Tim Lewis

BOWLER'S NAME!!??

@talkChristianly This is very helpful Christopher - thanks v much. Trying to work out in practice what the implications would be. Is it basically stick as we are currently? Ie some pastoral provision for consciences which differ on an unchanged doctrine of marriage as between a man and a woman?

Why I'm suggesting 'compassionate orthodoxy' as a way forward on LLF:

Matthew Syed has decided it's time for us to rethink compassion, in his attempt to provide a moral case for the government's plans to reduce disability benefits and to cast people that need benefits as lazy liars and selfish scroungers. "what we really need is a moral recalibration, particularly in an age of rising military conflict. We need to rethink what we mean by compassion. We need to rethink what we mean by “essential” services. We need to rethink foreign aid when we are giving money to nations with space programmes. We need to rethink human rights and, perhaps even more importantly, individual responsibilities... In short, we need to cut our moral coat to the cloth of the age or, to put it another way, embrace realism. Our future as a civilisation depends on it." I take issue with Syed on a number of grounds. 1. Firstly, rethinking morality based on circumstances is called situation ethics and is a flawed philosophy because you most need your morality when you are under pressure. Changing what is right based on circumstance is how some justified killing prisoners of war, rape as a weapon of war and exterminating jews. 2. Rethinking human rights because of economics also seems like the worst of folly. Because we have mismanaged our public health system, our economy and immigration system Syed suggests we should cut benefits. We make the poorest and most vulnerable in our society pay for the mistakes of some of the wealthiest. There's no reference or apparently understanding of the lives of ordinary people who are facing incredible pressures now. 3. "Cutting your moral coat to the cloth of the age" is terrible advice. It sounds like going with the flow. It sounds like not having the moral courage to see that the emperor has no clothes, let alone no coat. In difficult times we need our morality more than ever. What next will he be telling the Ukrainians to stop fighting tyranny? Or the world to ignore the 13000 dead children in Gaza or the genocide in Sudan? 4. The idea that rethinking compassion is necessary to preserve civilisation is an oxymoron. Civility is all about recognising the dignity and worth of others. Compassion should drive us to sacrifice on behalf of others and should not be ditched for the purposes of self preservation. I seek to base my moral framework on Jesus who personified compassion and was criticised most heavily for his compassion to all the groups of people that everyone else sought to ignore, oppress or marginalise. It was Christ's compassion that lead him to feed the hungry, heal the leper and welcome the stranger. It was Christ's compassion that lead to him being killed on a cross to offer forgiveness to all who want it. To cast compassion as mindless and against civilisation is another instance of the Orwellian newspeak which turns words on their head to serve political goals. We need more compassion not less as times get harder for so many of us...

Such a wonderful statement from @churchofengland bishops bravely calling us not just to 'orthodoxy' but to the very person of God: premierchristianity.com/exclusive-cofe…

The C of E has been strangely convinced since ~1990 that its crisis was caused by poor management. But what it actually has is a narrative crisis, which it shares with Christianity throughout the West for reasons that have little to do with it specifically. 1/x

Christmas Eve in Nigeria -at least 140 people dead,homes burned.Latest reports say 160 fatalities. Jihadist militias kill, main & abduct - 40 died in the Pentecost church attack in Odo.Yet no one brought to justice.Where are the protests? Or U.K. TV news? foxnews.com/world/christma…

@SarahJoy68 Thank you! And to you all 🥰.

@Tmpl82 Have a wonderful CHRISTmas 🙌🙏🎄

Little relax with #clergymaltclub post midnight

“Then I only wondered who put the toys in the stocking; now I wonder who put the stocking by the bed, and the bed in the room, and the room in the house, and the house on the planet, and the great planet in the void.” Chesterton on Santa Claus: thinktheology.co.uk/blog/article/t…

Every school is a faith school. Some are just a lot more philosophically self-aware and up front about it than others.

"Life-changing, life-affirming truth." Broadcaster, @mrdanwalker, shares his favourite Christmas carol. #JoinTheSong

In my role @EAUKnews I am often asked how are adults coming to faith in the UK at the moment. Here are the big themes and some suggestions for churches to explore… a thread. 🧵

I appeal to the leaders of our own church to share this and encourage our people to pray and fast for peace this Tuesday. @JustinWelby @CottrellStephen @PeteWilcox1564 @BishopWakefield @BpBlackburn @bishopoffulham

Christianity in Nagorno-Karabakh has just been extinguished after 1,722 years. 120,000 Armenians have been ethnically cleansed in weeks. This followed a 9 month blockade resulting in massive shortages of electricity, fuel, food, and water which the world largely ignored. #Artsakh

@talkChristianly @revhelend Should read *without

@talkChristianly @revhelend Surely they are co dependant…the middle would not be the middle with the bottom and top etc

@talkChristianly @revhelend A three layered cake? Each slice has all three layers, the cake would not fully be the cake without all three layers, but each layer is distinct (in layer but not essence…)!

@revhelend In a variation on this, on retreats I sometimes ask how people would divide a cake into three portions between the Father, Son and Spirit... the answers are revealing, and the slices usually uneven in size, invariably pointing towards impoverished pneumatology!

Whether you're a Christian or not, the Russell Brand situation reveals so much about truth, power, sex and God. @GlenScrivener reacts: youtube.com/watch?v=kmADdX…

@andyscgp Don’t think I’d have much to add! Really enjoyed working on it though 👍

@Tmpl82 Ha! Likewise- let me know if you have any thoughts!! Hope it goes well.

Doing some work on Rev 2-3. Couple of observations: 1. Reputation and reality are often different. Smyrna looks poor but is deeply rich. However, Sardis appears alive but is dead. Most of the ways we judge churches (cities and students rate highly) are irrelevant spiritually.