Turn The Page

It’s the oldest objection to God in the world, most recently expressed to me as follows: ‘God has watched while thousands have died during the pandemic; exactly as he did during two World Wars, the Holocaust, and the Rwandan and Bosnian genocides. He didn’t do a thing because he doesn’t exist.’ But just for a […] The post Why doesn’t God do something? appeared first on Turn the Page.

Since the beginning of lockdown, the UK government has racked up £300 billion in debt, providing extra resources for the NHS and furloughing millions of workers. I’m told that the last time this happened was in 1835. On that occasion slavery had just been abolished and the money was used to compensate slave owners for […] The post Paying off debt appeared first on Turn the Page.

My father died from cancer when I was just a year old. I have no memory of him whatsoever, although for a year I must have heard his voice and felt the warmth of his embrace. Then one day he just vanished from my life. Later during my school years my friends would sometimes ask […] The post Father’s Day appeared first on Turn the Page.

When Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy in June 1944, they didn’t expect to meet much in the way of resistance. The biggest naval bombardment in history had been launched against German defences, and just before landing 5,000 rockets were fired against German positions. It should have been enough to neutralise the enemy. But […] The post We’re all sinners appeared first on Turn the Page.

Some years ago I found myself caught up in the aftermath of a bombing and subsequent rioting. Mindful of my safety my hosts wisely insisted that I should remain ‘locked down’ until the danger had passed. It was a strange experience being in isolation while just yards away the streets were in chaos.  When I […] The post Emerging from lockdown appeared first on Turn the Page.

I regularly see this picture with words, ‘There are 5,000 gods worshipped by humanity…. but only yours is right’. The accusation is that any religion that makes an exclusive claim to truth is arrogant. The problem, of course, that the accusation itself is an exclusive claim – no religion is true – and, therefore, fails […] The post One way? appeared first on Turn the Page.

Divisions in society are probably as old as time itself. In the time of Jesus there were three fault lines that divided people from one another: Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free. That was just the way that it was. But then Jesus arrived on the scene and drove a coach and […] The post All lives matter appeared first on Turn the Page.

As recent events in the UK have shown it can be one thing to pass a law and quite another to work out how it applies. This is not a new thing. Four thousand years ago God gave a simple framework of laws to govern how we were to live – the Ten Commandments. The […] The post The letter or the spirit appeared first on Turn the Page.

A British missionary arrived in Africa keen to share the Good News of Jesus. He hired local porters to carry his gear and set off into the jungle. After a full day’s marching through the heat of the day they stopped for the night, and after a fitful night’s sleep he was eager to set […] The post Time to slow down appeared first on Turn the Page.

Internet speeds in my village are pretty glacial, so a free upgrade to Superfast Fibre Broadband just before lockdown seemed like good news. Sadly, the day arrived and the internet stopped working. After several phone calls a visit from an engineer was arranged, but he decided he needed to climb a telegraph pole and wasn’t […] The post Free Upgrade appeared first on Turn the Page.

At 11.01pm on 8th May 1945 the German surrender was signed, and Victory in Europe declared. People poured onto the streets, and from the balcony of Buckingham Palace the King and Prime Minister joined in the celebrations of a hard-won victory over tyranny. But Europe was a continent in ruins. Some regions were on the brink […] The post Securing the Peace appeared first on Turn the Page.

I keep seeing social media posts implying that Covid-19 demonstrates either God’s unwillingness or inability to deal with the current pandemic. Well the story of the Prodigal Son says otherwise. In the story an ungrateful son rejects his father and takes off with his inheritance. Because his father loves him, he lets him – to […] The post Who’s to blame? appeared first on Turn the Page.

Air travel in the 1960’s was a bit more exciting than it is now. Exciting if you didn’t mind being hijacked that is. Reluctant to cause hold-ups with check-in security, airlines were happy to let people board without checking their bags. So it was that on 31st October 1969 Raffaele Minichiello stepped aboard Flight TWA85 […] The post A Life Transformed appeared first on Turn the Page.

In 2007 Andrew Lloyd Webber was busily writing the score for a new musical. He recorded the music on his piano’s built-in computer. It was the only copy. So, quite a setback when his kitten, Otto, climbed inside the instrument and managed to delete the whole thing. Fortunately, Andrew had a good memory and was […] The post (God’s) Love Never Dies appeared first on Turn the Page.

Heathrow Airport is rather quieter at the moment than it used to be. Probably rather like it was when it started life as the Great West Aerodrome in 1929 fourteen miles from the centre of London. At the time the aerodrome sat amongst farms, market gardens and orchards. It seemed the perfect place for an […] The post I wish I could start again appeared first on Turn the Page.

Growing up in Sussex I spent a lot of time at my aunt’s house. She liked to think she was quite posh and never missed an opportunity to teach us good table manners. For example, she impressed upon us that in polite society potatoes should always be served on the right-hand side of a plate. To this […] The post Table Manners appeared first on Turn the Page.

It’s sometimes suggested that belief in Jesus and the resurrection is the same as belief in Father Christmas, or the Tooth Fairy. All are figments of human imagination, childish ideas that we discard as soon as we learn to know better. But there’s an obvious problem: Enormous numbers of children believe in Father Christmas and […] The post Faith and Fairy Tales appeared first on Turn the Page.

Some years ago my daughter dropped her brand new iPhone down the toilet.  At the time she was away at a concert in London. It was some time before she could get home and make some attempt to dry it out. Sadly, by that stage it was well and truly dead and no amount of immersing […] The post I wish appeared first on Turn the Page.

Charting the lives of three thirty-something couples the ITV drama, Cold Feet quickly became a hit. Towards the end of series five all was finally coming together for the youngest couple Rachel and Adam – their relationship was back on track, they had a child and were about to buy their own home. But then […] The post It is finished appeared first on Turn the Page.

In about 1913 two politicians met at the Central Café in Vienna. They were discussing the likelihood of a Russian revolution. One looked across the room and said dismissively, “And who’s going to lead it – him?” The man to whom he referred was none other than Leon Trotsky. Renowned at the time for idleness, […] The post An Unlikely Revolutionary appeared first on Turn the Page.