About a year ago I gave a talk on moral relativism for Thinking Matters Tauranga. During that talk I noted that relativism entails that one cannot apply the moral principles you (or your culture) accepts to the practices of other people (or cultures). I was critical of this position arguing that it suffers from all […]
Entries Tagged as 'Sunday Study'
Sunday Study: The Virtue of Judging – Jesus was not a Relativist
June 23rd, 2009 3 Comments
Tags: Judging · Relativism · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Ask, Seek, Knock – Treating God Like a Genie
June 15th, 2009 Comments Off on Sunday Study: Ask, Seek, Knock – Treating God Like a Genie
This is yesterday’s Sunday study as promised. It’s based on a message I gave at Riverhead Presbyterian Church yesterday. A couple of months ago Madeleine was corresponding with a person who claimed he could prove that God does not exist. Madeleine challenged the person and in the ensuing dialogue it became evident that a theological […]
Tags: Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Did Christ Abolish the Old Testament Law? Part 2
June 7th, 2009 8 Comments
As I concluded in Sunday Study: Did Christ Abolish the Old Testament Law? Part I , the Apostles rejected the claim that, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.”[1] Following Peters position, they decide that Gentiles do not have to follow the Mosaic Law; instead it is affirmed, It […]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Did Christ Abolish the Old Testament Law? Part I
May 31st, 2009 8 Comments
At the start of the Sermon on the Mount, Christ states, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of […]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Sodom and Gomorrah Part II
May 17th, 2009 9 Comments
In my previous Sunday Study post, Sodom and Gomorrah Part I, I argued that it is a mistake to conflate what scriptural narratives describe with what they prescribe. I suggested that often the characters in these narratives do things that The Torah later explicitly condemns and in this context it is plausible to read the […]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Sodom and Gomorrah Part I
May 10th, 2009 13 Comments
In the comments section of The Inconsistent, Condescending, Paternalism of Left-Wing Feminism, Anna wrote: Something I’ve been deeply disturbed about since childhood is the Sodom & Gomorrah tale – specifically, the offering of the virgin daughters to satisfy the hordes of men outside the house. On the face of it, this looks like a negation […]
Tags: Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology
Sunday Study: Gender in Genesis a take on Adam’s Rib
May 3rd, 2009 2 Comments
In the comments on The Problem of Evil: Why does God Allow Suffering? Marc suggested that the scriptures denigrate women. In the comments on The Inconsistent, Condescending, Paternalism of Left-Wing Feminism, Anna has also raised some thoughtful questions about the scriptures and how they portray women, many of which are worth addressing. The issue, however, […]
Tags: Feminism · Old Testament Ethics · Sunday Study · Theology

A common objection to belief in the God of the Bible is that a good, kind, and loving deity would never command the wholesale slaughter of nations. In the tradition of his popular Is God a Moral Monster?, Paul Copan teams up with Matthew Flannagan to tackle some of the most confusing and uncomfortable passages of Scripture. Together they help the Christian and nonbeliever alike understand the biblical, theological, philosophical, and ethical implications of Old Testament warfare passages.




