David Lawrence Preston

Tag: Christianity

  • The roots of antisemitism are in the Christian Bible

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    Ever wondered why Jews are given such a hard time in some circles? It’s entrenched in the New Testament and for centuries was handed down as part of the Christian religion. After all, in the First century most Jews rejected Yeshua as their Messiah. By the year 100 CE (when the Fourth Gospel, ‘John’, was…

  • What G_d is like?

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    If there were a G_d or G_d-like life force what would it be like? Not this, for sure! In my opinion, it would have all of the following characteristics: Bountiful and giving A loving G_d would surely know what we need and be willing and able to supply all our needs. For everybody, not just…

  • Pentecost: heaven in the sky or cloud cuckoo land?

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    We will soon be enjoying the Whit Bank Holiday – but how many people understand the nature of these celebrations? Whit celebrates an even reported in Acts of the Apostles that is, frankly, so far fetched as to be unbelievable. Acts was written by the same man who wrote the Third Gospel, Luke. Its main…

  • Musings in Mostar

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    Browsing through old photo albums recently reminded me of a holiday in the Balkans several years ago. We took a day trip to Mostar in Bosnia Herzegovina, the site of vicious fighting a few years earlier. On the way we stopped briefly at a village (the name of which I didn’t note down at the…

  • The End of Celibacy?

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    In February 2013 a most remarkable thing happened – the Head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal O’Brien, called for an end to the requirement that Catholic priests be celibate, and urged the next Pope to allow them to marry. The insistence on celibacy, he said, left many priests struggling to cope with…

  • Is there one source of everything?

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    Is there a creative intelligence that is the source of everything? What is this energy that created you from a handful of cells and grew you into a fully formed human being? What governs the cycles of life? Cycles such as those by which water becomes steam, which becomes clouds, which condense and fall as…

  • Christianity – the ultimate barrier?

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    Ann Widdecombe once presented a TV programme on the future of Christianity. Ms Widdecombe is a former government minister with a forthright manner somewhat reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher, her political hero. When the Church of England voted to allow women clergy, she promptly resigned her place on the ruling Synod and became a Roman Catholic,…

  • The gospels differ significantly over Yeshua’s trial

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    The gospels differ significantly over the details of Yeshua’s trial and committal: In the First Gospel (‘Mark’), they took him to Caiaphas, the high priest’s, house where the Jewish governing council (Sanhedrin), had assembled. The Jewish leaders gave false and conflicting testimony; Yeshua remained silent. Then Caiaphas asked him if he was the Messiah. Previously…

  • The New Testament letters justify slavery

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    David Lawrence Preston
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    There’s no doubt about it – the New Testament letters justify slavery. If one regards the New Testament as the ‘word of G_d’, then one has some explaining to do! Keeping slaves was a common practice in Greek and Roman society, and the coming of Christianity made virtually no difference. The most important letters in…