DEC
11
ittle Fishes and TOTS toddler groups for 0-4 years old.
There are thriving groups for toddlers and their parents & carers at Alcombe, Minehead, Watchet and Williton. Please click on the toddler group links in the appropriate church's column to the left for details. - See more at: http://westsomerset.2day.uk/?localBoard=2948&globalBoard=0#sthash.HRstq8iQLittle Fishes and TOTS toddler groups for 0-4 years old.
There are thriving groups for toddlers and their parents & carers at Alcombe, Minehead, Watchet and Williton. Please click on the toddler group links in the appropriate church's column to the left for details. - See more at: http://westsomerset.2day.uk/?localBoard=2948&globalBoard=0#sthash.HRstq8iQ.dpuf- o -
Latest Information:
We have a new website!
Please go to
https://www.westsomersetmethodists.org.uk/
for all the latest news and information for the West Somerset Methodist Circuit
* * *
Coffee mornings in the church in Minehead
each Friday, 10.30am to 12 noon – all welcome.
- - -
Women's Bright Hour
meets at Alcombe
in the lounge at 3pm
on alternate Wednesdays
- - -
The Alcombe Friendship Centre will be held
on alternate Wednesdays
Click here for details
* * *
Warm Space, Warm Welcome
As part of the
national initiative (https://warmspaces.org/) one of the church buildings in Minehead & Alcombe will be open from 10am to 4pm.
Our churches have co-ordinated to ensure that one building
is open each day,
Monday to Friday.
We will provide a place of welcome where anyone can come to save heating their own home for a while. Please
click here for details
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Would you like to Advertise in our
circuit magazine
The Messenger?
Please click for details.
~ ~ ~
Would you like to Advertise in our
circuit magazine
The Messenger?
Please click for details.
~ ~ ~
Should you need to make urgent contact, please contact the Superintendent Minister by email to: andy.day@westsomersetmethodists.org.uk
We will continue to support the life and work of the West Somerset Circuit in other ways – please check our website for updates and
Click here to read The Messenger.
Feeling Isolated or worried?
Citizens Advice
West Somerset can be contacted anytime 24/7—Phone 0800 801 1808
leave a message if the phone is not answered.
For further information,
visit the website: www.westsomersetadvice.org.uk
To contact us at this website with any comments or questions please use the Contact Us button at the bottom of this page
Do we suffer for our sins? Is there a link between sin and disease, disability or injury?
Several times in the Bible and particularly in the New Testament we are told that disease or disability are a consequence of sin. For instance, in John 5:1-15 we hear of our Lord in Jerusalem meeting a paralyzed man that he had healed the previous day. He said something very significant to him. “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” These words do not sound like the slip of the tongue - especially when in Mark 2:1-12 Jesus heals and forgives the sins of another paralyzed man who was lowered through the roof of a building that he was teaching in. Jesus cures him by saying, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
The Pharisees' objection to Jesus’s healing of the man through the forgiveness of his
sins was because this was something only God could do - and so a blasphemous act
punishable by death. Mark 2:1-12 records that the Pharisees thought, “Why does this
fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their
hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to
say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat
and walk’?” This is story is also recorded in (Luke 5:21 and Matthew 9:1-8)
The belief in the link between sin and its potentially physical consequences is one
common to most major religious traditions. The rejection of this belief in most current
Christian theology does not appear to have any specific biblical basis. In fact, our
non-acceptance of this principle creates all sorts of theological problems – especially
in relation to equity, justice and injustice. For instance, if there is a just God, why
should some people enjoy perfect health while others suffer ill health? Where is the
justice in this? Perhaps it is time we thought again? Perhaps there really are physical
consequences for our actions - after all Our Lord also said “Those who live by the
sword will die by the sword’. (Matthew 26:52.) St Paul followed this by declaring that
‘…whatever a man sows, this he will also reap’. (Galatians 6:7). Perhaps the jury
should be out!
The Pharisees' objection to Jesus’s healing of the man through the forgiveness of his
sins was because this was something only God could do - and so a blasphemous act
punishable by death. Mark 2:1-12 records that the Pharisees thought, “Why does this
fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their
hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to
say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat
and walk’?” This is story is also recorded in (Luke 5:21 and Matthew 9:1-8)
The belief in the link between sin and its potentially physical consequences is one
common to most major religious traditions. The rejection of this belief in most current
Christian theology does not appear to have any specific biblical basis. In fact, our
non-acceptance of this principle creates all sorts of theological problems – especially
in relation to equity, justice and injustice. For instance, if there is a just God, why
should some people enjoy perfect health while others suffer ill health? Where is the
justice in this? Perhaps it is time we thought again? Perhaps there really are physical
consequences for our actions - after all Our Lord also said “Those who live by the
sword will die by the sword’. (Matthew 26:52.) St Paul followed this by declaring that
‘…whatever a man sows, this he will also reap’. (Galatians 6:7). Perhaps the jury
should be out!