This week Steve picks up on an old parable, which begs the question that underlies our behaviour as Christians.
Read More
This week Steve continues to look at the ways in which we’ve misunderstood the meaning of the cross. Whether it’s underestimating or overstating its importance, something so central to the Christian faith has also become a central debate.
Read More
Since Steve first commented that “God is a God of love, and ultimately loves everyone” he’s received numerous questions online and in-person about how this reconciles with different parts of the bible.
Read More
Since last week when Steve concluded that "the good news is for all," many people have got in touch to ask, "if that is the case, then what is the point in being a Christian? In this week's Chalke Talk Steve responds to that important question.
Read More
This week Steve puts forward the question that has troubled Christians throughout the ages and into today: “If God's grace is real grace – amazing, undeserved, non-discriminatory, in-containable, extraordinary grace – then why wouldn’t it apply to everyone regardless of their geography, their religious beliefs or their capacity to believe in God or not?”
Read More
This week Steve begins thinking about salvation and God's grace. Encouraging all of us to think about whether we can reconcile a God of love with the idea that salvation is not for everybody.
Read More
“The message of Jesus was never an evacuation plan designed to offer us an escape from reality. Rather, it’s a transformation plan for our broken and conflicted world.”
Read More
A provocative question no doubt, and one that has been, and continues to be, seen as an affront to God’s authority. But, as Steve explores this week, contending that God has ultimate control over what happens reflects poorly on God’s character considering how many horrible things happen in this world.
Read More
God seems to have a change of heart between the Old Testament and the New Testament. At least that’s what most of us tend to think.
Read More
In the past weeks, Steve has been looking at what it means to "Love others" and "Love ourselves," but this week unpacks why it is so difficult for us "to love God."
Following on from last week’s episode, Steve continues to challenge us with what does “Love your neighbour as yourself” actually mean?
Read More
‘‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of THE LEAST of these, you did not do for me.” This is the infamous and crushing blow that Jesus delivers to those who refuse to serve and advocate for society’s most marginalised.
Read More
The story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ would have an identical message but a different name if Jesus were telling it today.
Read More
Paul and Jesus fundamentally disagreed on the law. Or at least, that’s the only interpretation that a literal reading of the New Testament allows you to reach.
Read More
So, what is a Christian? This question sparks this week's episode of Chalke Talk where Steve looks at the biblical and historical context of Christian identity and how we've gotten it wrong.
Read More
What happens when we try to stop ourselves from creating God in our own image? This is Steve’s question, leading on from the previous week where we began thinking about what the ‘image of God’ actually means.
Read More
Steve continues to think about the question of loving ourselves, loving others and loving God in a commonly quoted phrase ‘Imago Dei’ or ‘in the image of God.’
Read More
What if the Genesis story isn’t about sin, wrath, guilt, and shame, but actually a testament to God's unwillingness to abandon his creation?
Read More
This week, Steve continues looking at the idea of ‘loving ourselves, loving God and loving others’ in light of the doctrine of original sin. Concerned with the cycle of shame and guilt people are so often unable to break themselves from, Steve questions some of the thinking behind ‘original sin.’
Read More
Carrying on from the previous week, Steve builds on his assertion that Jesus excludes certain parts of the Old Testament in his preaching, such as Joshua or Judges, because they condone violence in the name of God.
Read More