I am currently in Belgium. My work has sent me here to train up a team in my product area. The whole thing happened in a relatively short time and making the arrangements to get here on such short notice was quite stressful.

Shortly before I left for Belgium, my dad got sick, and shortly after I arrived here he passed away. My stay here has now been halved and I'll return to South Africa shortly. By God's grace I did have an opportunity to say goodbye to him before I left, as did other family members who normally would not have been near enough. Read more …

The Christian is (or, rather, should be) a completely strange and alien being in the world. They must banish the impulses in which the world indulges. Perhaps one of the starkest things which we can do is, as our Lord Jesus Christ commanded, to "love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). This does not always happen, but nevertheless, this is the command which has been given us.

So what does this love look like? How does this dictate how we should treat other people? What place is there for anger and being snide, if any? Read more …

The year 2015 has been particularly bloody. In this article I reflect on what all this violence and turmoil should mean to us. I do this by considering two particular attacks. Read more …

Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Yoda, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Earlier this month, another tragic collage campus shooting occurred in Oregon in the USA. At the time it was widely reported that the shooter singled out Christians to kill, although some have urged caution about interpreting the story.

After the shooting, there were cries of and questions over "Christianophobia" on social media.

This needs to stop. If anyone is murdered in a cold and calculated way, whether because they are Christian, Muslim or homosexual, is not the result of a phobia. Read more …

In a previous article I discussed what sin is. In this article I am going to explore where it comes from—that is, what Christians commonly understand to be the root sin: the one from which others spring. Conversely, we are going to look at which sin surfaces when all the others are deconstructed. Read more …

Sin is a word with which most people in the West are familiar, even if only intuitively so. In fact, I am confident that most cultures in the world has a similar concept. Informally, "sin" refers to things (usually actions) which are "bad" or are "misdeeds". It also usually has a connotation to religion. As such, in this article I shall explore what the word means in the Christian context. Having a correct and accurate understanding of what sin is, is important, as it plays a fundamental role in the Christian worldview. Additionally, when speaking to a Christian it is good to understand what they mean (or ought to mean) when they use the word. Read more …

The South African High Court recently passed a landmark ruling that would legally allow a doctor to help a terminally ill man to end his life. A high level summary of the case can be found here. This ruling is not new legislation and euthanasia remains illegal in South Africa. However this ruling opens the door for future cases which will be decided individually (until, perhaps, legislation is proposed, which would undoubted reference this ruling). In this article I would like to share my thoughts on this case. Read more …