A student says to you: “To be a Christian is to be a forgiven sinner, no more no less” How  does your understanding of adoption affect how you would respond to this question? Being a Christian has not just to do with justification, but also adoption and sanctification.  A forgiven sinner means you’ve been justified - it sounds very distant, legalistic. Though justification is necessary for someone to stand right before God, it isn’t the only privilege of being a Christian. We are called righteous through Jesus’ sacrifice, but we are also adopted and called sons/ heirs of God. Adoption also has legalistic dimension, the part where we were redeemed from a cursed  way of life - to being in line to the inheritance of God’s kingdom and having security that this is going to happen. We understand that we don’t work to be a son/ heir, but believe and enter the family with a sure inheritance. This point about the security we have is the one that stuck out the most to me as...

What naturally comes to mind when you think about who Jesus is? How has your understanding of who He is grown? how does your Union with Christ change the way you approach your everyday discipleship?  Naturally when I think about Jesus, I think of Him in so many ways, depending on what truth I’m needing to hear at the time.  It reminds me of this rap I used to sing when I was younger:  (from Casting Crowns’ song He Didn’t Die in Vain) Messiah, Creator Baby born to be our Saviour Father, Redeemer Hope of glory, friend of sinners All knowing, all powerful Forgiving, oh so faithful Our helper, our maker Living stone, our mediator Sinless high priest Messenger, prince of peace, Bread of life, Holy One Counsellor, Beloved Son king of ages, King of kings Ruler over everything Emmanuel, Cornerstone Morning star, and Lord of Lords Lamb of God, He is Risen Unto us a Son is given Mighty One of Righteousness Beautiful in holiness Chief Shepherd, one true v...

Examine the nuances and caveats displayed in Bignell’s four-part blog post , exploring the possible background concerns driving his argumentation, and discuss to what extent you agree with his conclusions Bignell opens his first post with rhetorical questions of self-doubt and objections of critics to the artist’s profession. These include: is it worth it? Is it worth the pain? The frustration? The tedium of practising scales, the grind of auditions, the constant sense of being unappreciated, the nagging suspicion that you have spent the best years of your life learning to do something no one really wants to pay you to do..? “Why not just give up and get a real job?”... Why are you making art? Bignell then notices how artists seemingly need and look for justification in response to these critics, but his third blog post ends in agreement with Hans Rookmaker’s title ‘Art Needs No Justification’, stating that there is no harm in doing art simply because you love it. At thi...

How would you reply if a student asks you this question? It is right to say that Jesus suffered an innocent death on the Cross, and in the place of all, me or you. You are also correct in saying that the cross was a punishment of some sort, though as you stated not a punishment for Jesus’ error, as He was innocent. Scripture tells us that the cross was a punishment for the sin of the world that justified sinners before God (Romans 5:9). However the punishment of Christ’s death on the Cross cannot be considered as God abusing His child, as we see through Scripture and commentaries, the Christian understanding is that Jesus Christ did not let His human body die begrudgingly (as if it were a circumstance out of His control), but willingly, out of choice and compassion for us, His creation. He was the Word who created us who also chose to save us. The majority of what I base my discussion on is found in St. Athanasius’ argument and writing On the Incarnation ( De Incarnatione Verbi Dei...

Elective Study - Question A A music student in your CU / MN group emails you out of the blue asking to go for a coffee because they would value your advice on their future. They came to music college / university convinced they wanted to be an orchestral player, but they’re wondering whether in fact they’d be more useful to God by going into ministry What advice would you give? What things would you try to cover? What questions would you ask them? To which passages of the Bible might you take them? I’m encouraged that your motive for potentially changing careers is because you want to be as useful to God as possible. That is a good thing to want. Though I want to question your idea of what actually makes a person more or less useful to God, and what the Bible has to say on it. I don’t think I can think of anywhere that specifies Christians are more useful if in ministry roles than if in secular jobs. One passage that may be used in defence of that view could be Matthew ...

Core Study Response Four: Seminar titled ‘Creation: Made to be Human’ Rewind back 3 years ago, when I was helping out on a cereal bar with Kingston CU (the idea was that passer-byers came with a question and we gave them an answer and free cereal in return); there came a young man enquiring about my view on evolution. In attempt to fast-forward to the good stuff of the gospel, my reply was something along the lines of ‘well if I’m honest, I don’t think there’s a point in discussing evolution because it’s claimed to have happened so long ago we cant check, and I dont think it matters to our lives whether the world came about in a million years or in five days.’ I remember the conversation distinctly because of its abruptness. After my reply this young man sternly said ‘I think this is where our conversation comes to an end’ and walked away. I later tried to find him and apologise for my miscommunication, but I really did hold to that belief for a very long time. So, when I first he...