Topic Archives: Life Issues

The other week I came across one of those sayings that sticks in your mind and makes you think: ‘An expert hits a target no-one else can hit; a genius hits a target no-one else can see.’ It struck me that there is a third level we could add: ‘the Lord hits a target no-one […]

If you would strengthen your faith to suffer great and hard things, study much the book of the Revelation, which is a standing cordial for the relief of the saints, in anti-christian times; and study and read and commend to your children, the Book of Martyrs, where you have examples to the life of the […]

The Beginning Job’s three friends could not have been more wrong. They looked at this profoundly afflicted man and concluded that by his sin he had brought all this suffering upon himself. What other explanation could there be? But there was another explanation, one that lay at the opposite pole to the one these men […]

I am very grateful to two very old and dear friends of my family. Firstly, to Iain Murray for agreeing to the publication of his address, which as far as I know has never been published before, though some elements of it are in his biography of the Doctor. Below is the transcription of a […]

The second Epistle to the Corinthians is the most personal of all Paul’s epistles. In it he tells us more of his sufferings and his anxieties than in any other. In Chapter 1 he mentions his deliverance from ‘so great a death’, which is taken by Dr B. B. Warfield to refer to his being […]

What makes you afraid? Isn’t it the sense that you are not in control? You cannot determine the outcome of an important election. Or manage the economy. Or keep politicians from making horribly bad decisions. Or guarantee your health. Or prevent terrorist attacks. Or be with your children 24/7 to make sure they’re always safe. […]

One day in mid January I was reading the newspaper that reported that a request from the late Scottish author Iain Banks had been finally rejected by the local government. He had died at 59 years of age six years ago and had wanted his ashes to be scattered in various places in the world, […]

The following article is taken from chapter eight of Rhett P. Dodson‘s new book, Marching to Zion. * * * Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and […]

A few years ago, a Christian I knew ended his life prematurely. It was sudden, tragic, and devastating to all of us—but especially to his family. Sometimes it’s hard for any of us to believe that people could do this to themselves and to their families, but the reality is that any of us could […]

Of the many video clips I watched of Billy Graham in the week of his death, one in particular has stuck with me. Preaching in Southern Seminary Chapel in 1982, Graham said that at sixty-four years old his greatest surprise in life was the brevity of life: ‘If someone had told me when I was […]

It’s exam-time. Over the next few weeks most of the youngsters who attend the church will be sitting exams of one sort or another. SATS, GCSEs, A levels, university assessments, music exams. . . From early childhood into our twenties, we face one daunting educational hurdle after another and some of us then go back […]

At the time of the Roe v. Wade decision, I was a college student , an anti-war, mother-earth, feminist, hippie college student. That particular January, I was taking a semester off, living in the D.C. area and volunteering at the feminist ‘underground newspaper’, Off Our Backs. As you’d guess, I was strongly in favor of legalizing abortion. […]

Anniversaries are how we mark out our history , some are welcome, others are not, some are humdrum, others are special. This year two are extra special , a 500th and a 50th. Both changed our world. The first is when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church […]

Grieving, Hope and Solace is the title of a book written by Al Martin (cruciformpress.com, 116 pages, 2011). It comprises a series of sermons preached after the death of his wife Marilyn after 42 years of marriage. The author sent me a copy when I experienced a similar loss last year and I found it […]

The Banner publishes a number of small booklets that focus specifically on life issues and important questions. These booklets are designed to be read quickly, given away to friends or inquirers, and used to stock church bookstalls. You will find that they are relevant for readers today and can help facilitate edifying discussion. This week, […]