Cambridge professors and Evangelical beliefs

Posted on 13/08/2026 by Jon Garvey

How do you complete a close study of the Book of Acts, and conclude that it teaches that miracles are to be expected routinely (though they “sometimes” don’t occur) without noticing that the book specifically attributes miracles only to “the apostles,” and overwhelmingly to Peter and Paul?

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Dickens ex machina

Posted on 07/08/2026 by Jon Garvey

I’ve had some further thoughts prompted by my use, in my last post, of Charles Dickens as the quasi-deity creating the world of Oliver Twist. One of the weaknesses of Dickens as a writer, especially in his earlier books, is his use of unlikely coincidence, or deus ex machina, in resolving his plots. It’s not uncommon for his characters to be rescued from difficult situations by bumping into people who happen to have been friends in far-off places and times.

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Rehashing double causation

Posted on 06/08/2026 by Jon Garvey

One of the problems atheists have with theism is the doctrine of double causation. This is usually demonstrated by their belief that finding efficient causes in nature excludes the need for God. Whilst they may find pause for reflection in the Big Bang, every other reference to God in the world is taken to be “the God of the Gaps.”

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The extended God hypothesis

Posted on 01/08/2026 by Jon Garvey

I’m reading Steve Meyer’s Return of the God Hypothesis as part of a self-imposed refresher course on science-faith matters. My reading follows directly on from another fairly lengthy book on cosmological fine-tuning, A Fortunate Universe, by Lewis and Barnes.

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The lab-leak is slowly leaking out

Posted on 26/07/2026 by Jon Garvey

I was quick to become sceptical about the whole COVID civilisation-bust of 2020 and onwards, as a mountain of my posts here from March 2020 demonstrates. But I believe my first mention of the possibility of the escape of a manufactured virus was only that September, and it took several more months before the evidence I was seeing for a lab-leak became overwhelmingly convincing.

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Another reminder that genre is crucial to biblical interpretation

Posted on 17/07/2026 by Jon Garvey

I came across an observation on Genesis (via another YouTube video, I’m afraid) by the late Jewish scholar Nahum Sarna. He noted in the 1960s that the unnaturally high ages of the three founding Patriarchs of Israel may actually be represented by one mathematical formula, suggesting that the ages had numerological and theological, rather than chronological, significance.

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Faith in feelings

Posted on 14/07/2026 by Jon Garvey

I’m getting tired of how many Bible Studies nowadays seem to base all, or most, of their questions on the formulae “How did X feel when ..?” or “How would you feel if…?” or “How does this make you feel?”. I question how much progress in the Christian faith can ever be made by exploring (and discussing) either one’s own feelings or those of Bible characters, on which Scripture is notably reticent.

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Cognitive dissonance – the midwife of wisdom

Posted on 08/07/2026 by Jon Garvey

Cognitive dissonance is usually seen as the enemy of reason. For example, in the science-faith field, the old trope is that the Christian indoctrinated in the superstitions of the Bible, when confronted by the facts of science, becomes mentally scrambled and simply fails to perceive obvious realities. This criticism extends to the highest levels, for example in Jerry Coyne’s attempt to exclude Francis Collins from becoming head of the NIH some years ago, on the grounds that he was a Christian and therefore not scientifically reputable. But in fact, cognitive dissonance can often free the mind to pursue truth.

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Conceptual divergence

Posted on 02/07/2026 by Jon Garvey

A couple of decades ago, when I still lived in the world of general medical practice, one of the local GP appraisers persuaded me and another GP, John, to run a course on spinal manipulation for the next generation of medics. Both of us had learned the same stuff, from the same pioneering doctors, John Paterson and Loic Burn, when we were young GP partners in the early 1980s.

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Gillick competence and sexual abuse

Posted on 24/06/2026 by Jon Garvey

One of the harrowing things about the recently published Rape Gang Report is how often young girls of twelve or thirteen, once discovered to be in abusive situations, are assumed by the police and other authorities to be in consensual relationships.

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