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
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
We begin then by looking at creation from the differing perspectives of the biblical narrative and some other ancient stories.
This will help to show the distinctiveness and power of the Bible’s account of creation.
The recitation of creation stories in the ancient world bore little resemblance to our detached discussions on creation today. To these ancient peoples it was a matter of worship. Their sagas were not like the telling of fairy tales, but recitations of the annual religious festivals. Recounting these stories had the serious purpose of seeking both to preserve the order of society and to guarantee order and life before the threats of chaotic forces. Read more
A hundred years ago evolution was much in the air. Everything was thought to be the result of long development. So it was taken that religion also must have developed; and as monotheism—belief in one God only — is the highest form of religion, this must have come very late in the history of mankind. Among the simpler races it was not expected we should find belief in one God; in fact, it was doubted whether there would be found any clear idea of God at all.
This idea was not altogether unreasonable. When a stranger tries to study the religion of a people he does not know, he first becomes aware of actions and ceremonies, some of which seem to him very strange. Read more
Books spell the word ‘God‘ with a capital ‘G’. Why? Because ‘God‘ is to all intents and purposes a name: the proper name of the personal Three-inone — Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy Spirit — whom Christians worship, love and serve. ‘God‘ was the English name for the Trinity long before books existed in English.
In our day, indeed for more than a century, the word ‘God‘ has been bent to suit particular Christian view-points. Books of essays have appeared with titles like My idea of God, The God I want — titles that tell their own story. It has even been claimed that God is dead—which has made some recall Mark Twain’s famous cable, ‘The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.’ Read more
