Not good enough for heaven

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Barrie

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There seems to be this popular misconception that Christians are “holier than thou” and that somehow by following God’s commandments we make ourselves better than everyone else and more worthy of getting to heaven. The truth is almost the exact opposite: Christians are just people, who are as prone to being self-centred as the next person.

The cornerstone of Christian theology is that, by our own actions, we do not deserve to enter into heaven. This is precisely why we need Jesus – his sacrifice on the cross paid the penalty we deserve for our sins (which is why Jesus’ last words on the cross are “It is finished”). In dying, Jesus literally became the scapegoat for mankind and in rising again, Jesus proves that he is who he claimed to be: God incarnate.

This is grace, that rather than being given the punishment we deserve for our actions we are offered entry into heaven as a friend of Jesus, and shows how vast God’s love is for each of us. The only question worth asking then is “do you accept Jesus’ sacrifice as atonement for your sins?”.

Finally, a word about those “holier than thou” Christians – once you truly realise how awesome, undeserved and deep God’s love is for us, the only possible response is to live a life dedicated to Him, serving others as Jesus commanded and showing them the same love that God shows us.

On the train to London on Thursday, the following popped into my head – if anyone wants to use it as the refrain for a song or hymn then feel free to share your ideas:

I’m not good enough for heaven,
But I know they’ll let me in,
For my faith resides in Jesus,
Who redeems me from my sin.

When I were a lad …

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Barrie

Many of my fellow Christians seem to believe that the nation is suffering from moral decline and that Britain is no longer a Christian country. So my question is simply this:

When exactly was the golden age of Christian morality?

Britain has a pretty bloody imperial history and significant wealth came from its slave trade, so presumably we have to rule out any time before the 19th century. The Victorian era wasn’t exactly a great advert for Christian morality with swathes of the population in crippling poverty, the workhouses and child labour. Of course, the first half of the 20th century is scarred by two world wars and up until at least the 1980s, society wasn’t exactly a bastion of gender, racial, religious or sexual equality (and to be fair we’ve still got a long way to go with these issues). But then, presumably the last 30 years of rampant consumerism, wars over oil and political dishonesty form part of what the critics deplore as unChristian behaviour.

I’d appreciate your thoughts and comments.

Does nature abhor a miracle?

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Barrie

One of the strongest objections to the Christian faith is that it must be legendary because the events it celebrates are unscientific. In particular, the bible records many miracles throughout its Old and New Testaments, most notably the resurrection of the crucified Jesus.

Crucially, such an objection is based on a false premise. Science and the scientific method can never tell us what is and is not possible. All that science can tell us is what things might typically happen in a given situation and hopefully why. That’s because the scientific method is based on experimentation and observation, so anything that is not a common enough occurrence to be observed is unlikely to make it into the model.

Now, by their very nature, miracles are exceedingly rare and seem to defy the natural order – we wouldn’t bother calling them miracles if they didn’t! Even in the bible, which claims to be a record of God’s relationship with the Jews, miracles are not commonplace. Of course, they feature prominently because they are the sort of things worth recording when they happen, but they provoked the same sense of awe and reverence as they would today precisely because they were totally unexpected.

In fact, most scientists would agree that science cannot possibly predict everything. Indeed, one of the central tenets of certain interpretations of quantum mechanics is that everything is possible, it’s just that once you’ve done the calculations most events have a practically zero probability of being observed.

It is right that we should exhibit an informed scepticism about events that seem contrary to our own experiences and seem to defy scientific principles. But as science can never tell us what happened at any given time and place, we need to use historical methods, which include studying writings about the events and examining any archaeological evidence that might be available.

So with all this in mind, I urge you to take a fresh look at those miracles you thought could not have possibly happened and with all the historical and archaeological evidence available to you, reexamine your conclusions. I’m not asking that you agree with me, just that you try to get as complete a picture as the evidence will allow.

Happy hunting!

None so blind …

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Barrie

There is a traditional joke in which a person who is lost asks for directions – “Well, I wouldn’t start from here …”, comes the reply. Of course, we have to start from where we are, but gaining a real understanding of that starting point is key in helping us to identify the direction of travel and understand the journey ahead.

Like anything involving real people, real data and the reconstruction of historical events, Christianity is messy. I can understand the temptation to cut through the messiness with a clean clear-cut theology that becomes the guiding principle when we don’t know how to interpret the data. However, for too many Christians and critics that theology can become the plank of wood that blinds us to really considering the evidence, because we become too quick to dismiss anything that doesn’t fit with our world view.

Before we come to consider the claims of Christianity and its implications for our lives, I would urge each of us to examine our prior assumptions, our starting point if you like, because these will colour the conclusions we can reach. Just as the Christian who begins with the claim that the bible is infallible will never acknowledge the errors and inconsistencies within its pages, so too the critic who declares that all miracles are a priori impossible is destined to reject the case for Christ’s resurrection.

Fortunately, Christian truth does not require scripture to be infallible – it is enough that the evidence is sufficient to lead people to Christ.

Science vs Christianity

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Barrie

As Christians, we have to be able to answer the question: “Why Christianity, as oppose to any other religion or non-religious belief?”. For me, it is not a question of choosing a system of beliefs or a theology with which I feel comfortable – that would be putting the cart before the horse.

Christianity is first and foremost an evidence-based faith – the historical evidence points to the existence of a man, whom the Greek-speaking world named Jesus, who claimed to be the son of God, performed miracles, taught about God and heaven, and was raised from the dead precisely as he claimed he would be. The challenge is to construct a world-view that fits with these facts, which is the challenge that the writers of the New Testament and the early church took on.

However, there is a continual challenge that all of us who wish Christianity to retain that privileged status must face – in light of continuing developments in our understanding of scientific, historical and literary evidence we must continue to re-evaluate the evidence for our faith and, where necessary, adapt our theology to fit the facts rather than denying the facts to suit our theology.

The consequence of failure to engage with this challenge is that Christianity becomes just another religion ….

The apprentice

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Barrie

I love reading testimonies from people who have come to faith in Christ and I am always struck by the diversity of these experiences. As a scientist, the stories that involve a sceptic weighing up the evidence for/against Jesus being the Son of God and coming down in favour, are those that resonate most with me.

Whilst there is a lot of commonality with my own experience, one of the joys of being a Christian is knowing that we have a personal relationship with God and that God makes His presence known to each of us in different ways, as the variation in testimonies bears out.

One of the common threads in all these experiences appears to be that much of our life is an apprenticeship, so that when the invitation from God comes for us to know Him, we might accept and make the most of that opportunity. For me, that apprenticeship was through the study of science, interrogating evidence and in logical reasoning. For C.S. Lewis, it was via the study of ethics and philosophy and his path to enlightenment was via reasoning about universal morality.

In this respect, God reveals Himself to be the perfect teacher: building on what we already know; meeting us where we are; and inspiring us to dig that little bit deeper in our search for truth.

As disciples of Christ, that apprenticeship continues for the rest of our lives – indeed, we would argue that this apprenticeship is the very purpose of life.

Would the real God please stand up

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Barrie

One of the arguments that is much abused by both sides of the Christian debate is what Richard Dawkins would term “The argument from personal incredulity” – it usually starts with the phrase “I can’t believe that the true God would …” or something to that effect.

My usual response is “No, I don’t believe in your god either”. Frankly, the God I believe in isn’t so easily defined by human expectations and is certainly not constrained by human imagination!

So next time you find yourself saying “If God exists then He would never stand by while this tragedy happened” or “Everything in the bible must be true because God would never let His Word be corrupted by human hands” remember that God doesn’t need to measure up to your yardstick – He is His own ultimate measure of perfection, for which I am truly thankful.

New beginnings (Gospelaires edition)

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Barrie

Tonight I am due to lead the prayers at Gospelaires, so I have reworked my reflection this morning:

With the beginning of a New Year I wanted to take the opportunity to think about New Beginnings. Many people across the world will be yearning for a new start to some aspect of their life, making New Year’s resolutions – breaking New Year’s resolutions. Many resolutions will be focused on self-improvement: eat less; drink less; exercise more – gym owners up and down the country will be rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of new customers who will hand over their bank details and never set foot again in the gym. Other resolutions will be focusing on relationships with others: spending more time with partners; family; mending fences with neighbours.

As Christians, through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are given a new start every day for no other reason than God’s outrageous grace and unending love for us. But Paul reminds us that this “wipe-the-slate-clean” is not an excuse to continue in our old sinful ways – it is a once in a lifetime invitation to walk with God. Unlike New Year’s resolutions, it is not about what we want to do, or promising to do a few things we can – God wants no less than the whole of our lives; he demands that we do ALL we can to live the life He intends for us.

In thinking about new beginnings, I was reminded of a poem that really spoke to me a few years ago when I was in quite a difficult place: I had a young family; my wife had serious post-natal depression that was completely debilitating and one of the few pleasures we were able to share was reading poetry together. Mary Oliver’s “The Journey” spoke to both of us very powerfully:

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