SIMON PHIPPS

Philosopher Alvin Plantinga called the problem of suffering “the only good objection to God”. The often quoted argument goes:  “if God is all good (all benevolent) then God has the desire to end suffering, and if God is all-powerful (omnipotent) then God has the ability to end suffering. Therefore if God does not end suffering, then God is either not all good, or is not all-powerful, and is therefore not God”. As Christians, we need to be able to answer this objection to God, to enable us to “give a reason for the faith that we have in Christ Jesus” (1 Peter 3:15). To this end, I want to try and answer this question to help anybody who finds the problem of suffering to be a sticking point or an obstacle in their faith (an argument to explain the problem of suffering is called a “theodicy”). To begin with, I want to go back to the beginning of it all and look at God. Who is God and what is God like? It is worth noting here that this argument takes as given the f...

At my church, we are finally about to change our bank account .  It has been a long journey. Changing your bank account is hard. Changing an organisation's bank account is very hard (so many forms!!!!!!!!). I bet you are wondering why any organisation would go through the hassle of making changing their bank a priority. The Kingdom of God Millions of good people give their hard earned money to the Church each week.  Billions of Pounds (or insert your nationalities currency here) are poured into the Church across the globe, and people have one express purpose for doing so – to build the kingdom of God . This looks different for different churches, whether it be to keep the lights on, run feeding programs, debt management programs, buy new equipment or teas and coffees – but they all have a similar theme: To reveal the transformative love of God to the world and to attempt to remake the world in the life-giving, loving way that we know God sees it. What Actua...

Blessed are the peacemakers , for they will be called children of God - Jesus If we are called to be peacemakers, to cultivate peace in our lives, then this must extend to every area of our life - including where our money goes and the things that we consume. This forces us to ask the difficult questions that we try to avoid. Anyone who has seen the film Blood Diamond will know that where our diamonds come from can cause much bloodshed and violence - fuelling destructive wars for selfish gain. This is also true for so many other things that we buy. Our electronics and jewellery most likely contain conflict minerals that are used to fuel civil wars and cause pain for so many people, wreaking havoc on whole societies. This happens because we care more about keeping up with the latest trends and technology than about being peacemakers. Many of the banks that we use make harmful investments with our money that fuel the fires of war. Investments in controv...

We recently passed the 100 year mark since the beginning of World War 1. The media was filled with stories of lives lost and destroyed through this tragic event. In the book of revelation, the final book of the bible we see two riders riding white horses. Each of these riders are identified as conquerers. I believe that we are meant to see these riders as juxtapositions. To notice the similarities, but more so to notice the differences. The first rider is followed by three others, war, injustice, and death. I believe that this first rider stands for Rome (or any other empires / civilisations). It set about to conquer, to win, and usher in the pax romana (the peace of rome). But each of its conquests brought with it war, injustice, and death. The second rider on a white horse is given a distinctive description that marks him out as none other than Christ. He is not accompanied by other riders, he stands alone and victorious. Christ’s methodology for conquering comes in direct con...