Galileo was one of those guys who could turn his hand to most things - a ‘polymath’; he has been called the father of science, modern physics, astronomy and the scientific method. Galileo got into deep water with the Roman Church when, in 1633, they deemed him a heretic for his observations that it was the Earth that rotated round the Sun (the Copernican model) and not the other way around.

DISNEY’S LIVE-ACTION remake of classic tale Beauty and the Beast has been one of the most hotly anticipated films of 2017. Such an enduring, enchanting tale could hardly fail to bring in the big bucks, and so it was little surprise that, in its opening weeks at the box office, it became the biggest film on the planet.

Human beings have much in common with ancient ruins. There is a grandeur that can still be seen, but much has fallen into disuse and disrepair. As we investigate the nature of Christianity this is a major element we must build into the picture – what human beings are by design and what we have become by rejecting the Designer.

IN 2016 there were 70,440 children in care in the UK. Of this number, 5% were placed back with parents and only 4% were adopted. This left the majority in foster care, secure units or other residential placements like children’s homes. How should that affect us as Christians? What can the Church do to help? This article will look at adoption and the next issue will deal with fostering

Christianity is far from a hobby you can just add on to your life. Rather, it is something that reorders your life from top to bottom, with this person called Christ (his title) or Jesus (his given name) at the very centre. Something Jesus said only hours before his arrest points out just how important he is, “I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). A Galilean peasant in his thirties is saying that he – in his person and his work – is the exclusive means of access to the God of the universe. It is a breathtaking claim that must be accepted or denied.

Galileo was one of those guys who could turn his hand to most things - a ‘polymath’; he has been called the father of science, modern physics, astronomy and the scientific method.

War is a terrible thing. Those who are most in favour of war are generally those who are safe in the knowledge that they will never be called upon to fight. War brings suffering beyond description – to combatants and non-combatants: lives destroyed, bodies and minds devastated.

WE ALL love mysteries. Story writers know how we are enticed by a tale where the true causes of an event lie hidden in complex plans devised by powerful institutions. You are drawn in as you follow the hero’s discoveries, and all is put right once the evildoers are exposed and vanquished. The present popularity of conspiracy theories reaches far beyond the world of entertainment.

PICTURE THE SCENE: Thursday afternoon, sometime around 2pm. Stuffy classroom, not yet even the end of the day, let alone the week. Lunch has left you with serious drowsy numbness, and the bell went before you could finish that conversation with your friend. Now this: not only are you stuck in school, but you have to learn another language. As the teacher starts to explain how to give directions to the cinema in Toledo in Spanish, your brain simply shuts down. “Why?” I hear you cry. It seems so utterly futile. You’ve never been to Toledo and, even if you were there, you would be appreciating the sights, not going to the cinema, nor would you ever dream of actually asking a Spanish person in Spanish about how to get there. They all speak English anyway.

YOUNG MEN - what do you want to be when you grow up? If you have been blown away by the Gospel there will be stirring within you a deep compulsion to serve King Jesus. You can do that in almost any walk of life: working on the farm, sitting behind a desk, driving a van, teaching children, collecting the bins or delicately operating on an aortic valve. It is exciting when young men passionately want to serve Jesus Christ not only in their workplace but in something more.