Posts by John Staiger (Page 55)

Nebuchadnezzar only did what most men would have done given his position. As King, he looked over the great City of Babylon and proudly attributed its glory and grandeur to himself. God did not tolerate the attempted theft of His glory and punished the king accordingly. Nebuchadnezzar’s years as a madman eating grass like a wide beast ended with his humble acceptance of God as true sovereign. The more a man controls, the more he must fear himself. If not,…

Before Jimmy went off to university, his parents sat him down for a chat. “Son,” they said, “things are going to be financially tight around here, but we are happy to make this sacrifice for you. Make us proud, James.” Well, at the end of the first semester Jimmy’s grades arrived reflecting his indifference towards his studies. Fearing the worst, he sent an Email to his mother saying: “Failed everything—prepare dad!” His mother wrote back and said, “Dad prepared—prepare yourself!”…

I remember an old preacher saying, “A fool can ask more questions than a wise man can answer.” I’m not sure that I am anywhere near being the wise man, but I have been that fool. As Jacob desperately wrestled with the Angel of the Lord, I have desperately wrestled with the contents of the Bible. As I daily grapple with the text, it ever draws me into the struggle to try to fully understand the twists and turns of…

I was introduced to John Clayton’s “Does God Exist?” material early in my Christian walk. Listening to his cassette tape lectures was an enjoyable experience—until he presented his theories on “Theistic Evolution.” He did not convince me that God used a Darwinian Evolution model to create the world, but he did let me know that varying views of Creation existed in the Lord’s church. At Bible College, Howard Scott introduced me to Josh McDowell’s book, “Evidence that demands a verdict.”…

On rare occasions I have sat in the Lord’s church and listened to preachers and teachers say things that are not found in the scriptures. When challenging these teachings, I have, without exception, been assured that what was taught “is believed by many and needs to be heard.” I am not averse to discussing ideas at variance with my own, but when the congregation is being publicly taught things that are not in the scriptures, something must be done. The…

As a child I asked my mother to explain why the ‘real’ mother had told Solomon to give her baby to the lady who had stolen her child. My mother’s explanation, though quoting the given biblical reason, did not convince me of any wisdom on Solomon’s part. The problem lay in the fact that my 8-year-old mind couldn’t accept that a mother would ever give her baby away, and especially to a baby thief? Naturally, time opened my mind to…

The recent Facebook blackout raised more than a few eyebrows. One had to wonder how such a leading Tech-giant could be shut down at all. Surely all the best online engineers work for them, anyway. Some have said it must have been an inside job, and others have pointed the finger at hackers. I’m sure there are logical reasons, but one thing we can all agree on is that the millions upon millions of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users were…

I wish that air travel could be as exciting today as it was the first time I took off on an aeroplane. That was a thrilling experience. I still love the take-offs, but the confined conditions in economy class for up to 14 hours does dampen the spirit a little. Though, things could be worse. Add in baggage delays, extra security checks and long immigration queues and you start wondering why you left home. When flying, one thing that I…

I had never heard of a thing called a “Devotional” before I attended the Lord’s church. Pulpit sermons in the 1970s were still well over 30 minutes long, so these less formal mini-sermons seemed short at 15 minutes long. Everybody has their favourite devotionals. One I remember well was called: “The church is like a football team.” Having duly grabbed our attention with his title, our speaker proceeded to enlist the names of the members sitting before him as players…

The last 18 months has seen much change. Tragically, lives have been lost, businesses closed, jobs suspended, and everybody confined to one degree or another. Add to that, disagreement over needed solutions and what were otherwise healthy relationships have become strained. That is not to say that everyone has had a bad time of it. Some companies have done very well. No commentary is needed on the success of online trading for old and new companies alike. Looking back, the…