Vaccines or no vaccines: which is worse?
Actress and television presenter Jenny McCarthy, a prominent figure in the anti-vaccine movement, commented in March 2010 that according to a Time magazine article, experts claim that vaccines do not cause autism, do not harm children, and are a critical aspect of modern public health. McCarthy dismissed the claims as untrue and expressed frustration at their persistence.
Health begins with accurate information
A healthy lifestyle starts with acquiring information properly. In a world flooded with information, patients are often confused and overwhelmed by conflicting nutritional recommendations and spectacular promises about proposed diets. In this context, it is essential to assess the validity of information using well-established criteria.
Taking our fears to God
What feeds our fear in times of crisis, such as this pandemic we are in? How can we avoid letting fear paralyze our search for information and our ability to make the right decisions?
The redefinition that conquered the world
For Carl Sagan, renowned astronomer and militant atheist, God's place in the universe was certain: "The cosmos is all that is, or ever was, or ever will be." For Richard Dawkins, exponent of the "new wave" of atheism, true science is necessarily atheistic and materialistic. This paradigm dominates the scientific world today.
How to build (and how to dilute) a biblical worldview
According to a Barna Group poll, only 6% of Americans have a "biblical worldview", the percentage rising to just 21% for those who regularly attend evangelical churches. This shows that fewer and fewer Christians are turning to Scripture to answer the questions they face.
The illusion of equality and other failures of reason
"Cultural trends now fashionable in the West favour an egalitarian approach to life. People like to think of human beings as the output of a perfectly engineered mass production machine. Geneticists and sociologists especially go out of their way to prove, with an impressive apparatus of scientific data and formulations, that all men are naturally equal and if some are more equal than...
What does the Bible say about climate change?
During the COVID-19 lockdown last year, I lived with some messy people. I’d moved into a house that I shared with a wonderful couple of brothers. They were almost everything you could ask for in a set of housemates. Friendly, funny, respectful of your privacy . . . genuinely great people in almost every respect.
Teachers who shape us
"The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts." (C. S. Lewis)
(Un)Interesting sermons and the forgotten art of listening to the Word
If we were asked how many of the thousands of sermons we’ve listened to in a lifetime were truly memorable, the answers might not be too encouraging for those called to share Scripture. Equally challenging, however, remains the way we prepare to be good listeners of the Word.
“Thanks for coming over!” | Ageing and social relationships
Our number of friends tends to decrease as we get older, but this trend, which has many negative effects, can be actively combated even when old age has already set in.
Breaking the crisis cycle
In 1991, authors William Strauss and Neil Howe published Generations, theorising that every 80 years (one generation cycle) would consist of four “turnings”. Beginning after a crisis, the first turning would involve a feeling of recovery, or “high”. The second would be a spiritual awakening, while the third would see the dissolution of institutions and the rise of individualism. And finally, a crisis...
A brief history of the freedom of speech
“If you say to me, 'Socrates... you shall be let off, but upon one condition, that you are not to enquire and speculate in this way any more, and that if you are caught doing so again you shall die'; if this was the condition on which you let me go, I should reply: 'Men of Athens, I honour and love you; but...
Unpacking Christmas
Every few years, our Christmas lasts for a week. My husband’s family rents a large house and four generations gather from England, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Netherlands, Chile and Argentina. This year there will be more than 30 of us—including two new babies.
Hudson Taylor | When the mountains move aside
Hudson Taylor undertook eleven journeys between Europe and China, and his mission prospered. He had one of the most complex and successful visions for evangelism.


























