The Maltese Cross, or the Christian one?

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Maltese CrossLatin CrossThis post is not really about the visual difference between the Maltese Cross (left) and the shape with a longer lower part, the Latin Cross (right), which is more standard at least in western churches. I could argue that equal-armed crosses like the Maltese Cross are originally pagan, and that only unequal ones like the Latin version are truly Christian. But that is not my point here. Nor is this at all about the modern country of Malta or its inhabitants. But I am using the difference in cross shape as a symbol of a difference between two fundamental theological outlooks which affects the theology of the cross and the atonement.

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UCCF Director: "God never forgives"

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UPDATE 4th July 2007: I am now withdrawing these charges against Cunningham with my apologies. See this post for an explanation.

I interrupt my normal programme to bring you this shocking quote. Yes, the news is going round that Richard Cunningham, director of UCCF, said

God never forgives – he punishes.

Apparently he said this during a talk at the recent Word Alive conference, the same one which is separating from Spring Harvest.

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Maintaining a good witness about the atonement

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In a comment Dave Warnock reminded me of the importance of Christians maintaining a good witness to outsiders as they disagree about the atonement. Dave believes that the split between Spring Harvest, UCCF and the Keswick Convention is a bad witness. In my comment in reply I did not disagree, but noted:

Perhaps here the marketing, if not entirely open and honest, is managing to avoid too much of a bad witness.

In other words, it can only be a good thing in terms of Christian witness that the organisations involved are not publicising their disagreements, but presenting this more positively as an opportunity for God’s work to be broadened.

But in that case perhaps those of us who are blogging about the split, such as Adrian, Dave and myself, are being the bad witnesses by opening up this issue in public, by washing Christian dirty linen in a public forum. Should we keep quiet?

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Gun control: the time for it came 2000 years ago

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Ben Witherington wonders if, following the tragic massacre in Virginia, the time has come for Christians in the USA to support gun control.

From my UK perspective I simply cannot imagine why any Christian could possibly fail to support gun control. This is an idea whose time should have come decades or centuries ago. Indeed it came two millennia ago, when Jesus told his disciples to put away their swords.

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Towards a better model of the atonement

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Theologians have studied the atonement for centuries, indeed for nearly two millennia, and have put forward a number of different models of it, all or at least most of which are helpful to some extent, but none of which is a complete and adequate description of how God in Jesus dealt with the problem of human sin.

So it would be presumptuous of me to put forward anything as a new model of the atonement. More probably what I am saying here is the same as or very similar to what someone else has put forward before. But I am not consciously dependent on anyone else here. And I think the model I am presenting here, while certainly not more complete and adequate than any other model, may help us all to understand the atonement better.

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Steve Chalke, Spring Harvest, UCCF and the Atonement

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Adrian Warnock seems to have scooped the interesting news that Spring Harvest is breaking its partnership with UCCF (the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) and the Keswick Convention because they cannot agree about Steve Chalke and what he wrote about the atonement. Dave Warnock, no relation, seems to consider this totally bad news. But in my first comment on Adrian’s post, I actually welcomed this split. So, what is happening here?

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TTLB Ecosystem Confusion

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I seem to have been evolving quickly through the TTLB Ecosystem, which seems to be a fun way of ranking blogs. Only a couple of days ago I was still on the bottom rung as an “Insignificant Microbe”. But by yesterday I had jumped five places up N.Z. Bear’s evolutionary ladder to “Slimy Mollusc”. And today I am one step higher still, a “Flippery Fish”. Why the sudden change?

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Best Bible poll; British and American Bible differences

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For the first time for a long time I have actually posted something on this blog every day for a week. That was not a deliberate decision so much as an indication that I have not been too busy with other things. Next week may well be busier, but I will try to keep posting at least several times a week.

But today’s post is only a pointer to posts elsewhere, because that is what I have been busy with today: I have posted twice to Better Bibles Blog.

First, I posted about the Amazon.com UnSpun Best English Bible Translation poll. This gives you the chance to vote for which Bible translations you like – and don’t like. Follow the link to cast your vote.

Then I posted something which I had meant to write for some time, on British and American Bible version differences. I have found some differences between American and Anglicised editions, in more than just spelling, apart from the well known one between “rooster” and “cock”. Again, follow the link to read more.