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Calvin’s Confusion about Predestination: 1 Defining Predestination
John Calvin was confused about predestination. As a result, many Christians today are also confused about it, and believe God predestined some people for damnation. This is serious. Because that idea is terrifying. It would mean Jesus didn’t die for everyone. It would mean the most important thing in your life is not to look…
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The Tyranny of Visible Fruit
The reality of life is that people implicitly assess Christian ministry through visible fruit, institutional momentum, relational success, and perceived stability. Even when they explicitly deny that—they do it. Even Christians who highly value the Bible do it. Because, as much as people may say that faithfulness is measured by the Bible: when pressure is…
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Even Manchester’s Mayor Wants a Job in London
You are drawn to success. We all want comfort, success, glory, prestige. And temporal kingdoms offer that. Throughout history there have been “great cities,” climbing to the sky, offering a tower to commune with greatness: Babel, Nineveh, Babylon, Rome. And, of course, here in the UK—London. Andy Burnham once said: “[politics] has been too London-centric…
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Promises for a Ruined Reputation
You may be reading this because you know the huge pain of a ruined reputation. The Bible doesn’t shy away from how difficult this experience is: Reproaches have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. (Psalm 69:20) Here,…
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Why hasn’t the church collapsed?
The church is full of rubbish people. People making mistakes.People struggling with doubt.People who behave badly. How on earth is it still here? That is the question that Mark answers at the end of his Gospel. I was taught my whole life that the end of Mark’s Gospel is not original. Because the ending is…
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When God Commanded Genocide: 2 Jesus Died for Every Amalekite
God commanded ancient Israel to commit genocide. You and I are rightly troubled by that. In our first post, we looked squarely at the most clear and difficult passage in the whole Bible on this, 1 Samuel 15:1-3, where God commands Saul to slaughter the Amalekites: every “man and woman, child and infant, ox and…
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When God Commanded Genocide: 1 The Judge of the World on Trial
You are completely right to feel troubled by genocide in the Old Testament. Let’s not be mealy mouthed about this: God really did command Israel to commit genocide. This really did happen. Probably the starkest example is from 1 Samuel 15:1-3, which I’ll quote here in full: And Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent…
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Optimal Inefficiency
All the pressure is on to be efficient. Hit the tickets on time. Get on top of AI. Don’t fall behind. We’ve all heard that things can be either fast or good or cheap, but not two at once. Modern Manchester wants all three from you at the same time. But not only is embracing…
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God’s Not Waiting to Vent
God is not frustrated with you, waiting to vent. He doesn’t have mountains of pent up anger and frustration. If you come to him, he doesn’t need to unload on you before you can both be square. Other people in your life are like that. And—at least to some extent—you are like that. Human beings…
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I Don’t Feel Good Enough
Everything around you, and inside you, is screaming that you have to measure up. You need to meet a certain standard. You need to achieve something. They are all wrong. Those voices either crush you because you fail, or turn you into a proud, self-righteous person. Neither leads anywhere good. So, those voices aren’t just…