Category Archives: Articles

Am I wasting my time studying 2,000 year-old texts?

Tuesday, 12 January 2010 – 11:49 am

Someone called Bill left a comment on my previous post. Bill asks a good question, namely this: Is it worthwhile for us to spend significant amounts of time studying the Bible, the newest parts of which were written over 1,900 years ago? Yes! In every way. Why do I believe this?

By BetterThanSacrifice | Also posted in Bible, Christianity, Religion, Salvation | Comments (2)

An exercise in paying close attention to the text – should elders be married and have children?

Sunday, 10 January 2010 – 5:52 pm

I’m guessing that your church’s elders/pastors/shepherds/overseers/bishops – Biblically, all the same office – are not required to have children, right? Given that opening question and the title of this article, you might be expecting me now to try and convince you that they should. Nope, that’s not it. I am going to make the argument [...]

By BetterThanSacrifice | Also posted in Bible, Christianity, Religion | Comments (26)

A listener’s guide to the pulpit

Monday, 4 January 2010 – 4:16 pm

‘Most of the preachers were dynamic, engaging, interesting and even entertaining. Most of their sermons were terrible.’ I’ve just come across this magnificent article (courtesy of Chris Rosebrough from Pirate Christian Radio), written by Todd Wilken of the Issues, Etc. radio program. It clearly shows the difference between a good and bad sermon. A listener’s [...]

By BetterThanSacrifice | Also posted in Christianity, Religion, Resources | Comments (4)

How to diagnose a sermon

Monday, 21 September 2009 – 4:12 pm

The excellent Issues, Etc* radio programme has this very handy diagnostic for reviewing sermons: How often is Jesus mentioned? Keep a simple running tally. It’s a problem if He is mentioned only a few times, or tucked in at the beginning or the end. If He is mentioned, even only once, go on to step [...]

By BetterThanSacrifice | Also posted in Christianity, Religion | Comments (3)

Does God have two wills?

Saturday, 22 March 2008 – 4:25 pm

If it is true that the Bible teaches that God unconditionally (i.e. not on the basis of foreseen faith) chooses those who are to be saved, and it does, does the Bible contradict itself when it says that God ‘desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’ (1 [...]

By BetterThanSacrifice | Also posted in Bible, Christianity, Religion | Leave a Comment

Saying a prayer doesn’t make you a Christian

Friday, 4 January 2008 – 5:40 pm

A big lie in evangelical circles is that you can be saved by saying a prayer. But it is not what we do that saves us, it’s what God does for us. This is comforting; if our salvation depended upon our work, then we would be lost indeed. Our obedience to God is evidence of [...]

By BetterThanSacrifice | Also posted in Bible, Christianity, Religion, Salvation, Video | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a Comment

Why ‘Better Than Sacrifice’?

Friday, 4 January 2008 – 4:11 pm

In 1 Samuel 15, we read God’s instruction to King Saul to punish the city of Amalek by utterly destroying it. Not one man, woman, child, ox, sheep, camel or donkey was to be spared. Saul carries out the command – almost. But, he does not execute Agag, king of the Amalekites, and he spares [...]

By BetterThanSacrifice | Also posted in Bible, Christianity, Religion, Salvation | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

New year, new weblog

Wednesday, 2 January 2008 – 9:52 pm

Yet another blog. An exercise in vanity? Perhaps, but I hope that it will eventually prove to be something a little more than that. Take a look at the this post to find out what this website is all about.

By BetterThanSacrifice | Leave a Comment