Looking back, it’s hard to imagine that scene being repeated in the offices of The Guardian, GQ, or Woman’s Weekly. In the media, everything must look fresh and youthful, as the BBCs recent employment tribunal demonstrated, and as a quick glance at the magazine rack in a supermarket will confirm. Glance through the women’s magazines (and even the men’s!) and you’ll see dozens of tips on how to look young and feel young, but none at all on how to die well.

Tragedy

Of course death is not easy for even Christians to consider. Perhaps more than anyone else we realise the tragedy of death – this unnatural intrusion into a world which God declared was ‘very good’. Every one of us has lost loved ones; most will have lost a parent, spouse or even a child. Just like those who are not converted, when Christians think about death, we think about those we loved, and our happy recollections of all that they contributed to our life are mixed with our sense of loss and grief that they are no longer with us.

But, that said, Christians do not grieve as others do, who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). It is that hope that tempers our grief, and enables us to think carefully about death. The Christian can look this great, all-conquering enemy in the eye and say, ‘Death, where is your victory?’ (1 Cor. 15:55).

Hope

Our hope is, of course, that death is not the end. The world says ‘where there is life, there is hope’. The Christian says ‘even in death, there is great hope’. And it really is great hope. I have some friends who believe in re-incarnation – the great ‘circle of life’. But who wants to come back to life, only to suffer the same troubles, the same pain, the same grief, the same tears that we have already experienced? Who wants to be locked in an endless cycle of birth, toil, death, birth, toil, death? That is no hope at all.

But for the Christian, our hope is resurrection. We don’t simply believe that one day we’ll go to heaven. We believe that the whole creation is groaning in eager expectation for the return of Christ. And as part of the creation we groan too – not in despair, but in longing – for the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:18-25). Our hope is not simply that we’re going to live forever, but that we will be given new resurrection bodies in order to enjoy the new heavens and the new earth free from pain and the struggles which come through illness and old age.

Transformation

Have you ever spoken to someone who has had a hip- or knee-replacement? When the operation is successful, it can give the recipient a new lease of life. The man who could barely drag himself from the front-door to his car, can now walk to church and enjoy the service pain-free. The grandmother who could hardly find the energy to visit her grandchildren can now play hide-and-seek and even give piggy-backs! But that transformation is nothing compared to the transformation that one day awaits all those whose faith is in Christ. Resurrection is no mere ‘patch-up’ job – we need more than that! Just as our hearts have already been made new, so our bodies will likewise be made new.

Scripture is keen to point out that this hope of Christians is no mere pipe-dream. There is one who has gone before us, and blazed the trail. The Lord Jesus Christ has conquered death. He has received his resurrection body; he is already glorified. Our hope is not that we will have ‘done enough’, not that somehow God will give us a second-chance, but that we will be found in Him.

Life to come

So all this means, not that Christians can think about death, but that we should do so. After all, if we have hope in this life alone, we are to be pitied beyond all men (1 Cor. 15:19). If we fail to look beyond this life, we will miss the joy of meditating on the life to come, and be unable to deal with the grief that will inevitably come our way.

So when we planned the magazine we commissioned articles from John Woolley and Jonathan Pearse on how the truths of the Bible can help us to deal with grief – not with platitudes or mere stoicism, but with simple trust that God is good. And, to help us to help others who are hurting and grieving, we asked Arthur Bentley-Taylor to remind us that we can bring the presence and peace of God to those who are afflicted.

Comfort

We can bring comfort and have hope, because the good news taught by Scripture rests in reality, and Paul Wells was asked to write about Christ’s death on the cross that reconciles us sinners to our God. Our hope is sure, because God’s goodness has already been demonstrated and, his power to raise from the dead is already made clear.

This hope should not merely be of help in our old age or in our hospital bed, but it should transform our lives. Hope in resurrection will give strength to the weak, hope to the dying and courage to the timid. The Boxer Rebellion in 19th century China is a salutary yet uplifting reminder that frequently God’s people have had to be prepared to ask themselves whether they really believe that ‘it is not death to die’. So, to complete the picture Lowri Iorwerth and Gareth Edwards looked at heaven and hell and reflect on the truths (and some of the myths) of the life to come.

As I reflect back on that meeting, and read again the articles we commissioned, I find them both a challenge and a comfort. We worship a God who has conquered death and dealt with its consequences. Blessed be His name!

This article was the editorial of the March 2011 edition of the Evangelical Magazine.

Neither Poverty nor Riches

To give an indication of the challenge of the book, Blomberg argues that the rich should give more than 10% (perhaps many times that amount), to enable the poor to give less. But he takes a global perspective, reminding Western readers that the vast majority of us are firmly in the ‘rich’ side of the scales. And he reminds us that spiritual growth in the area of stewardship is ‘a necessary sign of [spiritual] life’.

Thankfully, Blomberg never falls into the trap of declaring all riches as evil, or advocating asceticism. God’s gifts are to be enjoyed, he reminds us, but they are also to be shared.

If I have one criticism it would be that in the chapter with application there is an emphasis on the relief of material poverty in the world that was not apparent in the earlier exegesis. As I read the New Testament (or the Old for that matter) I see a wide concern for the spiritual well-being of all people, and a narrower concern for the material well-being of believers. That is not to say we should be callous towards the non-Christian poor, or that we should only bring Bibles and not bring bread. But it is to say that when it comes to loving our neighbour, the Bible seems to make our two priorities the sharing of the gospel with the world, and caring for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

That, however, is a relatively minor criticism. If you want to think about the Bible’s teaching on wealth and poverty I know of no better book.

So I wrote a WordPress plugin, using Vimeo’s ever-so-simple API (that’s Application Programming Interface to you). In precisely 36 lines of code,* all my Vimeo videos are now automatically displayed on this site when I load them into the appropriate Vimeo album. And when I change my theme, one tiny change will re-size all my videos across the site. As I said, you’ve got to love APIs.

* And that’s proper code, including error-handling and caching. It could be done with 11 lines.

You can click on any of the pictures for a bigger version.

Introducing Logos for iPhone

Logos for iPhone is the relative newcomer, but Logos itself has been in the Bible Software market for almost as long as anyone (since 1991). Until recently it has concentrated on the PC, but the last 18 months have seen the company diversify into Mac, iPhone and even online offerings of its product. In November, the whole range was re-launched as Logos 4, which marked a very significant step-up in terms of usability and functionality.

Perhaps the key selling point of Logos is that when you buy Logos resources you can use many of them on any platform. No longer do you have to purchase multiple copies of the same resource just so you can have access to your favourite Bible translation whether you’re at work, home, or on the road. Currently, somewhere around 40% of Logos 10,000 resources (yes, you read that right – about four thousand resources) are available on the iPhone platform. Logos are apparently working on making much the rest available as soon as possible.

Perhaps the only way to put so much data onto such a small device is to work in the ‘cloud’ through an internet connection (WiFi, 3G or GPRS/Edge). By default, Logos resources are only downloaded onto your iPhone in small chunks when you need them. The advantage is that you don’t need hundreds of gigabytes of storage space to have access to your Logos library. The downside is that sometimes you have to wait for the next ‘chunk’ to download before you can read on or open a new resource. Thankfully, Logos have added an offline reading option for paying customers. This allows you to permanently download your favourite resources onto your iPhone, whilst still being able to access everything else over the internet. This gives you the best of both worlds, the only negative being that you can’t simultaneously select multiple resources to download for offline use, so it can be quite a lengthy business if you’re setting the device up and want to activate offline access to a few dozen resources.

Logos has continued this reliance on the cloud throughout much of the rest of the application, which enables features that probably wouldn’t be possible otherwise. You can search through your entire library, for example, even if only a few books are actually on your iPhone for offline use. The search is carried out on Logos’ servers, and the result sent to your phone. Unfortunately there is no offline search however, so if you’re without internet access, searching simply doesn’t work.

But if you’re thinking that you might use a Bible app just for reading and searching, think again. Logos comes with three additional features – each one ported over from the Windows/Mac version – that significantly raise the bar for mobile applications.

The first is the Passage Guide. Enter a verse, or range of verses and press ‘Go’, and within seconds you’ll be given screen that lists all your commentaries that deal with the passage, a list of possible cross references, media resources (e.g. maps), relevant bible topics, and even a list of interesting words. You can click on any of these to explore further. Think of it as a customised table of contents to all the resources you have for any passage in the Bible – right there on your iPhone.

The second feature is the Bible Word Study. Type any word in English, Greek or Hebrew (you can use transliteration if you don’t want to type Greek/Hebrew), and within a few seconds you’ll have relevant links to all your lexicons and dictionaries, and a concordance of every use of that word. One of the best parts of this feature is that you can search for a Greek/Hebrew word, and have the results returned in English. You even get a useful chart showing how that word is translated in your favourite Bible version. This is unique to Logos, not just on the iPhone, but on any platform. The Bible Word Study can be called up from most Bibles (English or original language) by just pressing and holding on the word in question. You also get parsing information and Strong’s numbers.

The third feature are the Reading Plans. You can create reading plans on your PC or Mac, and then have access to them on your iPhone. A reading plan allows you to choose any resource (Bible or other book), and create a plan to read all or part of that resource in a given time. It’s very configurable: for example, you be as specific as specifying to read pages 1-39 of Bunyan’s Grace Abounding, reading every Tuesday and Thursday for three weeks. You can’t create these plans up on the iPhone, but you are able to read the resources there, and mark off when you’re done. This information then syncs across to your desktop machine.

The one potentially major drawback with all these features is that they’re dependent on internet access. If you have no internet connection, they simply aren’t available. In fact, when you’re offline you can do very little apart from just reading the books. When you’re connected though, Logos performs brilliantly.

Introducing OliveTree BibleReader

OliveTree are no newcomers to the mobile Bible market, first releasing software (for the Palm) in 1998. Unlike Logos, they don’t have a desktop version, but you can buy BibleReader for almost any mobile device – as well as they iPhone they support Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian (Nokia) and Blackberry. Although not all resources are available on all platforms, you don’t need to re-purchase if you later switch to Android or Windows Mobile.

OliveTree don’t have the same range of resources as Logos, but there are still more than 500 to choose from. These are mainly Bibles and Commentaries, with a fair smattering of Christian e-Books. There are also a few dictionaries and lexicons. But if Logos wins the battle over the number of resources, BibleReader wins hands down in terms of speed. Because all your BibleReader resources are stored on your phone, no internet access is required to use the app, and resources open instantly. On my 3GS it can take around 4 seconds to open Logos on a fast WiFi connection. But when I’m in church – without WiFi – it’s around 10 seconds. BibleReader on the other hand opens in 2 seconds, wherever I am. Not only so, but because all my resources are on my phone, searches can be performed instantly, wherever I am. You can only search one resource at a time, however – unlike Logos, there’s no way of searching across your whole library.

Like Logos, there are several features in BibleReader that lift it above your typical eBook app.

The first is a built-in app (resource) store. This is done brilliantly well, perhaps better than any other iPhone app I’ve used. All you need to do is link your OliveTree account in with your iTunes account, and then you can purchase new resources through iTunes, in the app, or on OliveTree’s website, and have them instantly available on your phone. If you find yourself in a situation where you need a new book or Bible translation, you can quickly order it, have it billed against your iTunes account, and it will be downloaded and available to read in less than five minutes.

The second feature is split screen reading. In BibleReader you can split your screen into two. For example, it could be useful to have two different bible versions open, or your Bible in one window and a commentary in another, or perhaps a Greek NT in one window and a Greek dictionary in another.

The third feature is user notes and highlighting. This allows you to add notes to any part of the Bible, or to highlight different passages, just as you might in a printed Bible. You can even sync the notes to Evernote so you can view them from your PC, or just to ensure they’re backed up. If you like to take notes whilst you’re reading, this is a great feature.

The fourth feature is morphological searching. This is similar to Logos’ Bible Word Study in that it allows you to search the Greek/Hebrew language texts, and get parsing information for every word. It’s not as pretty as Logos, and you can’t get a list of which English words are used to translate a particular Greek/Hebrew word. However, you do have full morphological searching, which allows you to do searches like “find all the occurrences of πίστις in the genitive singular”. It’s the only mobile Bible app to support searching like this.

Side-by-side comparison

Now we’ve examined the unique features in both applications that set them apart, it’s time to look at how they compare side-by-side.

Features: Both applications are loaded with features, and both will do more than many people thought possible even a year ago. Logos is superior at searching, with its Passage Guide and ability to search across multiple resources, though you can’t restrict your Bible search to particular Bible books. This last function is missing in BibleReader too, though you can restrict your search to just the New or Old Testaments. However, BibleReader’s split-screen reading, better morphology support and user notes just tip the scales in its favour. Not only so, but all of BibleReader’s functions work anywhere. Logos, on the other hand, requires an internet connection to get the best from it (apps like Google Maps and Facebook work in just the same way). With Logos there’ll be times when you’ll lose internet connectivity, and with it access to any books you haven’t downloaded, all search functionality, and all pop-up footnotes or cross references. For that reason, the first round goes clearly to BibleReader.
Logos: 6/10
BibleReader: 9/10

Simplicity: Both apps are very easy to use for anyone used to the iPhone platform. Controls are intuitive and well-organised, and settings kept to a minimum. But Logos just edges ahead – because its Bible Word Study is much easier than BibleReader’s more powerful morphology functions, and particularly because it makes the original language texts more accessible by allowing you to search in Greek/Hebrew yet return results in English.
Logos: 10/10
BibleReader: 9/10

Speed: BibleReader is astonishingly quick, with a rapid load time, and almost every function returning near-instant results. Logos on the other hand, with it’s partial reliance on an internet connection can feel ponderous in comparison. And yet it must not be forgotten that Logos harnesses the power of massive webservers to perform your searching. It means I can search my entire iPhone library of more than 1,500 resources and have the first results returned in less than three seconds. For most users though, they’ll spend more time reading than searching, which is to BibleReader’s advantage.
Logos: 8/10
BibleReader: 10/10

Resources: Here, Logos wins hands down, with an astonishing array of resources of every type imaginable: bibles, commentaries, lexicons, dictionaries, theologies, general reading. Yet there are some surprising omissions, including one that surprises many people: currently Logos does not offer the NIV. Don’t assume that Logos has everything BibleReader has – it doesn’t. How you score this will depend on which resources you actually care about. BibleReader has all of the basics, and several extras. Logos has most of the basics and many, many extras. For me, resources like Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, BDAG and the New International Commentary series swing the advantage clearly in Logos’ favour.
Logos: 9/10
BibleReader: 7/10

Value for money: Both apps are available free, but both benefit from significant investment. If you’re looking for a free app, Logos is best for Bibles (includes ESV, NASB, HCSB, NKJV, NLT and KJV), whilst BibleReader is best for other resources (31 other free resources in Logos, over 100 in BibleReader). When it comes to paying, neither are cheap. The cheapest Logos package is $265, though bear in mind that this includes very powerful software for your Mac or PC as well as the few hundred additional resources you get. It also adds features like offline reading. Once you’ve bought a base package like this, you can add on additional resources at a lower price (usually around 50%-80% of the cost of a print book). BibleReader on the other hand has a much lower entry point because you don’t need to buy a base package, you can just buy whatever add-on resources that you need (though a few small packages are available which may save you a bit of money). But if you want all the bells and whistles such as morphological searching and commentaries, you too will be paying a few hundred dollars. In the end, I’ve decided to call this one a draw. Logos is more expensive, but has the advantage that you’ll probably save money by not needing to re-purchase to get access to Bibles and resources on your PC and Mac. BibleReader has a lower entry-point, but limits you to mobile devices only.
Logos: 7/10
BibleReader: 7/10

Original language support: Here both packages excel, and offer better original language support than many desktop programs. Logos has the advantage in supporting the original languages from the English texts, which gives all the benefits of an interlinear, whilst retaining the readability of an ordinary bible. It also has better lexicons and dictionaries available. On the other hand, BibleReader is able to support morphological searching within the application. Which is the more important will depend on how you intend to use the app. I think most users will not find themselves in many situations where they need full morphological searching and don’t have access to their desktop machine, so I’m going to give this one to Logos.
Logos: 9/10
BibleReader: 8/10

Readability: One of the important functions of mobile Bible software is that you’ll use it to simply read from. Both apps perform this most basic of functions very well. Both have the ability to add bookmarks to your favourite passages, and both remember your position when you come back to resources later. Both support rotation lock, which prevents the screen switching from portrait to landscape and vice-versa. This can be very handy if you’re reading in bed and you don’t quite have your iPhone level. Logos  has the much better reading plans (BibleReader’s is limited to Bibles only), though you can’t edit them on the iPhone itself. Logos also has a clearer display, though it’s relatively easy to tweak BibleReader’s settings to mimic this. BibleReader has the option of scrolling the text freely up and down – in Logos you can only turn the page (which BibleReader also supports). Scrolling allows you to easily place a sentence in the middle of the screen to better view the context. I’m going to call this one a draw.
Logos: 9/10
BibleReader: 9/10

Conclusion

Both apps are genuinely excellent, and streets ahead of the competition. If you want a full-featured, resource-laden, powerful Bible app for your iPhone, look no further than Logos or BibleReader. I own both, and use both regularly, turning to BibleReader for its speed, and Logos for the extra resources and particularly the interlinears.

But which to choose? BibleReader just edges it in my opinion, but which is best for you will depend very much on how you intend to read and study use the Bible for yourself. If you use a Mac or PC, and want Bible software on your desktop as well as your iPhone, then Logos will be great – so long as you don’t think you’ll need access to the advanced functionality when you’re away from the internet. On the other hand, if you can’t afford the high-entry point for Logos’ best features, and appreciate polished performance and near-instant load times, then BibleReader will be just what you’re looking for – though you’ll miss out on some great features like looking up Greek words from the English text, and integration with your desktop computer.

Both apps are improving all the time, so as new released are made available, I’ll try and keep this review updated. Finally, if you’re an iPhone bible software user, leave a comment and voice your opinion.

Verdict

Logos: 58/70
BibleReader: 59/70

I believe Iain Murray (February 2010) overstates his case for non-’expository’ preaching. First, the preacher’s responsibility is to preach ‘the whole counsel of God’. If I am to preach through a large part of the Bible over a ministry, I will need to preach on texts significantly longer than a single verse (otherwise it would take more than 200 years to get through the 31,000 verses in the Bible).

Second, preachers should model the handling of the scripture from the pulpit. Preaching is very different to private devotion or study. But it is from the pulpit that our congregation will learn how to read the Bible for themselves. Would we want our congregation’s regular devotions to be a meditation on a single verse, plucked apparently at random?

Third, I want unbelievers to be utterly convinced that the gospel application in a sermon is from God’s Word. A great danger with non-‘expository’ preaching is that whilst the sermon’s content may be very biblical, it is not seen to be biblical by the unconverted because the preacher’s text serves only as a spring-board and not as a foundation.

Fourth, I reject the ‘either/or’ antithesis. In being committed to ‘expository’ preaching, I am not rejecting preaching that helps the hearers, is memorable, evangelistic and relies on the Spirit. It is true that attempting to preach in an expository style can expose inadequacies in the preacher. It is true that a running commentary is not a sermon, and that you can be faithful to the Word yet fail to preach, and fail to know the Spirit’s power. But I do not believe only an elite few should attempt to preach in an ‘expository’ way. Mr. Murray’s advice that novice preachers tread carefully is wise. But every Christian should always be maturing and growing. Safe, easy methods that stretch neither the preacher nor the congregation are a recipe for dull sermons, tired preachers and bored congregations.

To tithe, or not to tithe?

But is 10% an appropriate amount? When we look at the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament, we often find God’s people gave a tithe. (By definition a tithe means 10%.) Tithes were given to the Levites (Num. 18) who had responsibility for looking after the tabernacle. They in turn would tithe their tithe to the priests – a special group of Levites who had responsibility for leading, teaching, and officiating at ceremonies. Tithes ensured God’s work would be done, and the whole community benefited.

But tithes weren’t the only way that the Israelites gave. The poor were cared for, particularly family-members (e.g. Lev. 25:35, Deut. 15:7-11). Many offerings were brought to the tabernacle or temple, entirely separate from the tithe. There was also generous giving at special occasions like the building of the tabernacle (Ex. 35:4-29, 36:3-7).

Most people today view tithes in the Old Testament as obligatory, because God didn’t suggest the Israelites tithed, He commanded it. Yet it doesn’t appear to be a civil obligation. No civil punishment was ever specified, and whilst prophets spoke up when people didn’t tithe, tithing was never legally enforced. In that sense, tithing (even in the Old Testament) should never be considered as a ‘tax’. It was a necessary, but voluntary contribution. When the tithe was forgotten, the Levites and priests were forced into ‘secular’ work (Neh. 13:10), depriving the people of their ministry, to the spiritual and material harm of everyone (see Mal. 3:8-10).

The Bible doesn’t tell us directly why 10% was the figure chosen for the Levites, but the most likely answer is that 10% was what they needed. If eleven tribes give 10% to the twelfth then all tribes have roughly the same. (If the Levites ended up with a little more that was probably because they incurred some expenses in carrying out their work.)

So what lessons should we learn from the Old Testament? First, tithes were used primarily to ensure that God’s work could be done, and that those who served God shared equally in material blessings. Second, tithes were not the only way God’s people gave. Third, whilst tithes were necessary, they were not obligatory. They were gifts, not taxes.

Out with the old?

This is all very well, but we have no Levites or priests, and no tabernacle or temple. We live in the New Covenant, and not the Old. How then should we view tithing today?

There are several broad principles that will help us. The first is that the New Covenant is better than the Old (Heb. 7:22, 8:6). Believers in the New Covenant are greater than Old Covenant believers (Matt. 11:11), and will do greater things than even Jesus did (John 14:12). It is inconceivable that New Covenant believers will give less generously than Old Covenant believers. The second principle is that New Covenant believers are freer than those in the Old Covenant. We have died to the law and are released from it (Rom. 7:4-6). This means it is unthinkable that we would be less free than Old Testament believers.

When we look at the Bible’s teaching concerning giving, it fits precisely with these broader theological principles. First, the New Testament model is not a tenth, but the Macedonians who give ‘beyond their means’, in a ‘wealth of generosity’ that belied their ‘extreme poverty’ (2 Cor. 8:1-15, cf. Luke 21:1-4). Jesus was also critical of the Pharisees (Luke 11:42, cf. 18:12) who very carefully tithed tiny amounts of herbs, but neglected more important duties. Doing our best to ensure that we manage the ‘minimum’ is to completely miss the point. Second, Jesus suggests that ‘sons of the king’ (a description which applies principally to Him, but through Him to all His spiritual family) have no obligation to pay the temple tax (Matt. 17:24-27).

Principles for today

We’re now in a position where we can summarise the principles from the whole of the Bible and apply it to ourselves.

• Christians are under no obligation to give a tithe (10%) of their income. Instead our giving should be sacrificial, and proportional to our means.
• Church leaders may teach that giving is necessary, and should be regular (1 Cor. 16:1-2), but they should not enforce giving, nor monitor individuals’ giving.
• Christians’ regular giving to the church does not release them from a duty of care for the poor, nor from additional giving where there is particular need, either inside or outside the church.
• Those employed by the church should receive a fair wage (the Levites’ income was roughly comparable with those who were giving). Christians should give enough to their local church to ensure they can enjoy the benefits of the church’s ministry. 10% ensured this three millennia ago. The information below may help you think this through today.

Only heretical American televangelists promise that if you give them $100, God will ‘repay’ you with all you need to pay off your debts and buy a speedboat. It’s a terrible distortion of a glorious biblical truth, ‘He… will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way…’ (2 Cor. 9:10-11). Giving generously contributes to a righteous character and is a wonderful investment. Generosity’s reward is sanctification, not a speedboat.

But for some, giving generously is not easy. Some Christians even argue that they should not give generously because if they did they’d be breaking the principle that God loves a cheerful giver. What nonsense! The only way to learn the joy of giving is to give.

There will be others who would love to give generously, but they do not control their family budget and the person who does is not a Christian. We should obviously not steal from our spouse, nor act deceptively. But we can give from the part of the budget we do control. And perhaps a non-Christian spouse may be more willing to be generous than we think, particularly when approached prayerfully.

Still others will feel unable to give substantially because their own income is low. Even so, the principles remain. The example of the widow at the temple, and the Macedonians is that we should give out of our poverty. The amount may be less than the rich, but our heart’s desire ought not to be less. This also means that the relatively well-off need to give more, to ease the burden on the poor.

If we don’t give generously, the whole Christian community suffers. How many churches are weak because some members will not give adequately to support the advancement of gospel work? But if we do give, everyone gains. The hungry are fed, the gospel prospers, the giver is enriched, the church is blessed and God is glorified! Lord, teach us to give generously and joyfully.

Postscript: What does my church need from me?

I can’t tell you what your church needs from you, because the Bible says ‘each one must give as he has decided in his heart’ (2 Cor. 9:7). These questions will help you know roughly what your church needs, but only you can decide what to give.

• Look at your church expenses budget. If necessary add anything the leaders feel would benefit the work, or require to ensure the pastor’s family’s income is no less than the average family.* Let’s imagine a church with a current income of £50,000, but which would really benefit from another £10,000 so it could afford to employ a part-time assistant.
• Divide the total by the number of households where a church member controls the family budget. Perhaps there are 50 members representing 30 families but in several of these families the head of household does not attend, leaving 20 families to be considered. We then divide the £60,000 needed by the church by 20 families, giving £3,000 per family.
• What is that figure as a percentage of the average family’s income? In the UK, you can look up the average household income for your area at www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk – it may be higher than you think! Where I live it is £27,000, the average for Wales is £28,000. So £3,000 would be 10.7% of £28,000.
• Take that percentage and use it on your own family’s income to calculate a ball-park figure to help you pray through what to give. Remember that God doesn’t want us to calculate our ‘tithe’ to the exact penny to ensure we give only the amount that is ‘required’!

* This is not a hint to my own church who are already generous towards me!

This post was first written for the Evangelical Magazine.

If you have any difficulties, all three videos are also available on Vimeo (introduction to prioritising and advanced prioritising and advanced collections).

Introduction to Resource Prioritisation:
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Advanced Resource Prioritisation:
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Update: Here’s an additional bonus video on creating collections.
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Darwin, Creation and the Fall – A review article

All evangelicals must accept that if science contradicts the Bible, then science is wrong. But we must also recognise that if science contradicts my interpretation of the Bible, then it could be that my interpretation of the Bible that is wrong, and science, in fact, that is correct. We must therefore be constantly reviewing our interpretation of Scripture in the light of new theological, archaeological or other scientific discoveries.

Often scientific discovery increases our understanding and appreciation of the Bible’s message. But some scientific theories seem opposed to Christian teaching, and, if Richard Dawkins is to be believed, none more so than Darwinian evolution. How we view evolution will have an incalculable impact on how we understand the Bible’s message. It will change not just how we read Genesis, but also our thinking about sin and the fall, and consequently our beliefs about redemption and the work of Jesus Christ. We must therefore be extremely careful in assessing whether Darwinian evolution can be compatible with an evangelical interpretation of the Bible.

Although several books attempt to reconcile Genesis 1‑2 with Darwinian evolution, very few attempt to do so with the doctrine of the fall. A book which wrestles with these issues is therefore to be welcomed. Darwin, Creation and the Fall is a collection of essays by respected theologians and scientists that attempts to demonstrate that a belief in evolution is compatible with an evangelical understanding of scripture. It does so insisting that the fall was a real, historical event.

The book starts with an affirmation of God as creator, and a reaffirmation that Christ is at the centre of the doctrine of creation. Several essays roundly reject various atheist or liberal viewpoints for neglecting or rejecting Christ leading to a failure to understand God’s purpose in creation at all. A major contribution that the essays make is to remind us that it is not only the doctrine of God which is at risk from scientific atheism, but equally the doctrine of man.

Of all the essays, T.A. Noble’s careful exploration of original sin, is perhaps the most stimulating. After surveying historical approaches to original sin, he insists that a Christian understanding of the fall must be understood from the vantage point of the New Testament and in the light of the second coming. Considering the return of Christ can only be done “through revelation and is unknown to human insight… it is not accessible to human science and critical history” (pg 119). But Noble goes on to add that just as the return of Christ will cause monumental change that science cannot know, so also the Fall may have caused an equally radical change that science and historical enquiry are equally incapable of investigating.

Ultimately, however, the book is a disappointment. R.J. Berry’s insistence that the death brought about by the fall is only spiritual and not biological is particularly unsatisfactory. It means he is forced to view the “bondage to corruption” (Romans 8:21) of creation simply as the problems of pollution and man’s lack of praise to God. Surely the death, disaster and disease which so afflicts our planet demands a more robust response? Equally Berry’s arguments bring into question the significance of the promise of physical resurrection, and the reality of Christ’s bodily resurrection, and even whether Scripture is teaching us that heaven is forever when it tells us there is no more death there. Too much is lost, and too little gained. Yet this lead is followed – albeit less dogmatically – by Blocher in a later essay.

It is equally disappointing that there was no discussion on the nature of scientific investigation itself. Since the enlightenment a lot of science has proceeded from the false premise that what we can scientifically test and measure is all that exists. The existence of a spiritual dimension in our world and in ourselves is ignored or rejected by most scientific enquiry. This means that much scientific thinking has literally rejected reality, and is built on a foundation of what is false. Much of the science that came out of the godless Middle Ages would be considered an embarrassment to scientists today, and it is not a coincidence that science advanced rapidly during those periods where a biblical worldview was predominant.

Can you imagine what a difference it would make if most scientists believed that the physical universe was not a closed system, but that there was also a spiritual reality that transcended and affected what we can see and measure? It is of course possible that despite the last century’s slide away from biblical thinking, God in his common grace has redeemed scientific inquiry to the extent that it can largely be relied upon. But that is by no means clear. And, until most scientists take the biblical worldview seriously, many Christians will need far better arguments than those provided in Darwin, Creation and the Fall to persuade them that the Scriptures should be re-interpreted in the light of Darwinian evolution.

A shorter version of this review will appear in the November 2009 edition of the Evangelical Magazine.

Let me give you a flavour of some of the commentaries that are available: Kistemaker/Hendriksen (12 vols, £110), Bible Speaks Today NT (22 vols, £70), Calvin (22 vols, £70), Focus on the Bible (coming soon – 32 vols, £200), Welwyn (coming soon – 49 vols, £210), Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (21 vols, £350), Keil & Delitzsch OT (10 vols, £85), Lenski’s NT (12 vols, £210), New International Greek (12 vols, £375), Pillar NT (8 vols, £175), Word Biblical Commentary (59 vols, £490).

Logos has an astonishing array of resources. The screenshot shows just my commentaries on 1 Corinthians!

Of the other resources the best include a set of IVP dictionaries (17 vols, £90), and the Theological Journal Library (500 vols, £240). Those who enjoy historical theology might appreciate the works of Luther (55 vols, £140), John Bunyan (61 vols, £55), Richard Sibbes (7 vols, £55), Thomas Goodwin (12 vols, £125), John Owen (17 vols, £210), John Knox (6 vols, £70), Richard Baxter (23 vols, £125), Thomas Manton (22 vols, £140), or Francis Schaeffer (22 vols, £70). Partial sets are also available of Spurgeon’s sermons (63 vols, £68), Warfield (20 vols, £210), Jonathan Edwards (2 vols, £85), Boettner (8 vols, £55), Berkouwer (14 vols, £230), Philip Schaff (21 vols, £100), A. A. Hodge (10 vols, £55), A. T. Robertson (15 vols, £105), A. W. Tozer (57 vols, £280), A. W. Pink (40 vols, £175), Lloyd-Jones (10 vols, £105), and John Piper (24 vols, £140).

Systematic theologies include Strong (£30), Hodge (£25), Geisler (£85), Reymond (£30), Grudem (£30), and Erickson (£20). Greek lexicons include BDAG (£105), Liddell-Scott (£95), Friberg (£20), Louw-Nida (£30), Strong’s (£18), and TDNT (10 vols, £140). In Hebrew you can choose from HALOT (£110), Brown-Driver-Briggs (£35), DBL (£28), and TLOT (3 vols, £70). Believe it or not, that’s only a tiny fraction of what’s available – literally everything from Max Lucardo’s Travelling Light to The Ugaritic Textbook (revised edition).

If your Greek or Hebrew is less than you’d like, then Logos has some wonderful features that set it apart from other packages. The most useful are reverse interlinears. Usually interlinears focus on the Greek (or Hebrew) text, and have a very wooden translation in English that follows the Greek word order. John 3:16 in a standard interlinear might read ‘Thusly for loved the God the world so that the son the only born he gave…’. Reverse interlinears do the opposite – they preserve the English word order by moving the Greek words around. The great thing about this is that you can work with the English text (ESV or NRSV), but still have access to all the Greek morphology. You can even search for Greek/Hebrew words and have the results come back in English!

The other key aids in Logos are the exegetical guide and passage guide and bible word study. These effectively bring all your resources together – necessary because the sheer number of Logos resources can make them hard to find. The exegetical guide takes a bible passage, and splits it up into its original words, giving you at-a-glance access to all your resources that relate to each word. The passage guide searches all your commentaries, maps and other resources and displays everything that relates to that passage on one easy-to-access page. Finally the bible word study takes a word (Greek, Hebrew, English – even Syriac or Coptic!) and shows links to dictionaries and details about how that word is used and translated in the Bible.

Verdict: Nothing else comes near Logos for breadth of resources. If you want to use your computer to go beyond searching bible texts, Logos is your best choice.