by Andy Roland | Mar 25, 2023 | Religion
As we look around at the world – both the world outside us and the world within us, we may find ourselves confronting not one problem but two: the problem of sin and the problem of good and evil. THE PROBLEM OF SIN Does it mean anything? When Calvin...
by Andy Roland | Feb 20, 2023 | Post-modern times, Religion
CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS THE NUMBERS GAME ‘ The Lobster If you want to cook a live lobster, it’s important not to throw it into boiling water. It will then struggle desperately to escape. You put it into a pan of cold water and slowly increase the heat. The...
by Andy Roland | Jan 21, 2023 | Religion
THE REALM OF LIGHT To die, to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream; for in that sleep of death what dreams may come must give us pause. (‘Hamlet’, Shakespeare) Medical death In 1981 50 states of the United States adopted the Uniform Determination of...
by Andy Roland | Jan 20, 2023 | Easter, Jesus, Post-modern times, Religion
THE PSYCHIC REALM From ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, Good Lord deliver us. (Traditional Scottish prayer) As we think about death and what if anything might come after we need neither blind belief nor blind...
by Andy Roland | Jan 1, 2023 | Christmas, Newsletter, Religion
Hell I learnt a lot about Hell this month. I bought Bart Ehrman’s ‘A History of the Afterlife’ on Kindle. Long, scholarly, but accessible. I started it at the end of October. In December I checked out ’hell’ in other religions, thanks to...
by Andy Roland | Dec 19, 2022 | Advent, Bible, Church, Church’s Year, Religion
THE HISTORY OF HELL The Four Last Things I knew a priest went to buy some tobacco from a small tobacconist near St Paul’s on Christmas Eve. All the other shops were blazing with lights but not this one. The priest asked if he was not putting up any...
