Joel Johnson | Biblical History & Theology

How should Christians think and respond? Introduction The topic of abortion is a firebrand in our modern world - one can barely think of a more polarising issue. It's not a topic you would want to bring up at the dinner table or in the lunch room, and certainly not something to bring up with your friends (especially if you want to keep them as friends instead of making them into your enemies).  If you think about it, there is no real middle ground in the abortion debate. One side believes that the other is trying to control women's bodies and place their very lives at risk from carrying unsafe pregnancies. The other side believes that millions of innocent babies are being murdered every year worldwide — and 88,000 innocent babies every year here in Australia. Regardless of which side you fall on, it is quite literally a life-and-death issue. There is really no middle ground.  Any sane person would be wise to steer well clear of the abortion topic. But that is exactly where I i...

Note: this post is based off a talk I gave to a group of high school-aged students at a church day in Jan 2025.  If my experiences are at all representative of the broader population, then your teenage years going through to adulthood can really be a time of searching and questioning. This point of transition from child to adult can be complex, as you move from being told what to do, to “charting your own path”. You need to really find and know God for yourself. You need to figure out “what to do” with your life - in all different aspects.  There are a lot of questions that come along with this, perhaps more so in our modern world than at any other point in history. How do I tell right from wrong? How do I determine what is true? Where do I live? Where do I work? Who do I marry? Do I buy an iPhone, or an obviously superior Android phone? What position do I take on these controversial topics which everyone else is talking about?  Sometimes, it can be really hard to find an...

The Forge is the latest movie by the Kendrick brothers, following on from their 2015 box office hit War Room . It was released on the 23rd August in the United States, where it finished fifth at the box office (grossing $6.6 million for the weekend). The movie will be released in Australia on the 29th of August and is screening in 109 cinemas across most major cinema chains, including Hoyts, Event Cinemas and Cineplex.  I recently attended a pre-screening of The Forge ; these are my observations and thoughts.  Overview The Forge follows Isaiah Wright (played by Aspen Kennedy), a 19 year old boy from Charlotte, NC, who is a year out of high school and is still floating around with no plans for his life. I say “boy” intentionally, because that is made very clear by the opening of film - he may be 19, but Isaiah is not a man.  When his single mother finally tells him to get a job or get out, Isaiah is rudely jolted into the “growing up” process. During this process, he giv...