Archbishop Rowan Atkinson?

 

 The tragic state of the Church of England

This week has revealed the sorry state of the Anglican church like rarely before. After the vote went against ordaining women bishops, the Archbishop, Rowan Williams, said this, quoted from the BBC website:

"Whatever the motivations for voting yesterday, whatever the theological principle on which people acted and spoke, the fact remains that a great deal of this discussion is not intelligible to our wider society - worse than that, it seems that we are wilfully blind to some of the trends and priorities in that wider society."

He revealed in this short statement a fundamental flaw of the Anglican church - it prefers public opinion to Christ's word. In other words, for him the embarassing thing was that the Anglican church was running against the "trends and priorities" of the world.

If we were to ask why so much of the Anglican church is weak, we need look no further than the Archbishop's words......

Why should Christian discussion be intelligible to the world?
Why should Christian theology be intelligible to the world, whose thinking has become futile (Romans 1:21) and is in fact foolishness (1 Cor 1:20). And since the wisdom of God is foolishness to the world, why should they understand what we are on about? What is more, on the very subject of women bishops, how can the world understand the basic principle that lies behind God's order between the sexes, that there can be order without hierarchy (see later)?

Why should we follow the trends and priorities of the world?
I don't know if this is an 'established church' society-pleasing blind-spot, but the Archbishop has got things exactly upside down. The church is never to follow the world. We are called not to love the world or the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15-17), or the thinking of the world (Psalm 1:1). Rather we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). In fact if the world is demanding something, it's a pretty good bet we are called in the opposite direction, for they are still in the dominion of darkness from which we have been delivered (Colossians 1:13). We are to expect hatred from the world, not applause or rewards, because it hated Jesus first (John 15:19).

It is truly disturbing to find the Archbishop lamenting the unpopularity of the church in the eyes of the world. He should instead be applauding the church for her stand.

Theology by Weathervane?

If we were to follow the Archbishop's logic, the church would meekly follow the world like Mary's little lamb. What shall we do next? Let us ask the present (and passing, for their opinions will change tomorrow) world what to do and believe?

There are lots of atheists out there, so let's abandon our belief in God!

There are some of anti-miracle scientists out there, let's abandon our belief in the Resurrection.

There are lots of pedophiles out there, and who is to say that one day the world will not recognise their practices as it has come to recognise the practice of  homosexuals? (If you think this is far-fetched, it's you that has the problem, not me: just pick up a history book, or check out the web article below. Present history alone proves the case: fifty years ago it would be unthinkable that a Prime Minister would be at the forefront of advocating the gay agenda. That is how fast social mores can change).

So should the church, following the world yet again, then acknowledge their practices and welcome unrepentant pedophiles into membership?

Doing theology by weather vane or the Mary's little lamb principle, you see, is a treacherous business. 

Women Bishops?
But what about the issue behind the vote? Should women become bishops? How do we determine such an issue? If we reject the Archbishop's method - ask the world what it thinks - what should we do instead? We should go to the Word of Christ, surely. And there we find a clear pointer, which the world will and can never understand.

Equal but different

Men and women are equal in God's eyes, both made in the image of God, but their differences go beyond physiology. According to Genesis 1 & 2 there is an order between men and women. God created man first, he gave his word to the man, he created the woman for the man, he created her out of the man. He gave responsibility to the man, for when Eve usurped that responsibility by replying to the serpent, God blames Adam for listening to his wife.

Adam and Eve are equal but there is an order between them. 

The world can never understand this, because it has no model to grasp the principle: that there can be order without a hint of hierarch. But we in the church have a wonderful example: the trinity.

In the Godhead, Father, Son and Spirit are co-equal, they are each God, yet, there is an order between them. The Father sends the Son, but the Son never sends the Father. The Father and the Son send the Spirit, but the Spirit never sends the Father or the Son. The Son constantly obeys the Father, but the Father, does not obey the Son.

Order but no hierarchy
Because of the abuse of power and position in the world, it cannot understand that there can be order without a hint of hierarchy. But there is perfect order without a hint of hierarchy in the Godhead. And this model is found between men and women in Scripture.

The husband is the head of the wife, says Paul, Ephesians 5:22-24. That does not mean he can go around bossing his wife hither and thither; no, he is called to love his wife and care for her.

And right throughout the New Testament, without a single exception, men are called to both lead the church and to be its teachers. Jesus, who was Mr Counter-cultural, could have chosen 6 men and 6 women, but he didn't. Paul could have chosen two sisters to lead his churches, but he chose Timothy and Titus. Without a single exception, all the leaders of the NT church are men. Women play an amazing and wonderful role, but they don't lead the church or preach to men.

Why? Because the creation order is expressed, not only in husband-wife relationships, but in church relationships too (it would be very strange if in the home life, a woman had to acknowledge the headship of her husband, but could then go and express headship over other men in the church).

Declining attendance

Perhaps the reason attendance of the Church of England is in decline is that she is so much like the world.

Why go to church when you can hear the same "doctrine" on the box, in the Sunday newspapers, or on the internet - and in the comfort of your own home, without going out to a cold breezy religious building?

Thankfully there are some Anglican churches and Anglican pastors who are faithful to Christ. We ought to pray for them. And pray that the next Archbishop might be more concerned about the honour of Christ than about pleasing the world.

The true underlying tragedy
The tragedy, for me, is that the Archbishop said not one word about Christ or his Word in his closing statements. His only concern was to be right in the eyes of men. If he had argued the cause of women bishops from Scripture, I wouldn't have written this blog - I would have disagreed with him - and done so in love.  But all he was worried about was what the world thinks.

I don't know whether we should laugh or cry.

If we thought that the cause of Christ in the UK was tied to the Anglican church we might weep.

But since that is not the case, perhaps we should laugh: I didn't get the Archbishop's name wrong in the title.

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 A disturbing article about academics advocating "intergenerational intimacy" (read pedophilia). (It's not the only one)

Spared from injury or death in Kenya - why?

A "missions" trip
Four of us from our home church have just returned from a 'missions' trip to Kenya. Inverted commas, because if anything it is reverse missionary work for the westerner. We must never think of ourselves as some great white "bwanas" out there to help the poor "natives".  That is not just imperial contempt, it is spiritual self-deception. African Christianity probably has more to teach us than we will ever teach it. Why? Because suffering for the sake of Christ, rather than knowledge, riches or organizational abilities is the badge of true Christianity - and African Christians know what suffering for Christ's sake is all about.

With that common misunderstanding off my chest, there are perhaps some things westerners can contribute to the Africans, as well as the more numerous things they can contribute to us. Perhaps we can encourage local pastors-leaders to train other pastors so that the "mile wide and inch deep" African church may mature itself by the grace of Christ.

The art of ART

This is where African Rural Trainers comes in. Established by Jeremy and Jan Peckham, it seeks to equip three full-time men to train other pastors. 150 pastors are due to complete their training next year and 500 more may sign up for the second round next year. 

Two elders from Manor Park church went with Jeremy and Jan to do a lot of learning, a little teaching, and to be an extra pair of eyes and ears for Jeremy and Jan.

We went for ten days, and on day four we were spared from serious injury or even death....

The accident

the car after rolling

The brief account is this: on the B3 from Narok to Bomet we were hit from behind by a truck which caused us to spin 180 degrees and hit the car in front. The car in front then came off the road but managed to come to an uneventful stop. After being hit, our Toyota Voxy (a big eight-seater MPV) rolled over and over, landing driver side beside the road in a wide rain ditch. One of our number was thrown out of the car as it span but was not crushed by the car as it came to rest right beside her.

Another came out of his seatbelt. (For the physicists among you, he was seated at the pivot of the spin where the g-forces are smallest and so his seatbelt did not lock.) On the last roll the top half of his body, but not his waist and legs, was thrown out of the window and he saw the car roof falling to his chest - but it came to rest just inches away from him and he was able to clamber free.

Miraculously no serious harm was sustained to the six of us apart from minor cuts, bruises and aches. We were shaken and sobered, but we are still in the land of the living.

the car after being turned right

Looking at the written off car (below, right) a few days later we wondered how anyone could have emerged without serious injury or even death.

The saddest part
Tragically, after hitting us, the truck went on to smash into a car coming in the opposite direction. All three occupants were called from time into eternity in the twinkling of an eye.

Two of the three who died were pastors - for all we know, rural pastors.

the car at the police depot

Sober thanksgiving and reflection - why were we spared?
A few days later we returned to the sight of the crash to pray - and reflect.  God spares us for a reason, and one of those reasons is to renew our vows to walk upright in his sight:

I am under vows to you, O God;
    I will present my thank offerings to you

 For you have delivered me from death
    and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God
    in the light of life. Psalm 56:12-13

praying at the scene days later

But why were six believers spared while three were lost? Perhaps God has further purposes and plans for our lives. For sure, it has nothing to do with the merit of the six or the sinfulness of the three. Rather it has everything to do with God's mercy on the one hand and his inscrutable purposes on the other. 

We were enabled by God's grace to continue with the trip and found ourselves just perhaps, a little bit more fit to speak to God's suffering people in Kenya.

We pray for the families of the three who lost their lives, and for the two congregations who gathered at the police compound a few days later to mourn and wail the loss of their dear pastors.

Doing Theology, Age Ten

Every Christian a 'theologian'

The word "theology" is not in the Bible, but the idea is. Theology comes from two Greek words, 'theos' for God, and 'logos' for reason. In the same way that biology is the study of the biosphere, theology is the study of God and his ways. For a believer this means the study of God's ways in his Word and world through the Scriptures.

A different way of learning - and different conclusions
Placing theology alongside biology or physiology or whatever other 'ology' is however, dangerous. There is a world of difference between studying the world around us and 'studying' God, and if we don't grasp the difference we'll soon go astray. For one thing, theology is worship. It is unthinkable that we should study God and his ways as some kind of intellectual exercise! Only a reverent attitude of humble worship will suit the Majesty of the Subject. A second difference with theology is this: studying God? What an insult to God, as if he were a subject and we were the object! As if we were 'up here', the analysing mind, and he was 'down there', the subject to be explored.  As if the object/subject relationship in all other branches of learning could be applied to God and us! If anyone is the Object it is God, if anyone a subject it is us. A third reason for a great divide between theology and every other 'ology' is that learning without obedience is impossible. In any other discipline, how you behave probably doesn't affect the learning process, but in theology, obedience and learning go together, "I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts" Psalm 119:100. A final difference is this: no 'student' of theology rises to any appreciable height. So high and mighty are God's ways, so past finding out, that we always remain in kindergarten, forever in kindergarten.

After saying all of that, every believer ought to desire to know God and his ways better, to love him with their whole beings, body, soul and mind. And this happens through God's Word.

My ten year old theologian!
Last week my wife and I went to one of those parent-teacher evenings for our ten year old son Caleb. As we sat waiting to see the teacher (why are they always delayed by 20 minutes?) we read through his writing books.

One little sentence caught my eye, and lifted my soul.

The class had been asked to write a piece on animal-testing for medical purposes. And this is a paraphrase-from-memory of what Caleb wrote:

“Although I love animals to bits and don’t like any experiments on them, God made man in his image higher than the animals, so provided steps are taken to make the pain as little as possible, I think it is better if animals die to help humans to live.”

Apparently he had some heated debates with other animal lovers that day! Now what pleased me was the way he was applying his theology to life. If God made us in  his image but not the animals, it follows that we are far more valuable than they, and provided we cause minimal suffering to them, it is OK to use them to alleviate the suffering of God's higher creation. He might not have his biblical ethics on animal testing all sorted out perfectly but this was a good start.

The alternative world-view flows from naturalism and evolution. If we, like the animals have evolved, then there is no reason to place us above the animals and 'immoral' to experiment on them. Caleb hadn't bought into these modern myths, and for that I thank God.

The blunt fact of the matter is that the Biblical viewpoint alone is true: human beings stand head, shoulders and cliff-face above every other creature. There is no gradual incline from amoeba to monkey to man. There is a sharp discontinuity between all living creatures and us. This is very easy to show, especially when an instance of so-called likeness between animals and ourselves ('look the monkey is using a tool') is examined in elementary detail. (Example: 'tool' is an anthropomorphism used by ape-loving communities; the stupid ape is using a stick for one tiny little purpose, it is unable to use it in any other way: it is not a tool, it's a stick. "Using a tool' is an insult to the word and idea tool.)

Don't misunderstand me, the monkey stands infinitely above rocks and sand: it's not the lowliness of monkeys, but the nobility of man we are talking about here.

The point: a renewed mind
But here is my point. Every Christian should be doing theology: applying God's Word to the issues that surround us in the world. If our thinking is not renewed in this way, by God's Word, it will, by default be conformed to the pattern of this world, and we will be thinking and acting like the world which passes away.

The best way to talk

Have we got it right: modern ways of talking?
In the church of Jesus Christ, love is the greatest; deep loving, understanding relationships central. It is out of these relationships that the world will see that we are followers of Jesus Christ.

But all relationships feed on communication, therefore how we communicate, affects our relationships. Are we in danger of using harmful, or at least inadequate, forms?

Ways we communicate

Many of our ways of talking are electronic: texts, phone-calls, e-mails, Facebook, Skype, and so on. But as helpful as these means are, they all fall short of the ideal.

God's method of communication
..... God sets the gold standard of communication. He has spoken to us through his Son, who is The Word. All previous ways of communicating, whether prophets or visions, are superseded by God's supreme Word to us.

What is so significant about God's ultimate disclosure was that it was personal, face-face. How do we know what God is like? We walk around with Jesus Christ through the Gospels and see him in action and through his words and actions learn what he is like.

God could have chosen to send down a set of gold plates from heaven with his words inscribed upon them, but instead he chose his Son, The Word, incarnated as a living, beating human being, to speaks to us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

God has spoken to us in glorious flesh and blood 3-D. 

Our template...
There is something about 3-D that trumps all the other forms of communication we use today, including blogging. For one thing, it is harder to misunderstand one another when we are in person. For another, it's "hard to hate when you get that close" (to steal a line from Harry Chapin).

I don't know what all of this means for we who believe, apart from the need to make face-to-face our primary means of communication, and other means very much secondary.

Stuart Olyott's "Don't phone me" plea
I will never forget a former pastor of mine, long before the days of e-mail and Facebook, telling his congregation not to phone him but to talk to him in person. He recognized that even a 2-D phone call (one up from text, for moods can be detected) did not match 3-D human communication.

Stop reading this blog and let's go for coffee at Caffe Bolero....

Myths for Breakfast and Myths for Supper too

Myths for Breakfast.......

I spent some hours yesterday morning reading "Exhortation to the Heathen" by Clement of Alexandria. In this second century book, the pagan convert to Christianity, Clement, exposes the absurd and impious myths of the Greeks. These myths had entered the cultural consciousness of the people and  provided the worldview from which people were able to answer where things came from, how they should behave, and so on. They weren't challenged by the populace but widely accepted.

But then Clement, who absorbed these myths as a child, gets converted to Christ who is the truth. And now he begins to question the myths he has been brought up on and here is the important bit - he exposes them for what they are:  absurd and impious.

He does a great service to his culture and the church.

..... and myths for Supper
Later that very evening, I watched Stephen Hawking's "Universe". And I was flabbergasted with how low-on-fact and high-on-philosophy/myth the programme was. I could not help thinking exactly what I'd thought that very morning, "What a bunch of foolish fables!"

Two thousand years hasn't changed the human heart.

And nor has science.

The central myth of the programme was that natural laws unaided by any kind of  external intelligence can produce the beautiful, complex and fine-tuned universe we live in.

But the evidence for intelligence - the need for intelligence to describe nature - has been pouring in over the last few decades, in Hawking's field as much as in other fields.

Take for example, the many physical constants in nature which are "set" at a certain, specific value. It turns out that you cannot alter these values by very much or there would be no universe at all. Like the cogs in a clock, a small change in a cog's size or number of teeth, quickly renders the clock useless.
This fine-tuning points to an intelligence.

The fables of today
Today, of course, our fables can't contain mythological men and monsters, they have to be clothed in science. But they are fables just the same for they are designed to explain where we came from, how we should behave etc., etc.

The real problem with these modern fables is pride. The idea that modern science/ scientists can answer all the questions of the universe.  Hawking revealed this hubris (probably unwittingly - which makes it all the more tragic) when he said:

                   "My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, 
                     why it is as it is and why it exists at all."

As if a mere puny small human mind can grasp the mysteries of the universe.

There is a great need for modern day Clements who will expose these empty myths for what they are, and save both the world and the church from their vacuous lies.

Eight characteristics of cultish groups: Beware!

The heydey of cults

When I was a teenager, it was common to be warned against cults like the Moonies, Children of God, JW's and Scientology. Today this warning is not heard sufficiently, even though Satan is as active today as he was in the seventies (...of course!!)

We need to be on our guard, however, not only against the overt cults, such as those listed above, but groups with cult-like characteristics. The New Testament warns us against what we might call cultish groups and individuals who will prey on the young and the vulnerable.

Hallmarks of a cult or cultish group
Here are some of the marks of a cult, or a group on its way to becoming a cult:

David Berg - leader of Children of God cult

(1) Cultish groups are run by strong personalities. If you are young and immature their commands can sound like "spiritual authority", when you've been around the block a few times you see it for what it is: wolfish behaviour. Take the example of Diotrephes who loved to be first (and only) in the church (3 John). Diotrephes couldn't stand the apostle John or any of the brothers hanging round his church, so he refused to have anything to do with the apostle John (yes, that's right, he would have nothing to do with an apostle of Christ!), and did not welcome other Christians.

Cultish groups are dominated by powerful (but ultimately insecure) personalities.

(2) Cultish groups actively seek out the naive and vulnerable. They may quite literally go from church to church looking for the weak and vulnerable. Here is how Paul warns us:

"I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way.....Keep away from them..... By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people." (Romans 16:18)

When they are on the hunt, they do not speak to elders or pastors - these they studiously avoid (not least because shepherds are aware of wolves) - but seek out the naive and the vulnerable. Perhaps a young person full of zeal who they could easily deceive and twist to their cause.

(3) Cultish groups use flattery. Of course, none of us should be prone to flattery, for all of us should have a healthy view of ourselves which forces flattery to flow off our backs. In other words, should God ever be pleased to use us, we think it is nothing but amazing, since we know our sinfulness too much to think the blessing had anything whatsoever to do with us. But when you are young and immature, and someone says to you, "You are the most passionate disciple of Christ I've come across in years" or some such deliberate flattery, you have limited experience or self-knowledge to help you deflect the lies away. 

Good old John Bunyan warned us about The Flatterer many years ago, with these sober words:

A man approached them clothed in a light robe who asked them why they stood thus. When the pilgrims informed him of their predicament, the man said, "Follow me, for I too, am going to the Celestial City, and am well acquainted in these parts."
 

Accordingly, they followed him, for he seemed a pleasant man and was full of compliments and fine sayings.

Gradually, almost imperceptibly, the road on which he was taking them turned away from the straight and narrow path; but being absorbed in listening to the fine things their companion was saying about them, they did not notice this deviation, and soon their faces were turned away from the Celestial City.
 

Suddenly, before they were aware of it, he led them into the compass of a large net in which they were so entangled that they could not, in spite of all their efforts, extricate themselves. Then the robe fell from the man, and they perceived he was a dark man whose name was Flatterer.
 

As they lay crying in the net, Christian groaned, "Now do I see myself in an error!"

(4) Cultish groups play nasty. Because they are not followers of  the Jesus who was filled with grace and truth, cultish leaders put no restraint upon their vitriol towards those who disagree with them. They freely damn all people who do not buy into their gnostic myths.  These leaders follow in the steps of the Pharisees, of whom Jesus said,"you travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:15).

(5) Cultish groups have a powerful myth which supports their 'theology'. From the outside, the views of cultish groups look absolutely absurd. And indeed every 'doctrine' is very easily dismantled - they don't hold water, Biblically, theologically, historically or philosophically. But on the inside, supported by group-pressure, the myth seems powerful, even overwhelming. The myth works in the same way as a conspiracy theory works: in a large bank of 1000 pieces of data it is quite possible to select 100 pieces which can be used to support your view. All the other information of course is excluded or conveniently re-explained. But put 100 pieces of data together, and my it looks impressive, especially when it is reinforced by powerful personalities.

(6) Cultish groups are gnostic in theology.  A gnostic is someone who thinks that due to certain   knowledge they have acquired, they have become a member of an elite group of "Christians". The underlying problem with gnostics, however, has nothing to do with the supposed knowledge. The problem is always a spiritual, never a knowledge problem. And the spiritual problem is spiritual pride. All of a sudden they stand above all the other "compromising Christians" in the world. They may even tell you how much they have grown spiritually since they have acquired this knowledge and how poor they were beforehand. All of this is a delusion.  The apostle Paul deals with this error in Colossians 2 in a thorough way - he tells the gnostic (of whatever stripe) that he has actually lost contact with Jesus Christ. 

But Paul's words sound ludicrous to a cult member because....

(7) ....Cultish groups always think they are more zealous than others. Others compromise, they don't. And they boast about all the great sacrifices they have been prepared to make to remain faithful to the truth! They have lost churches, families, jobs and what nots. The truth is this: their zeal is without knowledge, and is more akin to fanaticism than holy zeal.They have lost friends through folly, not on account of truth.

(8) Cultish groups always separate from others. This is one of the chief characteristics of a cult - as soon as you become a member, you must sever all links with former friends. There are only two kinds of people in the world now, those who are in and those who are out. Those who are in are friends, those who are out, enemies.

Any group that bears these  marks is a cult, or on its way to become a cult.  

How should we respond to cultish groups?
(1) Warn fellow Christians. You will need to be specific if you are a church leader. Gather the flock and warn them.

(2) Do not engage with them directly. This is a great temptation but a grave mistake. People under bondage to a satanic suite of lies, are beyond logical argument. All that will happen is an endless string of unpleasant debates - be warned you will never win the debate. 

(3) Use spiritual warfare - pray. I had a relative who got caught up in the Children of God cult, in the sixties (David Berg was the cult leader). I remember the great pain of  relatives as they saw family members come under that powerful and satanic delusion. But the family prayed and he was delivered from the cult.

We have a God who is able to deliver his people from delusions, great or small. If you have a family member who has been drawn into a cult, it is probably best not to argue with them. So powerful is the delusion, they are incapable of seeing past it. In fact arguing will probably confirm them in their view that they are right (they are being persecuted) and confirm to them that you are an outsider. Gently warn, and then get on your knees and pray that the God who could humble Nebuchadnezzar and shatter his delusion, will deliver your loved one too.
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See separate article on Gnosticism:
 "Gnosticism" old and new

The Wonderful Case of Johnny Lennox

Who is John Lennox?
John Lennox is a professor of Maths at Oxford, who is "at the top of his game." Until a few years ago he was largely unknown. But today he is fast becoming one of the world's top apologists for Christianity (a man who is able to defend the truth and explain the Gospel effectively in today's culture). He takes on all the big atheists and demolishes their arguments in a flurry of gracious responses. He is the author of four apologetic books, his first one "God's Undertaker" came out in just 2009.

Why call him "Johnny"?
I heard John Lennox speak recently and what struck me was his ordinariness. He walked on stage with trainers and loose-fitting shirt, covering an ample middle, no tie, no posh hair-styles, no attempt to be anything other than the ordinary, laid-back happy Christian bloke he is.

This in fact is the reason he is so effective. He does not need to put on a suit to hide who he really is. He does not need to hide behind some false image. He does not have to live up to some kind of pattern. He's just himself.

Lessons from John Lennox
I couldn't help think that we have something to learn from this gracious man of God:

(1)  Serve God faithfully, and in God's time, your time will come. Until around 2009 John Lennox was largely unknown in Christian circles. But in the background, he has faithfully served Christ, and just at the right moment, in his sixties!, God has given him a world stage on which to share the Gospel. Too many Christians want to succeed before their time. And boy do they make a hash of it! But if you wait, like Joseph, your moment will come.

(2) Be yourself. Many of Lennox's debating partners, whether Peter Atkins or Richard Dawkins are uptight and nervous - no wonder! - they have an image to preserve, a fan-base to please, a cause which hangs on them alone. None of this applies to Lennox, who knows he is merely a servant of the King, and while he wants to please the King, the King's cause does not rest on the small shoulders of one man.

(3) Listen to others. Lennox stands out as someone who is passionate to listen to the question, and the question behind the question. We too quickly think we know what the question is, but often we don't, for behind the question is the real question. Lennox suggests that if we talk more than 50% of the time, we haven't listened.

(4) Be honest about your views. Lennox does not pretend to be anything but a card-carrying evangelical Christian. He puts his cards on his table, rather than pretending to be what he is not. There is much to be said for this in an age where we can too easily hide our true colours for fear of ridicule or misundrestanding.

(5) WYSIWYG. I've already said this, but What You See Is What You Get with John Lennox. A professor wearing trainers, making no attempts to impress.

Listening to this brother in Christ reminded me more than once of Jesus himself, who, according to Isaiah 53:2, had nothing about him to attract us to himself. In an age of hype and image, we need more honest and more Christ-like men like Johnny Lennox.