"Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers." - VoltairE

Check your sources

November 3, 2020


One of the unfortunate effects of the COVID-19 crisis seems to be an increase in false information being shared via social media and messaging apps. I’ve had supermarket scams, fake C. S. Lewis quotes and vaccination rumours shared with me by well-meaning fellow Christians (sometimes multiple times).

There are also Christian memes doing the rounds - sentiments that are wrapped up to look like Bible verses but are not in fact biblical. You may have seen the kind of thing – a cute puppy with a broken vase and the text “Everything happens for a reason” or a smiling woman in a field of flowers with “You’re perfect as you are”.

As Christians, we should be concerned with truth. Jesus declares that he himself is truth - he is ultimate reality (John 14: 6). It damages our witness when we’re seen to be gullibly passing on untruth without checking it first.

We’re called to be wise not naive. Faith is the opposite of uninformed credulity. It is based on evidence and provides a best fit for the phenomena we see around us (John 14: 11, 1 Pet 3: 15).

So here are some tips before sharing:
  1. Think for a moment - is this credible or likely?
  2. Is the source reliable? The BBC and the Economist are more reliable sources than Buzzfeed and the Daily Mail (But remember that even reliable sources can make mistakes)
  3. Can it be verified by another reliable source?
  4. Can I check its truth? Go to a website like Snopes or Full Fact
  5. Is it consistent with biblical truth?
  6. Is it helpful for other people to know? Is it interesting, useful, challenging or encouraging? Or is it vacuous nonsense?
  7. If in doubt, don’t share.

Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Random stuff 

 

Do you take the Bible literally?

September 22, 2020


I’ve been asked this question a number of times and it’s a tricky one to answer as it all depends on what the questioner means. If they mean ‘Do you take the Bible seriously as the authoritative word of God?’ then the answer is yes. But if they mean ‘Do you think that every piece of writing in the Bible is literal description?’ then no.

Let me explain. The Bible is a library of 66 books written over a period spanning about 1370 years by 35 different people, for different purposes. ...

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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Bible study 

 

Misunderstood lyrics and the Bible

September 15, 2020


Remember the Beatles song Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da? We used to sing it in school choir. One of the lines is ‘Desmond takes a trolley to the jewellery store.’ which had me really confused. I used to think that Desmond was buying so much jewellery that a basket wouldn’t be big enough. It was years until I realised that ‘trolley’ meant ‘trolley bus’ - the mode of transport that Desmond used to get to the jewellers.

This silly example shows how important it is to understand cultural and li...

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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Bible study 

 

Free classic Christian books

August 28, 2020
Even though I own loads of actual, physical books, I've rediscovered my Kindle recently and am enjoying the fact that you can get lots of quality books for free.

The best way to find Christian classics is to do a search of Kindle books in the Christian category that are rated 4 stars or higher and sort them by price from low to high. Here's one I prepared earlier. (There's some rubbish in there, but plenty of treats for the discerning reader.)

I found a decent selection by Spurgeon including:
  • Be...

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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Books 

 

The way she tells 'em

July 15, 2020
Back in May, I had one day (31st May to be precise) where I suddenly decided to write some poems. I ended up writing 15 on a range of themes. Here's one of them that I hope you'll enjoy.



The way she tells 'em

A funny thing happened
the other day.
Now was it Tuesday or Wednesday?
I think it was Wednesday because
it was the day my new secateurs 
arrived through the post.
No wait! It was Tuesday 
when Sheila rang with the news
that her cat had had kittens
and her daughter had mumps.
Anyway, it was raining.
N...

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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Random stuff 

 

Picture This Thought - Statue of Liberty [Freedom]

July 5, 2020
What does it mean to be free? What does true freedom look like?

We talk about political freedom, freedom of religion, freedom of movement and free speech, but how free are we really?

This is a short exploration of the ways in which our freedom is restricted and how Jesus brings true liberation.

“If the Son [Jesus] sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8: 36



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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Video 

 

Cryptic names and descriptions of God quiz

June 30, 2020


1. Postman who does weights
2. Opposite of Cyclops
3. Posh yes, discover the mass
4. I am a Spanish waiter
5. Swedish supergroup
6. Hi third person singular
7. Monarch’s son of green vegetables
8. 1990s chat show
9. Eating flames
10. Like Greyfriars Bobby perhaps?
11. At the very top
12. Very old, periods of time
13. Unfit sock of Jerusalem’s land
14. Souvenir from Blackpool?
15. Winner of ‘One man and his dog’
16. Lots of money for finding a lost pet
17. An inhabitant of Stoke on Trent’s professio...

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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Random stuff 

 

Joel chapters 2 and 3 - A short talk

June 29, 2020
This is the second half of my series on Joel, which I prepared for our online church service yesterday. It's a 15 minute exploration of this fascinating prophecy and how it tells the story of God's grand plan for his people, from creation in Genesis to new creation in Revelation.


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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Talks 

 

Joel chapter 1 - a short talk

June 21, 2020
I preached at online church this morning on Joel chapter 1, which is a fascinating passage and very relevant in our current circumstances.

You can watch below (13 mins) and the final part will be posted next week.


Continue reading...

Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Talks 

 

The case for Christian humanism

June 21, 2020


I just watched a video about humanism which I found very interesting, particularly because of the use of words like ‘wonder’, ‘awe’, ‘dignity’, ‘infinitely precious’, ‘miraculous’. There’s lots that I can agree with, even if I don’t hold to the overreach of scientism or the naive optimism that we can all somehow get along fine if we try to be good and use ‘common sense’.
Many people don’t realise that humanism owes a lot to a Christian worldview. The difficulty is...

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Posted by Anne Witton. Posted In : Resources 

 
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