Every nation that has ever come into a position of power has believed that it got there because of divine blessing. The British Empire is a prime example of this. Several key and surprising victories against what seemed like unbeatable enemies inflated the nation’s ego. Destroying the Catholic Spanish Armada in 1588 was a major […]
In recent months I have become rather sceptical of emotions. I distrust feelings and berated those who trust their hearts to guide them. Of course I was always quick to point out that I don’t hate emotions, but rather emplore people to not simply trust the testimony of their hearts but to test it with […]
When I was at School, I heard a talk given at Assembly in which our head of Religious Studies (at least I think it was he) said something rather interesting. ‘The problem,’ he said, ‘is not that people aim high and fail, it is that they aim low and get there.’ I have recently been […]
‘Follow your heart.’ We have all heard this piece of advice. Perhaps some among you have received it from another. It is a phrase that stands among the pantheon of Disney Philosophy along with such pearls as ‘Be true to yourself’ and ‘Believe in yourself’. There’s no point in hiding the fact that I have […]
As the Americans would say, I’m going to ‘level with you’, dear reader. Things are a tad overwhelming at this present moment. All about me, to my left and my right, are broken relationships, sin, doubt, fear and hurt. This ‘season’ (if you will pardon my Christian-ese) has been one that has made me cry […]
Ever since this article was published, I have been giving some thought to why traditional ‘Evangelical’ churches are, possibly but not definitively, beginning to decline. Certainly within the US there is a trend of young evangelicals switching to Anglicanism, Catholicism and Orthodoxy. Parallel to this is the rapid growth of Pentecostalism and other charismatic movements […]
There is a strain of thought that many in the Ivory Tower follow that any comparison between someone’s beliefs and that of the Nazis and Hitler automatically shuts down conversation and therefore should be avoided. While I do not entirely agree with this sentiment (If someone is sounding a little too much like Goebbels it […]
The first time that I read Alister McGrath’s Christian Theology, I loved it. McGrath explained heavy theological concepts in a logical and coherent manner, and placed a love for doctrine in me that I hope never leaves. You can imagine my surprise, then, when certain students at the college I attend picked up the book […]
By the definition of some, I am a Protestant. This definition being that since I am neither Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox, I must therefore be a Protestant. Leaving aside the rather difficult nature of the term ‘Protestant’ here in Northern Ireland, I would tend to agree with that definition. There are many doctrines of […]
One of the most interesting exchanges I experienced during my time a Bible College was between myself and a lecturer who was taking a class on comparative religion. He asked us to give our thoughts on the subject of politeness and honesty in relation to not liking someone. He pointed out that in Korean culture, […]
That would be an Ecumenical matter. 
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