Category Archives: Spirituality

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June 29, 2014

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Addiction, Porn Talk, Sex, Spirituality

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7 (Alternative) Reasons To Stop Looking At Porn.

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Much of religion is focused on what we shouldn’t do and why we shouldn’t do it. Undoubtedly there are things that we do to ourselves and others that cause pain and hurt. But is living in the constant fear of messing up and what that might mean, a good and free way of living for a Christian. There is a difference between not doing A so that B won’t happen (fear driven behavior) and choosing to live in another way, so that this will happen (Love driven behavior).

When it comes to addressing issues like porn addiction a more helpful approach is to move away from highlighting the shame that it might cause you and your community and instead focusing on how bringing it to light will bring life and joy and fullness instead.

Love always trumps shame.

So as a compliment to a recent blog post I read by Tim Challies on why you should stop looking at porn I want to offer some thoughts on how we should think about sin and 7 alternative reasons to not look at porn. Continue reading →

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June 17, 2014

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Spirituality

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Do we really need Church?

There is a well known saying in Christian circles that the church is not a building but the people.

A few years ago when we were part of a new church plant in Belfast that met in a pub, people gave us weird looks when we told them where we gathered. Before that, when we met in a house, people who came to check it out would ask me “so what Church do you belong to?”… “Eh, this one” I would reply kind of confused.

Ensue awkward silence. Continue reading →

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June 5, 2014

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Politics, Spirituality

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Pastor McConnell, racism and the Good Samaritan.

When I read my friend Gemma’s tweet asking her followers how they felt about Northern Ireland, I was hard pressed to think of anything positive to say.

Her tweet, coming off the back of remarks by a Pastor in Belfast that were derogatory to Muslims and Islam, left me wondering if there was anything good I could say about my home country. Continue reading →

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May 21, 2014

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Spirituality, theology

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When being right about God means we’re wrong.

It’s funny how we use the phrase “God’s ways or understanding is bigger than our ways or understanding” when we try and pigeonhole God. It’s mostly used when people don’t know how to creatively answer questions about predestination or when it feels like God lets evil run rampant so much.

It’s also used when people question some of the parts of God that we find tricky to digest.

Yet the very people that use it the most when coming up against views of God can’t seem to let go of their own ideas of who God is and why He does or does not do things. After all, an understanding of God which states that some people were born just to go to Hell with no choice in the matter, because God has already decided, can’t see that perhaps this too is a human understanding of God. Continue reading →

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May 9, 2014

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Addiction, Porn Talk, Sex, Spirituality

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Look at porn?….Why not: Redefining sexuality for the church.

Everyone knows that it can prove very dangerous to mess up on grammar. You can really give the wrong impression with an ill placed comma or full stop. Or in the case of the title of this blog, a question mark.

 

You could read the title of this blog in two ways. Firstly, you could read it as a invitation to look at porn and a response to take that invitation up on its offer.

The other way you could read it is as an invitation, followed by a response detailing a few reasons why you wouldn’t or shouldn’t look at porn.lets eat grandma

I’ve definitely asked myself the very same question and answered in both ways, countless times in my life. But I think a question like this and how we respond shows us a lot of why churches are ill equipped to talk about porn or sex with their congregations. It’s not so much that it’s a bad question or even unhelpful, but rather not the best way to start conversations around sex. Continue reading →

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May 3, 2014

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Spirituality, theology, Uncategorized

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Evangelical Alliance and Oasis Trust. How we move on together.

????????Yesterday, Evangelical Alliance announced that they were parting ways with Oasis Trust as an EA member. You can read the press releases from both organizations here and here, respectively.

On the face of it, the reason given probably doesn’t give a full story of discussions that took place between the two and the months of prayer that EA have put into making this decision. Continue reading →

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April 17, 2014

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Spirituality

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What do you worship?

We’re all the Rich young ruler. We’re all unwilling to give up that which is in our way of truly being alive. Hoffman-ChristAndTheRichYoungRuler

What do we worship? Do we worship God or do we worship ourselves? Do we worship being right about God or about theology? Because if we exclude people because they think differently than us, that’s exactly what we’re doing. And if we do indeed worship God, why? There is enough pain in our lives to know that there is often not much for us to be grateful for. The unexpected accident, the job loss, the miscarriage, the husband announcing to his wife he had cheated on her.

So why should we worship God when He allows so much pain in our lives? Continue reading →