is a special providence in the fall of a sparrow,’ says Hamlet in Shakespeare’s play. This is God’s rule as moral governor over all the universe.

There is also God’s forgiveness of the sinner. God’s great acts of salvation are all part of God’s activity in providence: Read more