Category Archives: Bible

Bible, General, Global issues, Sermons, Social Justice

An Ancient Story’s Powerful Message for Modern Israel

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Here’s something a bit different from me this Sunday morning – a brief sermon from the ancient Jewish and Christian Scriptures, using the ancient story of the Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon at the height of his Empire building.

You might not believe in the Scriptures, and you might not care what they say; but Jewish people using these Scriptures as part of their claim on the land of Israel do. And their own Scriptures provide very clear, very relevant and very modern lessons.

Israel is meant to be a nation that stands as a “city on a hill” – a place for all people from all nations to come and see what God can do when a nation is built on Justice and Righteousness (mishpat ???????? and tzedek ?????). When Israel is built on war, oppression or enslavement, it will judged by God and it will bring its own destruction on itself.

Watch the video on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/q1RwZikPwrc

Read 1 Kings 9-11 with me, and see an ancient message for modern times.

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Missional, Sermons, Social Justice, Theology

Lessons from Jesus’ Baptism and a New Community

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This is a sermon I preached at our small faith community, ‘We Are Church’ in Johannesburg, on 9 October 2022.

There are lessons from Jesus’ Baptism, as recorded in Mark 1 for churches. We need to heed these lessons of new beginnings, of not getting stuck in church structures, of not being stuck in Empire thinking, of not getting stuck in creating exclusive and excluding communities.

There are lessons here about God’s love for us all, about God’s image being in all of us, about God’s invitation to be part of new faith communities.

I was as sick as a dog as I was preaching this, so there’s not much energy or outward passion. But this sermon came from the depths of my soul. It is what I believe most deeply.

Watch it here:

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Sermons, Social Justice, Theology

Sermon: The Bible and LGBTQI inclusion and affirmation

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This blog hasn’t been active for the last two years. Covid has taken my focus from these theological issues to practical, local community action. But my passion for building inclusive and affirming communities of faith remains unwavering.

My wife, Jane, is heading up a small faith community in Johannesburg, South Africa, that we have called “We Are Church”. It’s independent and informal at the moment, but we will see how things progress. I have been asked to summarise my views on LGBTQI inclusion and affirmation for this group, and will share the videos of these meetings here.

The first of these videos is entitled:
The Bible and LGBTQI inclusion and affirmation

It is a summary of the work you’ll find at this blog in my special series on how we interpret the seven verses in the Bible that appear to oppose LGBTQI people.

I become more and more convinced that we have been wrong in our historic interpretations of the Bible, and this approach I suggest is a significant improvement in our understanding of God’s Word.

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Podcast, Social Justice, Theology

ALLin Podcast: Links to all the podcast platforms

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We are gearing up to start Season 2 of the ALLin podcast. Season 2 will focus on what the Bible teaches and shows us about marriage, and why we are wrong to limit it to “a natural born man and natural born woman” as conservatives now frame it. We will also look at LGBTQI-positive interpretations of Scripture.

It would be really beneficial for you to listen to Season 1 before you dive into Season 2. Season 1 consists of 20 episodes that look at the seven “clobber verses” in the Bible that are typically used to argue that LGBTQI people are somehow breaking God’s natural order and are “abomination” to God. Season 1 also looks at some key issues around definitions of gender, sexual orientation and sexual biology.

To listen to Season 1, please subscribe to ALLin on your podcast player of choice:

If your podcast player of choice does not yet list ALLin, please add it using the RSS feed: https://allinlgbtqi.libsyn.com/rss

Or, if all else fails, listen to it on our hosting platform, LibSyn: https://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/17429297

Bible, Church, General, Theology

How Evangelicals Changed The Bible To Support Their Beliefs (by Keith Giles)

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Keith Giles has written a fantastic article on the Patheos blog site titled “How Evangelicals Changed The Bible To Support Their Beliefs”. In it, he gives specific examples of the ways in which conservative evangelicals have chosen to change the meaning of words in newer English translations to fit into their theological frameworks, rather than more accurately reflect the original Biblical meaning.

You can read the article in full at the Patheos website, or an extract of it below:

Continue reading How Evangelicals Changed The Bible To Support Their Beliefs (by Keith Giles) →

Bible, Church, Gender, General, Podcast, Theology

ALLin Pod: Episode 19: Other Interpretations of Romans

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Yes, we are still in the book of Romans. For many Christians, Romans 1 is the key passage against same gender sexual activity, so we need to cover it thoroughly. In this episode of the ALLin Podcast, we look at seven additional interpretative options for Romans 1.

If you’re satisfied with my explanations so far, you might want to just skip the rest of this episode. This one has a lot of detail and further options for interpreting Romans 1, for sake of completeness. While I have sympathy for these seven views, I do not endorse them all, and find some more compelling than others. I present them for two reasons. Firstly, for the sake of completeness – these are views held by committed Christians and qualified theologians alike. Secondly, and more importantly, so that those who might still be clinging to a traditional interpretation of Romans 1, despite the detail I have supplied about context and about the meanings of key words, can see that there are significant additional problems with the traditional reading of Romans 1.

There is a danger that by presenting a variety of alternative suggestions for interpretation I will bring confusion rather than insight. I hope not. I think it’s clear to see that the weight of evidence is actually pretty much overwhelming: Romans 1 does not condemn same-gender couples wishing to enter loving, lifelong, covenantal marriages.

Continue reading ALLin Pod: Episode 19: Other Interpretations of Romans →