Covid-19 has revealed weaknesses in our existing systems, and panic-buying in particular has revealed that we do not think about how our consumer choices affect others. Although there is plenty of toilet paper to go around, we now have an unequal distribution because with heightened anxiety, a handful of buyers have first considered their own […]
Recent Posts
Secularism is an illusion
[NYC subway, 2013] The concept of secularism is based on the idea that a culture should aspire to religious neutrality. And yet there is no such thing. Every concept you inhabit, every habit that you form, and everything that you aspire to be has been informed by some kind of philosophical ideology. I repeat: […]
Let’s Talk About Abstinence, Baby
Or perhaps more specifically: let’s talk about how we talk about abstinence to unmarried Christians. This is story is less about abstinence itself and more about Christian attitudes towards it when advising people who are not married. Here, I am going to outline two differing Christian views on abstinence by exploring the influence of two particular […]
Deep Church Rising: a turn back to the tradition?
[Notre Dame, Paris 2017] I left the mega-church scene at age 21, feeling somewhat stranded and very confused. I knew that I loved Jesus, but I also knew that I no longer fancied the razzle-dazzle shiny church experience that I was raised in. Church life had always placed a heavy emphasis on the celebrity prophet/preacher/worship-leader/healing-pastor […]
Would Jesus have really died for just one person?
A few years ago, a woman whom I had never met before was praying for me. We were at one of those big Christian music festivals, and she had simply offered some words of encouragement. However she said something that has been bugging me ever since: “If you were the last person on earth, Jesus […]
Reflections on Musical Worship
Throughout Christian history, the way we worship God has changed enormously. Many of these changes have taken place due to the influence of surrounding cultures, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, I’ve recently been reflecting on which aspects of our culture are influencing the way we worship God, and I’m growing more and […]
Four Reasons Why I Quit Facebook
(Picture stolen from the Economist) About two months ago I deactivated my Facebook account, with the intention of permanently deleting it eventually. I wrote a very convicting draft of this post, which highlighted what I thought were the main problems with the social media giant. Now, I’ve gone back to the party. So, like an […]
Matter Matters: On the Body
I established in two earlier posts (1 and 2) that God created matter and said that it was good. In fact, the word “good” (Hebrew: טֽוֹב) is used seven times in the creation story of Genesis 1; each of those times depicting what God says about the stuff he made. When God gets to humans on the sixth day, […]
Should Christians Read Philosophy?
[Spoiler alert: the answer is yes.] How many philosophers does it take to change a light bulb? It depends on how you define ‘change’. Philosophy is considered by many to be irrelevant at best and dangerous at worst. Christians throughout history have been especially caught up in the pro/anti-philosophy debate. Philosophers are known for asking […]
Matter Matters: Creation
[Photograph of the Valley of Desolation, South Africa, 2017] And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And […]