James's Weblog

From 1984 to 1988 I was fortunate to attend St Andrew's School, Turi, in the highlands of Kenya. The school had a pleasant climate. At an altitude of c. 8,000 ft, it was often still very warm, but the cooler nights meant that the school had what we used to call "real grass". Contrast much of the lower lying parts of Kenya, where the grass is brown in the dry season and so always has a wiry texture. The school aimed for an admission that was a third African, a third European and a third Asian, making for a thoroughly cosmopolitan education.

Angels don't normally have names in the New Testament. Why does Luke tell us that it was the angel Gabriel who appeared to Mary? Let's think this through.

Christian, I'd like to ask you a question: When did you last change your mind?

Last week I wrote a post looking at the question of remarriage after divorce. That may not be a topic that interests you, and it was quite a long post, so maybe you didn't read it. But it was an example where I changed my mind on a topic, and I could give others.

It makes me want to ask the question: If you are a Christian, how often do you change your mind on something? What is healthy?

With the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, people are discussing remarriage after divorce. Why do some clergy allow this and some not? Does this undermine the teaching that marriage is for life? Let's try and think clearly.

This coming Sunday is Remembrance Sunday. Once again, I find myself planning the sermon for Remembrance Sunday. Here is what happens on Remembrance Sunday here, and what I try to do when it comes to a sermon.

Premier Christian Radio just posted a question on Facebook:

A quarter of Church of England services do not have a single child in the congregation, increasing fears of a gradual ‘extinction’.

I hit an annoying trouble using the "Stroke Outline" feature of Photoshop Element 14. I then solved it. So I'll share it here for the benefit of others who encounter the same issue.

Stroke Outline

"Stroke outline" allows you to do something quite simple: You can colour in the outline of a selection. You can choose the colour, the thickness in pixels, and whether the outline will be inside the selected area, outside, or will centre on the border.

Daniel chapters 2-7 are written in Aramaic; the rest of Daniel (chapter 1, and chapters 8-12) are in Hebrew.

The most obvious way to divide Daniel into two is to note that Daniel chapters 1-6 contain stories about Daniel, whereas chapters 7-12 contain visions seen by Daniel.

I'll just park this here for future reference.

Sometimes you see writers say that certain parts of the Bible are written in the "apocalyptic" style of writing.

Recognising the "genre" of part of the Bible can be very important when it comes to reading it properly. For instance, parables and historical narrative communicate in very different ways; you'd completely misread the gospels if you confused them.

“There seems to be one fundamental law of a very solemn kind which touches this question of judgement; and when I turn to the ancient prophets and recall the limited area of history they had at their disposal for making their inductions, I am always surprised at the curious aptness with which they seem to have found the formula in this connection — a formula which they put in a special position of priority.