Thought for the Week 04/06/2012
From Tom Woodman, retired English Literature lecturer:
In reaction to the claims of Richard Dawkins and the new atheists it is important to understand that religion is not irrational. (more…)
Posts tagged ‘Faith’
Thought for the Week 30/01/2012
From Chris Wakelin, Chaplaincy Treasurer:
This week’s Old Testament reading (Deuteronomy 18:15-20) reminds us of the dangers of being false prophets, perhaps allowing our own prejudices to affect how we represent God. At the same time it promises the people of Israel that there will come somebody who is able to speak authentically for God.
In the Gospel reading (Mark 1:21-8), Jesus does just that and we are told that the people were amazed by his teaching them “with authority” unlike the scribes. Later in the Gospels he criticises the scribes and the Pharisees for being certain of their own righteousness and of the sin of those who behaved differently to them.
I’ve always been rather suspicious of Christians (and others) who claim they “know” rather than “think” something to be true. This is especially so when opinion is sharply divided, as in the Creationist/Darwinian debate in the US or the ordination of women in the Anglican church. To me it is axiomatic that God never overides our freedom of choice – he doesn’t force us to be right, and as a result all our “knowledge” has to be provisional.
That isn’t to say we can’t be pretty sure about some things, such as God’s existence and his love for us, but perhaps we should always allow a little bit of room for ourselves to be wrong and God to reveal more of the truth to us.
As we’ve just come to the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, here’s a little bit of fun, with some truth in it alas: http://youtube/M0zIv2I37UU
See the Next Part of Theology and Doughnuts.
Believing in Jesus
The Risen Christ
We began the previous discussion on Jesus’ biography by listing various titles that he had. Two of these are especially famous- 1) the Christ, i.e. the Messiah, the ‘Lamb of God’ and Saviour of the World, and 2) the Son of God; God the Son. We will look at the first of these -what God does in Jesus- in future discussions on salvation. In this session we will continue looking at who Christians believe in, concentrating on the image of the Son of God. (more…)
Quote
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” – C. S. Lewis
Thought for the Week 03/10/2010
From Mark Laynesmith, Anglican Chaplain:
“Abraham had faith and obeyed God… he left for a country he had never seen” (Hebrews 11.8)
What does it mean to ‘believe in God’? (more…)
The University of Reading Chaplaincy 
Written
on May 19, 2012