An Irish personal evangelistic site. I'm not representing a particular church, but it's broadly evangelical in tone. My aim is to cover topics I've encountered in discussions I've had over the years, mainly here in Ireland..
As I keep stating, most of my vivid memories of being introduced to new hymns and songs come from the early 1980s. In Baptist churches, we liked the older hymns, but some of the newer ones did drift in from time to time. I was introduced to three of them in the summer of 1987, … Continue reading Hymns: 1987 Memories
I don’t have many musical memories from 1986, at least not from hymns. One song that I remember very vividly around the time of my final exams was Spirit in the Sky by Doctor and the Medics. I didn’t think of it as any kind of a Christian song, and I found it irritating, but … Continue reading Hymns: 1986 Memories
Although, by 1985, I’d become more traditional and conservative in my outlook, I still fondly remembered the newer choruses that I’d been introduced to in the first few years of my Christian life. In early 1985, someone asked me to speak at the Christian Union in Ashton Comprehensive school in Cork. During my talk, I … Continue reading Hymns: 1985 Memories
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 … Continue reading Introduction
Over the years, in addition to reading, I’ve enjoyed listening to the Bible in audio format and to various sermons, talks, and audiobooks. Way back in 1981, I ordered a Christian teaching tape from the UK to rent, 😀 and it was stopped by Cork customs on some technicality. Nowadays, the web is full of … Continue reading Recommended Audio Resources
Sometimes, when someone from an Irish evangelical church talks of when they became a Christian, people are puzzled. Isn’t everyone in Ireland a Christian by default? Such a question doesn’t make much sense in modern Ireland. Firstly, there is much more religious diversity than there was when I was asked that question frequently 45 years … Continue reading Isn’t Everyone a Christian?
I make much mention of my background and experiences at various points in this blog, so I thought it might be useful to present a brief outline of the years coming up to my conversion. As I mention elsewhere, I grew up a Roman Catholic in Cork, Ireland. I don’t remember a lot before my … Continue reading Conversion Chronology
I mentioned in my last post, that I started attending Cork Baptist Church in the autumn of 1980. Unlike the Pentecostal and charismatic groups in Cork at the time, Cork Baptist Church had been there for hundreds of years. It goes all the way back to 1640. But, unlike other Protestant churches in the city, … Continue reading Hymns: 1981 Memories
In my discussions with evangelicals, all those years ago, I often raised this question. Very often, people told me that it’s not about what church you’re in. It’s about having a personal relationship with Jesus. But when I dug deeper, it was clear that most of them felt better for having left the Catholic Church. … Continue reading Could you not have remained a Catholic?
One can certainly get that impression from some aspects of modern evangelicalism. We must remember though, that evangelicalism is a broad movement. All sorts of awful things can go on in any movement. A lot of churches dislike the term evangelical because it can associate them with dodgy TV evangelists and the prosperity gospel movement. … Continue reading Isn’t it all about money?
Hibernia Gospel 