Introduction

Welcome to Hibernia Gospel! Why Hibernia? Well, I just wanted to think up a domain name that no one else had used – and quickly 😀.

Hibernia is the Latin name for Ireland (I am Irish), which was used by Roman historian Tacitus back in 98 AD. Incidentally, Tacitus also gives us one of the first mentions of Christ and Christians outside the New Testament. He refers to the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD and the subsequent persecution of Christians by Emperor Nero. Tacitus writes that Nero blamed the Christians for the fire and subjected them to severe punishments. He also mentions that the term “Christians” comes from “Christus” (Christ), who was executed during the reign of Emperor Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate.

Why Gospel? Well, the word “gospel” comes from the Old English term “godspel,” which means “good news” or “glad tidings.” This, in turn, is derived from the Greek word “euangelion”, from where we get words like evangelist and evangelical. The goal of this site is to spread the good news.

Back in the late 1970s, as a teenager, I always appreciated chatting with evangelists around Cork city. As a Roman Catholic, I enjoyed hearing about Jesus and the New Testament, but I wasn’t very enthusiastic about religion in general.

Being a Beatles fan, I was curious about Eastern religion, having heard about their trip to India in the late 1960s. And of course, there was that famous incident where John Lennon said that the Beatles were more popular than Christ. He wasn’t boasting about the Beatles. He was just remarking, in the context of a long interview, that he thought Christianity was fading in the UK. Well, the same could be said for Ireland, even then. But that’s nominal Christianity. I had little time for that. I wanted something more like what I saw in the New Testament.

Two other Beatle references are worth mentioning. In Anthology, George Harrison described All You Need is Love as subtle PR for God. And Paul McCartney, in defence of John, felt that John’s remarks were a challenge to the church to get out there and spread the message. As a pop fan, it always pleases me to see cool people standing up for God. Bob Dylan’s Christian albums appeared around 1979 to 1981.

I associate these with my own conversion and early years as a believer. I went to see him in Earl’s Court in 1981.

Nowadays, evangelical churches in Ireland are getting much bigger. But when I look at church websites, I see little that explains the Christian faith. It’s very much “Come along and join the gang.” I can understand this. Maybe, in our postmodern age, people would be put off by doctrines and strong opinions. But then again, there are people like me (as I was, all those years ago) who might appreciate the perspective of an ordinary Cork man on what evangelicals believe and how they differ from mainstream churches.

I’m not here to promote myself or any specific churches. But, whenever I see evangelistic material, I like to know who’s behind it, just in case it’s some strange cult or whatever 😀. Well, if I am to label myself, I class myself as an evangelical Christian—a shy one. You’ll get evangelicals across all the denominations. Most that I’ve mixed with over the years have been Baptist or part of newer Christian fellowships and community churches. Most of them dislike denominational labels. A common slogan is, we’re not the only Christians, but we want to be Christians only. Well, even those of us who are OK with labels accept that it’s all about following Christ rather than churches or movements.

John 8:12
Then Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Categories

I’ve grouped posts under the following categories:

• Basic Christianity
• Counterpoints
• Daily Prompt
• Evangelicals and Catholics
• General
• History
• Hymns and Spiritual Songs
• Music Memories

• Basic Christianity introduces the Christian faith from an evangelical perspective.
• Daily Prompt consists of answers to questions that WordPress throws at users each day. My responses are very much off the top of my head, and I might delete the ones that have no lasting value. But it’s fun because it mimics casual conversations.
• Evangelicals and Catholics explains how evangelical teaching differs from Roman Catholic teaching. In Ireland, Catholics often wonder why people don’t just stick with Catholic teaching. I include this material because evangelical church websites often don’t deal with it for fear of focusing on debates rather than simple evangelism, but some people do want to know the differences.
• General is posts that don’t fit in the other categories.
• History consists of short summaries of Irish Christian history, with a focus on evangelicals.
• Hymns and Spiritual Songs are my reflections on Christian music that I’ve been introduced to over my Christian life. In some cases, it’s more about personal memories of the Christian scene more than music, because I don’t always remember clearly what hymns were big or new for specific years. I avoid personal names apart from famous names. I wouldn’t like to see my name banded around the web, so I act on the principle of Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you. So, if you happen to know me, please don’t be offended if I don’t pay tribute to you😀. But so many people, both believers and unbelievers have blessed me throughout my life.