Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
Posted on November 21, 2009
Filed under News
Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience
Nov 20, 2009
One hundred forty-eight Signatories
Preamble
Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.
While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord. Read more
AAC President’s update 20 November
Posted on November 21, 2009
Filed under Opinion
Weekly Message from Bishop David Anderson, President of the American Anglican Council, November 20 2009
“In a newly authorized advertising campaign, TEC begins by saying, “As Episcopalians, we are followers of Jesus Christ, our Lord, and believe in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” and this sounds spot-on Christologically.”
Beloved in Christ,
Some banks, large and small, have gotten into a great deal of trouble during the last year and a half with uncollectible loans and assets that have steeply declined in value. In short, their books don’t balance, and people’s money is at risk. Fortunately for most bank customers, their accounts are FDIC insured, and when a bank fails, another absorbs it, and the customer’s accounts remain relatively safe.
When it comes to churches, another institution that people trust, the same safety isn’t always present. Banks hold our money, and if they lose it we can work to gain more, whereas churches deal with our soul, and if we lose that, we can’t pick up another at the shopping mall.
As an example, the Episcopal Church (TEC) has vastly overstated their membership strength, withheld the really bad financial news, degraded their theology, lost membership, and their members’ souls are in peril. Read more
Updated website for Moore College
Posted on November 21, 2009
Filed under News
The Moore College website has a new look, and the beginning of lots of new resources.
It’s clearly the result of much hard work. See it here – and watch a welcome message from the Principal, Dr. John Woodhouse.
G K Chesterton on Daring Orthodoxy
Posted on November 20, 2009
Filed under Resources
“People have fallen into a foolish habit of speaking of orthodoxy as something heavy, humdrum, and safe. There never was anything so perilous or so exciting as orthodoxy…”
– Mark Thompson has a terrific quote from G K Chesterton — read it all here.
Gerald Bray on interpreting Scripture
Posted on November 20, 2009
Filed under Resources
“The first question we must ask of every biblical text is simply this — what does it tell us about God? What does it say about who he is and about what he does?
The second question is: what does this text say about us human beings? What are we meant to be and what has gone wrong?
The third and final question is: what has God done about this and what does he expect of us in the light of what he has done?…”
– Read the rest of the short interview at Between Two Worlds.
“A great turning of hearts must begin”
Posted on November 20, 2009
Filed under News
“In the lead up to the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change 7-18 December, CEO of World Vision Australia the Revd Tim Costello and US author Brian McLaren have co-written the following prayer…”
“This is the moment, God, when a great turning of hearts must begin. So through this prayer, we of many traditions who follow Christ — joined by friends and neighbors of many faiths – unite our hearts in a cry for change.”
No, it’s not a prayer for gospel repentance or the salvation of the nations through Christ.
– It’s available via Anglican Media Melbourne. (Photo: brianmclaren.net.)
Rising from the dust
Posted on November 19, 2009
Filed under Resources
“When a believer has fallen into a low, sad state of feeling, he often tries to lift himself out of it by chastening himself with dark and doleful fears. Such is not the way to rise from the dust, but to continue in it. As well chain the eagle’s wing to make it mount, as doubt in order to increase our grace.
It is not the law, but the gospel which saves the seeking soul at first; and it is not a legal bondage, but gospel liberty which can restore the fainting believer afterwards. Slavish fear brings not back the backslider to God, but the sweet wooings of love allure him to Jesus’ bosom.”
- Charles Spurgeon — with thanks to Of First importance.
November 2009 issue of Themelios
Posted on November 18, 2009
Filed under Resources
The Gospel Coalition has released the latest issue of Themelios. It is available as a PDF document or in HTML format.
It includes a word of exhortation from Carl Trueman intended especially for theological students (but also applicable to other ‘professional’ Christians).
“The temptation for a theological student at this point, of course, is to make the obvious answer to this: well, I study the things of God all day long; I am hardly likely to forget about God, who he is and what he has done, am I? Well, there is forgetting and there is forgetting. Remembering that there is a train that leaves the local station every evening at five o’clock is one thing; remembering that I need to be on it to return home to be there for my wife’s surprise birthday party is quite another. It is all too easy for the theological student to end up remembering God as an object of knowledge; it is quite another thing to remember him as the all-surpassing subject of existence.”
(h/t Between Two Worlds.)