What an amazing few days. There was Yeshua, for the third time, telling us that he is going to be rejected, arrested, suffer greatly, die and then rise. Why does he say that stuff all the time? It is nonsense! None of us really get what he means. He can’t be taken literally most of the time anyway. No doubt it is another parable. I am sure he will explain it when he is ready.  Read More...

For those on the Auckland campus, this week has been a special time of hearing from Dr Dirk Jongkind, the John W. Laing Research Fellow of New Testament Text and Language at Tyndale House and fellow of St. Edmund’s College in Cambridge, England. Dirk is a brilliant thinker, and a vibrant speaker – we have been very blessed. Here is some of Dirk’s story. As you read it, you will sense the hand of God in his life and I pray you are encouraged to “go deeper.”  Read More...

A most interesting storm is brewing in the UK that is of interest to Christians of all flavours. In 2006, Nadia Eweida was suspended from British Airways for wearing a cross. Nurse Shirley Chaplin was similarly banned from working on the wards after refusing to hide the cross she wore on a necklace. The UK Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone has instructed government lawyers to oppose these women as they go to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to fight for their right to wear crosses. The case has serious implications for the issue of wearing religious clothes and symbolism. The debate revolves around Article Nine of the European Convention on Human Rights which states: Read More...

The Napier Equippers Church has taken down their “Jesus Heals Cancer” sign. I recently blogged on this suggesting that the sign was too ambiguous and a potential cause of offense (http://drmarkk.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/jesus-heals-cancer-please-take-it-down.html). I congratulate the church leaders for taking it down – it shows real humility and concern for others.  Read More...

While it would be fool-hardly for me in distant Auckland to express an opinion on the recently announced demolition of the Christchurch Cathedral, it has got me wondering. I feel deeply and will continue to pray for all involved in this situation – it is a tough question, one of many such questions in Christchurch.  Read More...