iChaplain

Photo by Jon Tyson. Recently, I heard a discussion about British values and Christian values. The assumption seemed to be that they were largely the same. It made me pause and ask:  what are Christian values, exactly? Most people would mention kindness, fairness, compassion, respect, or tolerance. These are admirable qualities, and Christianity has undoubtedly helped shape them. But they are not uniquely Christian. More importantly, Christianity is not primarily a set of values. It is a response to the living God revealed in Jesus Christ. So when we think about Christian values and describe Britain as a "Christian nation", what do we mean? Do we mean a nation influenced by Christianity, or a nation made up of people who follow Jesus? Those are not the same thing. Jesus did not invite people to adopt a culture or defend a tradition. He invited them to follow Him: "Come, follow me." (Matthew 4:19) Perhaps this is where the distinction between Christianity and Christen...

Have you ever discovered that something you've believed for years isn't actually true? Not because someone lied to you. Not because you weren't paying attention. Simply because you'd heard it repeated so many times that you assumed it must be true.  That happens with Jesus more than we might realise. Over the years, we've attached all sorts of sayings to Him that sound spiritual, inspirational, and even biblical. Phrases like  "Follow your heart,"  "Believe in yourself,"  "Be true to yourself," "Everything happens for a reason,"  "God helps those who help themselves,"  "Money is the root of all evil," have become part of our cultural vocabulary. Many people assume they came from Jesus or at least from the Bible. The problem is that Jesus never said any of them.  In fact, one of them isn't even an accurate Bible quotation. The Bible doesn't say, "Money is the root of all evil." It says, ...