Your Views

Dear Editor,

I was very surprised to see Dan Strange’s remark that the valuable formula that we are “in the world but not of it” is not from Scripture (although I think he was endorsing it). It’s from John 17, verse 14 plus verse 18.

Dear Editor,

I would like to comment on the recent article “In defence of Trump”.

Dear Editor,

In his letter (en March 2025), Andrew Proud bemoans my bemoaning of the CSB’s replacement of ‘propitiation’ by ‘atonement’. I protest! I bemoaned not! I am a great fan of the word ‘atonement’, and have a zillion times explained Tyndale’s invention of the term in my own Bible teaching, and its meaning.

Dear Editor,

In Lois McCrea’s article discussing the problems working mums face there was one very notable omission. The husband and his contribution to running family life was not mentioned once.

Dear Editor,

Re “The BBC and the Bible” (en April). I write to express a view on the sad tale of the problems there were in setting up the Museum of the Bible in Washington DC, as outlined by Chris Sinkinson in your April edition.

Dear Editor,

An en reader wrote recently: “I’m interested to know why there is very little training of Christians in general,” (en letters, March 2025). Great question! It hasn’t always been thus; in the church’s history there have been times when intensive training for all believers – not just for pastors and leaders – has been a high priority. Knowing God is an eternal and joyful task, and being learners and lovers of God is core to our identity as His people.

Dear Editor,

Many thanks to George Crowder for his thoughts (‘Four myths about contending for the truth in the CofE’, en April 2025) based on Jude 3-4, which, as he alludes to in his first point, does not solely affect the CofE. However, I would suggest that the grass IS greener in some other structures such as Newfrontiers, Vineyard, etc.

Dear Editor,

If anyone was in any doubt as to the downward spiral of spiritual degeneration that the Church of Scotland is in, they need look no further than the news concerning St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Dear Editor,

Should empathy really be thrown out the window as my friend Bill James argues in his comment piece in March’s en (p.15)? Is sympathy sufficient?

Dear Editor,

The article in the January issue of en “Is creation care a gospel issue” first introduced me to the phrase “gospel issue”. Maybe I am behind the times, but to me the gospel has essentially been John 3:16 – known as “the gospel in a nutshell”.

Dear Editor,

In his letter (April en), Andrew Proud quite rightly points out that the use of “propitiation” in hymns is rare. For many years, our church used Gadsby’s Selection. I found one hymn in there which uses the term: hymn 130 by Joseph Hart. Praising the character and offices of Jesus Christ, verse two reads:

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your brief obituary of my good friend John Wesson in the April issue of en.

Dear Editor,

I was particularly grateful for the letter in your April edition raising the question of training for ordinary Christians and church members. The concern raised was an entirely valid one that churches must take seriously. Failure to offer such training raises the spectre of creating a two-tiered religion with a caste of super-believers that require special training that is simply beyond the ken of the ordinary Christian. Or, to put it another way, runs the risk of a return to the errant clergy-laity divide of Roman Catholicism that fundamentally denied the existence of a priesthood of all believers.

Dear Editor,

How I appreciated the article sent in by Rani Joshi on being single (March en). I am a retired, female, missionary who was (I think) well cared for by my church while serving overseas. Since I have returned it’s been quite different.

Dear Editor,

I have read the debate between Matthew Roberts and John Stevens on “concupiscence” and have to confess that I did not fully understand it!

Dear Editor,

In the March issue of en, Jules Loveland thinks what churches need in regard to safeguarding is a conversation. “Now is the time for churches to have an urgent and honest conversation about the churches ability to protect people from harm, its culture, and how it is held responsible.”

Dear Editor,

I was very interested to read Glen Scrivener’s article “We’re almost ALL digital evangelists now” in your March issue.

Dear Editor,

Andy Lines’ article “When secondary issues feel like primary ones” in the March issue of en does not mention the issue of what is the judgement of God on the unsaved on the Day of Judgement.

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.