“Ladies and Gentleman, the captain has just switched on the seatbelt sign in anticipation of upcoming moderate turbulence.” A string of words never followed by a cheery, “enjoy it!” When the bumps start I instinctively look out the window, just to make sure the wings are still there. I’m suddenly rudely aware of the extent that I’m not in control. Additionally, the thought occurs to me that if airplane disasters are simply statistics then every flight is a reduction in my odds.

So just how dangerous is turbulence? To answer that question, I turned to that master of knowledge, the Discovery Channel. Three words: airplane disaster documentaries. I was hooked. Human error, mechanical failure, unpredictable weather – I soaked it all in. You may think it an odd way to deal with undesirable high-altitude stress. Maybe so. My rationale was that the more I understood the more I would feel OK (as if my knowing that human error was the number one cause of airplane crashes was going to help me when I was strapped in to seat 49J with as much command over the elements as an Englishman with his BBQ hoping for that “perfect summer evening”).

My obsession with these re-enacted disasters did however bring some consolation. Through these dramas I learnt that airplane crashes are taken very seriously. They are investigated at great depth with the knowledge gained from the studies used to make future flights safer. As I learnt about the resulting developments in airplane technology my fascination with the complexity of airplanes grew and grew. I am in total awe of how advanced these modern vehicles are.

Men have sat in rooms and thought and schemed and sketched and calculated and come out with things like Concorde. Absolutely incredible. Airplane designers have my total respect. Airplane economy-section planners on the other hand … I digress.

As with my marvels at airplane technology I am profoundly in awe and wowed by scientific discoveries. As I write, NASA’s Martian rover, aptly named ‘Curiosity’, is scrambling around the Red Planet at the beginning of its two-year mission to see if conditions were ever suitable for life. Utterly fascinating.

Science describes the world we live in. It unravels mysteries that stun us with their complexity and beauty. Now, some have said, that with all of our acquired collective scientific understanding there is no need today for God to explain things. We can comprehend our world now in ways we couldn’t possibly fathom a century ago and therefore science and knowledge have replaced faith and superstition.

But science is what science is, a description of the way things are. Science relates theories and laws and provides a deeper understanding of what is physically there. Science enhances my understanding of the greatness of the makeup of the world but to conflate my knowledge of the way things work with the question of the existence of God, who explains why things exist, is to make a serious category mistake.

Being in increasing wonder of the way it all works only serves to enhance my utter awe of God. John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, writing in the Times put it this way, “The more Newton understood of the mathematical structure of the universe, the more he admired the creative genius of God, not the less.”

Science is the poetry we use to articulate the genius of God expressed in the creation of the universe. It is a language to explain what exists, not an explanation to the question of why it exists.  Just as understanding how a well-designed plane keeps me safe at 36,000 feet goes no way to understanding what I’m doing in the plane in the first place.

This article first appeared in the Nov/Dec edition of Sorted Magazine.

“Christianity? There are some good points to it, but I just can’t believe that one faith is superior to others. That view is intolerant.” You know the idea, it has been said in many ways. Christianity, it is understood, is basically unfair because it says that everyone else is wrong. Oh, the arrogance of this, the intolerance to other ideas and people!

In Britain today there are many people of different backgrounds, from all types of races and people groups. We can enjoy just about any food from around the world and explore just about any belief without ever leaving these fair shores. The world has come to this country and along with it has come a wonderful variety of customs, traditions, and of course, religions.

Unity in all of this diversity is greatly prized. Ideas which threaten the peace are pounced upon quickly. We can of course agree, discrimination against individuals can and should be fought against. We applaud the efforts of organisations such as FIFA to eradicate racism, a horrible and cruel practice. We celebrate equality for women in the work place as noble and worthy. But does it mean that we have to accept all religions as having equal weight? Is it discrimination to say that just one religion is correct?

Essentially this argument boils down to truth claims. When someone says that they don’t like Christianity because it is intolerant they are making a claim about truth. “I don’t like your exclusivity. I don’t like that you say that Jesus is the only way.” But as we examine those very statements being made we realise that the person making them is asserting an exclusive view too! The person who doesn’t like Christianity’s truth claims is in fact saying that their view of truth – that many viewpoints are equally valid – is the right way, the only way, to proceed. In fact, exclusivity is OK – it just must be this type of exclusivity. But hold on, within this belief this person must grant Christianity’s view too. It all starts to unravel somewhat.

The question in fact reveals that Christianity – or any religion – can’t be written off simply for making exclusive claims. All religions and ways of thinking hold some kind of exclusivity at some point. What we must do is investigate the claims that Christianity makes. Do they stack up? Does the evidence fit? Does Christianity make more sense of the world than other religions and belief systems? What we really need to do is investigate, as Alister McGrath says, what Christianity is all about. This is what we will begin to look at in future columns.

This article first appeared in the Sep/Oct edition of Sorted Magazine.

Think about everything you do for God. Ever feel pretty good about it? Ever feel a bit annoyed when God doesn’t seem to bless you enough for what you do? I mean you probably give time, money and more to God right? And that’s a good thing yes? But what if God doesn’t want your begrudging offerings. What if God wants you?

Before Jesus was gave the ultimate sacrifice, humans made animal sacrifices. Why? To make themselves right with God. To atone. Who were these sacrifices for? I always assumed they were for God, but the wages of sin are death not sacrifice, and throughout the Old Testament (and repeated in the New by Jesus) God states that He is not happy with sacrifice, but instead desires mercy.

So what’s the issue? I think ultimately sacrifice becomes selfish. We start to think of what we give and forget why we give. This happened with the Israelites, who instead of sacrificing the right things tried to use sacrifice as a way of getting rid of their less valuable livestock. A deformed sheep they can spare but the healthy firstborn? That will cost, that will have implications.

And so we think about how much we sacrifice for God, how much we do for Him, whether it is enough to get away with, whether it costs too much. Our sense of justice skews towards ourselves – is it fair that I give this much ? We see what we do for God in terms of sacrifice but how accurate is this? Does it really compare to the sacrifice Jesus made so we could have new life? Isn’t there a better way?

Matt 9:13 ‘ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.’

Great Britain sit second in the Paralympics medals table with 15 gold medals after the first four days of competition.

Britain’s David Weir wrapped up the weekend’s action, surging down the final straight to win the men’s 5000m T54 final.

Alan Oliveira upset the odds as well as his opponents in the men’s 200m T44 final, overhauling Oscar Pistorius in the home straight. Pistorius was unhappy with the length Oliveira’s blades, saying “we are not running a fair race here”.

Anthony Kappes and Craig MacLean won beat fellow Brits Neil Fachie and Barney Storey in the men’s individual B sprint final. In the pool, Jessica-Jane Applegate in the women’s 200m freestyle S14.

Robin van Persie scored a hattrick to rescue the points for Manchester United against Southampton at the St Mary’s stadium.

Morgan Schneiderlin had put the Saints ahead after van Persie had cancelled out Rickie Lambert’s opener and the Dutchman scored two more in the dying minutes after missing a penalty midway through the second half.

Arsenal finally scored their first goals of the season in a 2-0 against Liverpool at Anfield. Summer signings Lukas Podolski and Santi Cazorla were on the scoresheet for Arsenal.

Hatem Ben Arfa hit a wonderful strike to earn a point for Newcastle against a much-improved Aston Villa side who were put ahead by Ciaran Clark.

On Saturday, Manchester City eased to a 3-1 win over QPR. Spurs draw thanks to a late Robert Snodgrass equaliser for Norwich after Moussa Dembele had put the Londoners in front on debut.

Jenson Button eased to victory in the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Sebatian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen. Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were both forced to retire after Romain Grosjean caused a huge pile-up at the first corner.

England regained their one-day world number one ranking from South Africa on Friday and followed that up with a six-wickets win at Lords yesterday to take a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Ian Bell scored 88 in a run chase which the home side managed to wrap up with more than three overs to spare.

Laura Robson was finally knocked out of the US Open 6-4 6-4 by defending Sam Stosur. Robson had beaten Kim Clijsters and Li Na to reach the fourth round.

Andy Murray won three tie-breaks to beat Feliciano Lopez 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-5) 4-6 7-6 (7-4) and make it into the second week at Flushing Meadows.

Champions Harlequins scored 29 unanswered points to come back from 40-13 down to win 42-40 against Wasps on the first day of the Premiership season

Exeter registered the most convincing victoy of the weekend, beating Sale 43-6 and top the table at the earliest of stages.

Wigan came back from 26-0 down to beat Hull KR 42-36 to secure the Super League Leaders’ Shield.

Hull went ahead through tries from Craig Hall, Lincoln Withers, Ben Galea and Jake Webster had all scored but Brett Finch and Darrell Goulding scored to make it 26-12 before half-time before mounting a superb fightback in the second period.

Defeat left Hull KR out of the running for the final playoff place. That was eventually won by Wakefield, who beat Widnes 22-18 as Bradford also were thrashed 70-6 at home to Hull.

I am a Christian. I believe in a magic sky clown that makes everything happen. Everything that happens is His will. Sometimes bad things happen, but that’s because He moves in mysterious ways – says so in the Bible.

I believe that this magic sky clown came to earth as a Jewish Zombie to tell us to obey Him. I believe that if we don’t believe in Him and obey his 10 Commandments, then we will be eternally punished in a lake of fire by devils with horns – says so in the Bible.

Beyond that, I don’t believe in Science. I don’t like words such as evidence of proof or logic. I have Faith. I’m happy with not knowing.

I don’t think they should teach evolution in school. I’m a Christian and therefore a creationist, and I believe that the world was created 6000 years ago with the appearance of age. Any so-called science that seems to contradict that is merely a test of faith from God. Don’t get me started on dinosaurs.

In addition, I hate the gays. I call them ‘the gays’. They will burn because they are gay. Same with Muslims. I don’t like Muslims. I don’t like anybody who disagrees with me. Because I know I’m right. I believe I have all the answers.

I’m a good person because I’m a Christian. If you’re not a Christian, you’re not a good person and, more than that, you can’t really understand what it means to be good. Only Christians can truly understand morality. I’m better than you.

You should just believe in God. Don’t think about it too much. Just believe, and come to church. You should do what I do and use religion as a crutch. Says so in the Bible.

_____

All the above statements are obviously moronic, but all of them are genuine accusations I’ve had thrown at me by friends. We are boundary setting at this early stage in our journey, and it’s probably important to lay out what we’re trying to do with this apologetics strand.

Some people are very anti-apologetics. The main objection raised is that nobody can be argued into heaven – that it requires God’s spirit to convert people. Now, that’s entirely true about the Holy Spirit, but it’s also a cop out. The paragraphs above show just how much misunderstanding exists about the Christian faith in our culture – a culture that labels itself as ‘enlightened’ about such things. Apologetics shouldn’t exist to argue anybody into anything. It should exist to help break down some of the intellectual barriers that people build up between themselves and Jesus. For example, if you are of the opinion that science has totally disproved God or that there’s no way that a good God could send people to hell, then you could have a vision of Jesus and it might not make any impact on you whatsoever – you’d simply find a way to dismiss it. The DS (Demolition Squad) has been set up to blow apart some of the misconceptions and overturn the dismissals.

Apologetics is massively biblical. Both Elijah and Paul are seen debating with people of rival beliefs about the nature and reality of God. 1 Peter says this: Always be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect. Always, Reason, Gentleness, Respect: If we ever develop a Demolition Squad sigil, maybe that could be our motto? It’s better than ‘God Hates Fags’, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The New Testament does not distinguish between apologetics and evangelism as though they were different activities. Little enough is said about “the evangelist”, but not a mention is made of “the apologist”! They had one approach in evangelism and its central feature was two-way dialogue. They listened seriously to what people were saying. They engaged with the cultural world of their hearers. They tried to understand their difficulties. Tuning in and finding their cultural and intellectual level, they set out to demolish opposing arguments before presenting the gospel in a convincing way, in terms their hearers could understand.

So that’s what we’re about. We’re just about ready to get started, I think….

There is a man who stands in the town centre. He has done it for years. This photo is his latest sign.

What do you think? I mean, technically he’s not wrong is he? But is it the best emphasis given all the richness there is in God? Do we want to see half-hearted converts just hedging their bets in case the end of the world does appear sooner than they hoped?

Throughout the Bible we see God state that He desires mercy over sacrifice. Jesus even repeats this mantra to the Pharisees, imploring them to learn what it means. What’s more merciful – to scare people into the kingdom? Or to remind them of alternative ’100% guaranteed “Biblical facts”? Like whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Like the fact that in Jesus we are new creations. Like faith, hope and love?

Liverpool recovered from last weekend’s opening day defeat to West Brom to draw 2-2 with champions Manchester City at Anfield, despite gifting their opponents both of their goals.

Martin Skrtel, who had put the home side ahead with a bullet header in the first half, played the ball straight into the path of Carlos Tevez when attempting a pass back to his goalkeeper and Tevez calmly rounded Reina to score City’s second equaliser.

Their first was put in by Yaya Toure who capitalised on poor control in the box by Martin Kelly to score from close range. Luis Suarez regained the lead for Liverpool minutes later with a free-kick before Skrtel’s error gave City a lifeline.

Arsenal’s slow start to the season continued at home to Stoke on Sunday. The match finished 0-0 with neither side posing much of an attacking threat as Arsenal still seek their first goal of the season.

Robin van Persie marked his home debut with a goal as Manchester United beat Fulham 3-2. Wayne Rooney left the field on a stretcher with a gash to the leg which could keep him out for four weeks.

Eden Hazard’s great start to his time at Chelsea continued against Newcastle. His side won 2-0 and Hazard scored a penalty and set up Fernando Torres for his side’s second goal.

Hamphire won the FL t20 title for the second time in three years with a 10-run victory over Yorkshire on Saturday.

Yorkshire were unable to match Hampshire’s score of 150-6, despite David Miller hitting five sixes as part of an unbeaten 72 from 46 balls.

Jonny bairstow was the star of Yorkshire’s semi-final against Sussex, scoring 68 not out as part of his side’s score of 172-6. Sussex fell short by 36 runs.

Hampshire beat Somerset by six wickets in their semi-final, knocking off their opponents’ score of 125 runs with an over to spare.

Warrington won their third Challenge Cup in four years against Leeds at Wembley.

Tries from Joel Monaghan and Trent Waterhouse gave Warrington a 12-10 lead at half-time and Chris Riley, Tyrone McCarthy and Ryan Atkins went over in the second half as they stretched their lead.

Ian Kirke had scored for Leeds in the first half, and Kallum Watkins added two scores late in the second half but they never put Warrington’s victory in doubt.

Paul Lawrie won the Johnny Walker Championship at Gleneagles on Sunday, four shots ahead of second-placed Brett Rumford.

All eyes were on Nicolas Colsaerts, who needed a op two finish to force his way into Europe’s Ryder Cup team at the expense of Martin Kaymer but he will have to rely on a wildcard if he is to make it into Jose Mari Olazabal’s team.

Colsaerts is favourite for one of Olazabal’s wildcards along with Ian Poulter but they face competition from Padraig Harrington.

After a wholesome fortnight of Olympic sport, the juggernaut that is Premier League football rolled back into town as if it had never been away with the start of the 2012/13 season.

Yesterday champions Manchester City came through a sticky second-half against Southampton, winning 3-2 after goals from Ricky Lambert and Steven Davis had put Saints ahead in their first top flight game for seven years.

Chelsea turned in a below-par performance but still managed to beat Wigan 2-0 with new boy Eden Hazard picking up both assists on his debut.

Steve Clarke’s West Brom side gave a 3-0 beating to the team who sacked him as assistant manager at the end of last season, in what was a tough opening day for new Liverpool boss Brendan Rogers.

Daniel Agger was sent off for a trip in front of goal and although that penalty was missed, Peter Odemwingie put away a second with Zoltan Gera and Romelu Lukaku finding the net either side of his penalty.

Swansea and Fulham both handed out 5-0 thrashings, to QPR and Norwich respectively.

South Africa are on course to take the world number one test ranking from England in the third test at Lord’s.

After the visitors’ built a solid second innings score of 351, thanks in part to Hashim Amla’s 121, Vernon Philander dismissed Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook both lbw. England finished the day on 16/2 and require 330 more runs to win.

Bradford Bulls reclaimed their place in the Super League playoff places with a comfortbale 34-12 win away at Huddersfield.

The Bulls had dropped out of the playoff positions after they were docked six points for entering into administration but returned to eighth place as Hull KR lost to Wakefield in another dramatic win for the Wildcats.

Paul Sykes kicked a last-minute drop goal to win the match for Wakefield in a repeat of last weekend’s denouement against St Helens, when he also kicked a match-winning drop goal in the dying seconds.

Roger Federer won his fifth Cincinnati Open title, beating Novak Djokovic in surprisingly comfortable circumstances in straight sets, 6-0 7-6 (9-7).

Li Na won the ladies title, coming back form behind to beat Angelique Kerber 1-6 6-3 6-1.

Sergio Garcia responded to dropping out of the places for a spot on Europes’ Ryder Cup team by moving into the lead ahead of the final round of the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina.

The Spaniard missed the cut at last weekend’s USPGA Championship but bounced back to take a one shot lead ahead of Tim Clark and Bud Cauley.

Every few months I try to splash out on a decent bottle of single malt. This week, it felt like the right time to purchase a cheeky bottle. The labels stood in front of me like proud statues boasting of a better result than their neighbours. I’d never tasted Singleton, probably due to its £26 price. However, I’d been putting a fair shift in during recent times and thought I’d treat myself.

The young lad at the checkout scanned my evening meal and the single malt through, which all came to around £60. As I left Tesco, I felt the need to check the receipt and found the whisky had gone through twice! I strolled calmly to customer service where I received an apology, a refund and something incredible. Part of the Tesco customer policy is to refund double the difference where someone is overcharged. It dawned on me as I returned to my car: Tesco had effectively given me a top quality bottle of single malt for free.

Before I set off, my excitement got the better of me. I called my two close friends and let them know the incredible news. Both men arrived at my house an hour later, where we enjoyed a bottle of Singleton courtesy of Tesco.

However, as I sipped my deluxe nightcap, I pondered a challenging question. Would I have asked my friends to join me for a whisky if I had bought the bottle myself? Truthfully, not a chance. The reason I shared so willingly, was because I was given it for free and I felt it was right to share it. Why then, do I hesitate to share the wonderful Christian message to those who are desperate for meaning in their lives? After all, the story of Jesus came to me freely, and it cost God a lot more than a bottle of single malt.

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

- Romans 10:14

Have you ever heard a friend say, “I’d like to believe in Jesus but …”?

Perhaps you’re at the pub with your mates or having lunch with a colleague. The conversation turns to you and your faith and suddenly it feels like something a little deeper. You share a little bit, unsure of how far to really push it. And your mates, being mates, push back.

There are a thousand and one ways to find Jesus and just as many obstacles that can get in the way of Him. For some people they’d love to believe in Jesus, they really would, but they have this [intellectual barrier] [emotional barrier] [why-should-I-care barrier] (delete as appropriate).

Christian Vision for Men is all about introducing men to Jesus. To do that sometimes a little boulder removal is necessary. A little bit of heavy lifting is required to remove the obstacles that obstruct people’s view of Jesus.

That’s why CVM has set up the Demolition Squad.

1 Peter 3:15 instructs us to “Always be prepared to give a defence of the hope that you have to those that ask.” The Demolition Squad aims to help equip you guys on the front line to do just that.

Comedian Andy Kind and Apologist Jonathan Sherwin will be spearheading this new division of CVM. Over time resources, blogs, podcasts, talks – you know the drill – will be produced.

So, what do you think? Drop us a line if you’d like to set up a Demolition Squad training day in your area and stand by for announcements of new events and resources coming very soon.

In the mean time, leave a comment and help shape this new project.