This week, hundreds of men, women and children were butchered in Nigeria, for being Christians, by Muslims. Islam = Religion of Peace? PRAY for Christians in Nigeria.

Archbishop Ben Kwashi said:

“It was not a good sight at all. The villagers had no chance whatsoever. They were slaughtered. I could see machete wounds in the necks of children. Kids from age zero to teenagers, all butchered from the back, macheted in their necks, their heads. Deep cuts in the mouths of babies. The stench. People wailing and crying. Some have lost their voices. I could not stand it. From what I saw from a distance, it was over 100 killed in one village. I don’t know what sparked it off. I thought we were making headway after the previous crisis in January.”

Ruth Gledhill – The Times

Barnabas Fund

Raised With Christ and Lifted – Two Books On The Resurrection from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.

Over the next few weeks leading up to Easter I’ll be reviewing 3 new books that are all about the Resurrection which seems appropriate given the time of year…

• Raised with Christ, by Adrian Warnock (Crossway)
• Scandalous, by Don Carson (IVP)
• Lifted, by Sam Allberry (IVP)

“Not by might, nor by power… Spirit-filled ministry”

Main speakers are John Piper, Rupert Bentley-Taylor, and Christopher Ash.

Looks like PT are getting a bit more charismatic, or at least open but cautious as they also invite Wayne Grudem, John Coles and Terry Virgo to give a bit more of a charismatic spin on things…

I’ll be there I guess, stewarding I think… should be fun!

I got the topic of Repairing Relationships… which is ironic at best. But it was good to use lots of resources collected on the topic of Forgiveness, lots of Keller influence who’s just very helpful at explaining and applying the Proverbs…

Download Audio (mp3)

Download Script -  Powerpoint

Pretty excited… so, anyone out there knows from this picture where we’ll be going…?

The debate was between James White (see his review) of Alpha & Omega Ministries and Abdullah al Andalusi.

I’ve spent much time recently thinking about debates with Christians vs. Atheists… so refreshing to hear a debate between two Theists, and on a topic at the core of my Christian beliefs.

The debate had two opening arguments, some cross-examination, some rebuttals and then a break, after which there was a Q&A. Sadly I had to leave at the break!

There was a good turn out and good debate, with both sides putting forward fairly sensible arguments. But I left feeling short changed with the Islamic scholar for three reasons:

1. He failed to engage with the Christian understanding of the Trinity, James White noted that the Qu’ran also misunderstands the Trinity. This came about because he did not accept James White’s opening statements about the difference between the nature and personhood of God.
2. He began his opening statement with fallacious attacks on the reliability of the New Testament, not the issue at hand, thankfully James White enlightened him and gifted him with a translation of the Bible which includes the manusrcipt source of every text.
3. He didn’t give any positive reasons, based on the Qu’ran why anyone should believe in Islam…?

What do you think? You can listen to the debate audio here…

His response to the question – “Where does morality come from?” – is to say that morality is inate in all humans.

Does anyone else see the massive hole in this point of view if you also ascribe to an atheistic evolutionary worldview??

I love Hitchens rhetoric, but his arguments are full of inconsistencies.

Also, both Northerners, which causes amusement for me when they read the Bible. They love Jesus and as you can see love swimming…

Check out Liz and Laura…

This is a new series of Bible study notes for parents to do with their children. Each session consists of an ‘appetiser’  introduction with ideas for chats and games, a main course with prayers, Bible story, and sticker time, and a snack time, a little nugget to keep kids thinking.

There’s a page at the back where you can photocopy and cut out the little snack nuggets and take them out with you during the day… I’m 24, and I think this sounds fun… in fact I might just have to start making babies (after getting married) so I can do it with my kids!!

The notes are written by Alison Mitchell and Jo Boddam Whetham, and produced by The Good Book Company. They’re just £5, which is a bargain with the stickers and fun stuff to do. You can get your hands on one of these from the 1st February… do it!

Read online sample (pdf)