Theological discourse is necessary but dangerous. Necessary because, as John Stuart Mill reminded us many years ago, truth is strengthened through dialectic. A good discussion, wherein points are made, challenged, refined and restated is a…

Civil disobedience isn’t always right and it isn’t always wrong. One of the most helpful passages in the Bible with respect to this issue is found in today’s RMM reading from Acts 5[1]. In Acts 5:20 the Apostles are given a direct charge from God via…

On January 7th, 2022 Bill C-4 will become the law of the land in Canada. Christian pastors, parents, counsellors and mentors may all be affected. Canadian Christians need to understand this law and they should be prepared for coordinated action. This…

In March of 2020 I told a younger pastoral colleague that I expected the lockdown due to COVID19 to last somewhere between 2-3 weeks. Obviously, I was wrong. We are now nearly 2 years in and seeing the highest new infection rates at any point in…

On Tuesday, December 7th the Canadian Senate passed Bill C-4, effectively banning the practice known as conversion therapy. The bill had been introduced to the House of Commons on November 29th and was approved on December 1st without further debate…

Every year around this time I write a blog encouraging people to read through the whole Bible in the coming year. I’ve been doing it since 2012 and I believe in the value of this discipline wholeheartedly. But this year feels different. It almost…

Human beings are creatures of enormous dignity and worth. They are embodied souls – of the earth and uniquely inspired by God (Gen. 2:7). They are more like God than anything else he has made.[1] In Genesis 1:26 the Creator says: “Let us make man in…

I write this not as an anthropologist, a sociologist, a philosopher or a politician. I write this as a white father to a black teenage girl. My middle daughter came to our home when she was just 3 months old. Her biological mother made a difficult…

Apparently on Sunday I gave a few people the impression that Job may have been a closet communist. When I first heard of that confusion I laughed and assumed that the person had simply misheard me. When a second person raised the same question, it…

Evangelicals over the last decade have done a poor job of sticking to the centre of the road with respect to marital sexuality. The abuses and excesses being detailed in exposés like “Jesus And John Wayne” and “The Rise And Fall Of Mars Hill” have…

On September 22nd Ontario residents will have to show proof of vaccination in order to dine indoors, go to gyms, theatres, sporting events and conference centres. The release and associated press conference made clear that: “Essential retail, like…

Over the last 6 months, I’ve had multiple people contact me asking if the church they are going to is “a cult”. The frequency of the inquiry is itself cause for interest and may be related to the increasingly tribal nature of the evangelical church…