Wessel's blog

The Problem of Prayer

Read time: 10 minutes

Many people—Christian or otherwise—will at some point wonder about the "problem of prayer". The "problem of prayer" asks whether there is any point to prayer: God knows everything, including the future, so why bother to pray? If everything is already predetermined, how can prayer change God's mind?

This problem can be further compounded by a perceived "lack of answers" to prayer.

In this article, I aim to briefly address these two concerns and describe why a Christian should not be distressed about either of them. Read more …

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Christian: Beware Labels

Protesters marching
Read time: 5 minutes

The world seems to be becoming an angrier place. As tensions flare in the U.S.A., other countries become infected as people internalise what is happening there; a kind of life-and-death struggle for the soul of the Western world.

This is, of course, not so, and whether the U.S.A. goes off in a "good" or a "bad" direction, the course of human history has shown us that nothing is permanent and that whatever the outcome, that too, will eventually change.

But despite what happens across the Atlantic, my intention in this article is to warn the reader not to get caught up in this anger. Read more …

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A Thousand Words Too Few

Read time: 5 minutes

In an age where it is easy to find information—indeed, these days information comes to you unsolicited—and easy to propagate, how carefully do we think about the information that comes to us, and that we share? In this article I explore the pitfalls of "meme" culture. Read more …

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Arguing from Silence: The Events Surrounding the Resurrection

The Fall of Jerusalem
Read time: 6 minutes

A complaint which one hears from time to time, is how events surrounding the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are not attested in sources outside of the Bible. For example, a great darkness came over the land (Luke 23:44) and there was an earthquake (Matthew 27:54; also Matthew 28:2). Read more …

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A Case Study of Attentive Bible Reading: The Myth of Good King Solomon

The wise judgement of king Solomon
Read time: 12 minutes

In this article we are going to look at story of Solomon as an example of how subtle the Bible can be and how careful and holistically the Bible should be read in order to get the most meaning out of it, as intended by the authors. Read more …

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What is the Bible?

An open Bible
Read time: 10 minutes

In my first article on this series on the Bible, I chiefly looked at reasons why I believe everyone should read the Bible. I briefly touched on what the Bible is. In this article I want to explore further what the Bible is, particularly to the Christian, as well as what the Bible is not. Read more …

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Merry Christmas 2016

Evan Coons
Read time: 1 minute

Merry Christmas! This year I am unashamedly sharing a special message by Evan Coons, who was involved with For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles. Like other messages from FLOW, it is not only encouraging, but a call to action as well. In this video, we look at the examples of the Christ child and what we can learn from Him, namely:

  • Vulnerability
  • Humility
  • Presence

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