ALL THE ESSENTIALS

"I am quite satisfied as to the genuineness of the defendants' beliefs (Christianity) and it is, I have no doubt, one which others also hold."  'It is a very clear example of how social attitudes have changed over the years for  it is not so very long ago that these beliefs of the defendants would have been those  accepted as normal by society at large. 'Now it is the other way around."  The words of Judge Andrew Rutherford (JAR) in awarding costs of £3600 against Peter and Hazelmary Bull for refusing unmarried homosexuals and heterosexuals double room bookings in their home based guest house. As devout Christians, the Bulls believe that they are accountable to God for whatever occurs under their roof, hence the long standing policy not to let double room to unmarried persons. JAR seems to say, yes you're beautiful and admirable people but unfortunately that which you call your conviction or belief or faith is archaic. Christianity is no longer relev...

At the center of the Christian faith is the conviction that there is a God of power who is able to do exceedingly abundant things in nature and in history. This conviction is stressed over and over again in the Old and New Testaments. The God whom we worship is not a weak and incompetent God. God is able to beat back gigantic waves of opposition and to bring low prodigious mountains of evil. This ringing testimony of the Christian faith is that God is able. There are those who seek to convince us that only humanity is able. Their attempts to substitute a human centered universe for a God centered universe is not new. It had its modern beginnings in the Renaissance and subsequently in the Age of Reason, when some people gradually came to feel that God was an unnecessary item on the agenda of life. In these periods others questioned whether God was any longer relevant. The laboratory began to replace the church, and the scientist became a substitute for the prophet. Not a few joined Sw...