The Jewish people have always valued the law of Moses very highly. It is seen as eternal and perfect, the guide for how we are to honour God. This appreciation for the law can logically lead people to think that simply having the rules will make us better people. After all, if we have God’s …
Paul often refers to the Old Testament in his letters, and he uses a key verse from Genesis at key points in his argument in both Romans and Galatians. It is Genesis 15:6. Let’s have a look at this verse in its original context: After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram …
For many people in the 1950s, smoking and drinking a lot of alcohol was just normal. It was what everyone did. All the celebrities smoked; all social events centred on alcohol. No-one yet knew of the risks of these behaviours and the damage they were causing to their bodies. If you were to ask someone …
It is common for people around us to say that all gods are the same. Or to broaden it beyond actual gods, whatever you choose to live for is fine. You do you. Yet even a cursory glance at this idea will reveal that not all gods are the same at all. As one psalmist …
We all care about justice. We innately want the world to be fair. What that usually means is that we want justice to work for us personally. We want things to work out well for us. While this is perfectly understandable, it is a very selfish and limited point of view. True justice is bigger …
The first thought most of us have when something unexpectedly bad happens is ‘why’? Why did this thing happen to me? Was it some kind of punishment for something I have done (like Job’s friends suggested in the middle of Job’s suffering)? Was it because I am a worse person than other people (as suggested …
What are you aiming for in life? What would you class as a good life, a successful life? It is important that you know what you are trying to do with your life. Then you can work out what you should be doing now in order to achieve that goal. Think of it like this. …
All relationships have emotional ups and downs to them. There are times when you feel close to the people you love and times you do not. That’s true in friendships, between parents and children, and also between married people. We don’t always feel the same about the other person day to day or month to …
When people make a list of what they want in a romantic partner, often the physical aspects of their ideal person make it high on the list. They should be a certain height, have a certain body type, perhaps have a certain colour hair. Our culture holds up ideal body types to us through the …
Song of Songs is a love song, and it has a chorus. While metaphors are occasionally re-used through the Song, there is only one verse that is repeated, and that verse is repeated three times with only minor variations (in 2:7, 3:5 and 8:4): I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or …