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Letter from America

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Nov 2015

Yet another survey of American religious beliefs has come out recently.

This was a telephone survey of 1,000 adults that purports to show that most Americans (no surprise here), including those who do not affiliate with a denomination of one kind or another, believe in a ‘Creator’*.

Letter from America

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Oct 2015

Jesus famously said: ‘Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and to God that which is God’s.’

Scholars have long debated the exact significance of this phrase. Certainly it was a brilliant, Houdini-like, escape from the trap that was set for him. He took a coin, showed them the face on the coin, and pointed out that it might not be so immoral after all to give Caesar taxes, given that the money they were using was distributed by Caesar anyway. But at the same time he made it clear that allegiance through all and above all was to God.

Letter from America

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Apr 2015

This week a man nicknamed ‘Africa’ was shot by police in Skid Row in Los Angeles.

Unusually after such incidents it emerged that there was a video of the event that had been posted online. No doubt, there will be discussion as to what exactly took place and why the man was shot. The police say that he was grabbing one of the policemen’s guns.

Letter from America

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jul 2015

It is becoming more apparent day-by-day that Western culture is facing a post-Christendom reality.

Bruce Jenner1, the Supreme Court debating homosexuality2 and on and on. What then evangelicals?

Letter from America

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Jan 2015

The slogan WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) was popular some years ago.

It was a way of attempting to summarise a complicated ethical challenge to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. For all its brevity, and inevitable inaccuracy (there are some ways that the answer to what Jesus would do cannot be applied to mere mortals like you and me – walking on water, for one thing) it is an interesting question to ask about the current crisis taking place in Ferguson.

Letter from America

Josh Moody

Date posted: 1 Feb 2015

The year was off to such a good start.

Finally we said goodbye to Newsweek’s scandalous butchery of the multi-faceted academic debate regarding the historical reliability of the Bible – a reliability that has eminent, respected and authoritative defenders from the late great F.F. Bruce to the esteemed denizens of Tyndale House in Cambridge University. Perhaps the New Year would usher in a season of common sense to Western culture. No such luck.