Your Views

Dear Editor,

In March’s Evangelicals Now, Bill James seeks to address what he calls “The problem with empathy.” A few Christian writers and speakers have sought to argue in recent times that whilst we ought to sympathise with others, we shouldn’t empathise. Some have gone so far as to call empathy sin.

Dear Editor,

In his review of the Christian Standard Bible (en February), Vernon Wilkins bemoans the replacement of “propitiation” by “atonement”.

Dear Editor,

I’m interested to know why there is very little training of Christians in general. What do I mean? I cannot remember ever seeing a course on how to read the Bible well, that is open to everyone. There are many courses out there and they all seem to have the mantra – for ministry leaders and teachers. Why is there this unspoken belief that those who are going to teach are the only ones worth teaching? I, personally, would welcome a course on different methods of tackling the study of the Bible. I am never going to teach anyone, I'm not gifted that way. But I still wish to get as much from my Bible study as I can, so I can grow in my faith.

Dear Editor,

I was 12 when David Steel’s Abortion bill was signed into law. It was said then that about 6,000 legal abortions per year where expected as a result of the Act.

Dear Editor,

In your February feature, Martyn Whittock says Christian Nationalism is a contradiction in terms. Really? Does he disapprove of Christians supporting the blue and yellow flags of Ukraine? What about Nelson Mandela, head of the African National Congress – a nationalist organisation? Again, what about Gandhi, Kenyatta, Nkrumah, etc., who were nationalists in the cause of colonial liberation. Were they wrong? That was in the 20th century. In the 19th century, Greece, Italy, Poland – just about all Eastern European countries – were the products of their nationalist struggles against foreign feudal Empires like the Hapsburgs, Romanovs and Ottomans. Were those struggles wrong too?

In the February issue of en, we carried a letter regarding Donald John MacLean’s article on covenant published in the January issue. We asked Donald to respond:

Dear Editor,

Dear Editor,

I am writing with respect to Nicola Laver’s piece on education at home, or as she or a sub-editor have inflated it, ‘Bill may force reporting on Sunday School attendance’ en February 2025.

Dear Editor,

From a February book review, [Mud, Bullets and Open Roads, reviewed by Stephen Ayre] on page 28: ‘David also suffered the blow of losing his first wife, Jenny, to cancer, but God is always faithful and provided a second wife, Mary’.

Dear Editor,

Toby Pitchers argues persuasively for apologetics, and yet I have my doubts because of an important glitch. When Peter writes ‘Always be prepared to give an answer for the hope in you’, it is not at all intended as a rational argument, but as an explanation for suffering for doing what is right.

Dear Editor,

Donald John MacLean, the President-elect of Westminster Seminary UK, gives an excellent summary of most of the main Biblical covenants in his article in the January 2025 edition of en.

Dear Editor,

The scandals over the past few years which have rocked the church are grievous, and ones which should cause us to reflect deeply and lament.

Dear Editor,

Donald John MacLean’s article in the January issue of en missed mentioning who the New Covenant as prophesied by Ezekiel and Jeremiah was inaugurated with, and I was left wondering why?

Dear Editor,

Having written about creation care myself and doing my best to bring the need for creation care to a largely materialistic Christian Church, I was confused by the article ‘Is creation care a gospel issue?’ by John Samuel and Richard Buggs in the January edition of en.

Dear Editor,

Paul Blackham’s article on Transparency (January en) is timely and thoughtful, but opens a juicy can of worms.

Dear Editor,

We shouldn’t let the failings of those high up in the Church of England affect our view of all Christian denominations.

Dear Editor,

There is a well-trodden and modish political trend which imagines that one can separate the religious content of Christianity from what poses as an ethical and cultural framework of values labelled ‘Christian’.

Dear Editor,

Having great respect for Julia Cameron, I tried not to read her too quickly before I commented (‘Evangelical History’, en December 2024) I also knew Timothy Dudley-Smith – he was one of my bishops when I was a curate. In the 1970s and afterward, I read the CPAS magazine Together, and used the Falcon publications and the Good News Bible. So I hope I don’t need Bob Dylan’s warning: ‘Don’t criticise what you don’t understand’.

Dear Editor,

Please forgive a note to clarify some potentially damaging confusion in recommending churches for people moving abroad.

Dear Editor,

I fully accept that all sides of an opinion have the right to be heard, but I myself am very dismayed by the way Timothy Reynolds (in his letter in the November issue of en) slighted Donald Trump.