Biblical friendship (part 2): Being a friend

“In part 1 we looked at John 15 and saw that a friend is loving, sacrificial and outward looking.

The book of Proverbs fleshes out this picture of what it means to be a friend. Proverbs is immensely helpful in thinking through the issue of friendship, which isn’t surprising because it’s a book of wisdom that tells us how God’s creation operates. So let’s look at what we can learn from Proverbs about friendship. …”

– Caitlin Orr continues her series on Biblical friendship. At The Australian Church Record.

Themelios 43.3 now available

The latest edition of Themelios is now available for free download from The Gospel Coalition.

Your gut is wrong

“The gut plays a very important role in the day-to-day life of those born after 1980. For one, these generations are obsessed with food, with every second meal being posted on Instagram and every second TV show relating to food.

But the gut also plays a powerful role in the initial reaction to any given situation. The initial gut reaction often controls the emotions and determines the response that follows, even directing the ongoing course of action.

We see it in evangelism when we mention that Jesus is the one and only way to God (John 14:6). The hearer’s gut reaction is …”

– Mike Leite writes at The Australian Church Record.

Life in Four Stages — free eBook from Albert Mohler, today only

In exchange for your name and e-mail address, Albert Mohler is offering a free copy of his eBook, Life in Four Stages: A Biblical Celebration of Childhood, Youth, Adulthood, and Age, as a PDF file.

“Scripture teaches us that God has fashioned each stage of life with precious glory. That’s why we are summoned to not only recognise the stages of life, but to live in them as God intended for his glory.”

Is God Green?

“Almost 50 years ago, in 1972, the crew of the Apollo 17 space mission took the first full-view photo of planet Earth as they made their way to the moon.

For the first time ever, humanity saw an image of the whole planet from afar. They saw the clouds, the land, the oceans sitting there: whirling, powerful, innocent, vulnerable.

This view from above was emblematic of a revolution taking place in the hearts and imaginations of millions around the planet. …”

– ACL Council member Dr. Lionel Windsor introduces his new book, Is God Green?

(Available from Matthias Media. Photo by Harrison H. Schmitt.)

A Hell of a Difference: How our understanding of Hell affects the Christian life

From Moore College’s Centre for Christian Living:

“What does the Bible teach us about Hell? Does our view of Hell change our view of God? How should our understanding of Hell influence how we live now?

Hell can be a difficult, awkward subject. It’s easy to talk about why we’re looking forward to Heaven at church morning tea, but there’s likely to be award silence if we try to open a discussion on Hell. Jesus, however, spent a lot of his time talking about Hell, so perhaps we need to think about it and talk about it more.

On the evening of Wednesday 24 October, Paul Williamson will help us to start this discussion.”

– Details from Moore College.

Destroy and kill: the command for Israel and for us

“If God didn’t want idolatry to be a snare for the people of the old covenant, how much more does he want us to kill what will turn our hearts away from single-hearted devotion to the Lord? …”

– Andrew Barry reflects on what it will mean to be genuinely holy. At The Australian Church Record.

What Is the Greatest of all Protestant “Heresies”?

“Let us begin with a church history exam question.

Cardinal Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) was a figure not to be taken lightly. He was Pope Clement VIII’s personal theologian and one of the most able figures in the Counter-Reformation movement within sixteenth-century Roman Catholicism. On one occasion, he wrote: ‘The greatest of all Protestant heresies is _______ .’

Complete, explain, and discuss Bellarmine’s statement.

How would you answer? What is the greatest of all Protestant heresies?

Perhaps justification by faith? Perhaps Scripture alone, or one of the other Reformation watchwords? …”

– Sinclair Ferguson writes at Ligonier Ministries.

Marriage: its place and pattern (Ephesians 5:31)

“ ‘For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’ (Ephesians 5:31, R.V.) (See also Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:45; Mark 10:7-8.)

These words refer, of course, to the action of a man in getting married. They indicate why it should be done. If, therefore, we look at the context of these words, we may expect to find out something about the ground and the purpose of marriage. What is more, these words come more than once in the Bible. …”

– In The Australian Church Record, the Rev. Alan Stibbs reflects on the place and pattern of marriage.

1 Corinthians 5: Why it is Necessary and Loving not to associate or eat with certain ‘Christians’

“1 Corinthians 5 has to be one of the most confronting passages in the NT. The Corinthian church was tolerating a case of blatant sexual immorality in their midst. …”

– Moore College’s Dr Peter Orr tackles an important passage.

The Challenge of Feminism (2): God’s Better Solutions

“In my last post we took a look at some different types of feminism, and also some of the gains achieved by the movement.

We also, in light of those gains, wondered whether we should be calling ourselves feminists. My preliminary response was ‘no’: God’s word gives us better diagnoses and better solutions.

In this post I’ll try to show you what I mean. …”

– Dr. Claire Smith has published Part 2 of her response to the challenge of feminism – at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

Should we call ourselves Feminists?

“The New York Times magazine labelled 2015 as ‘the year we obsessed about identity’, and it’s an obsession that isn’t finished yet. Answers to questions of personal identity – ‘Who am I’ and ‘What do I identify as’ – are now shaping public discourse, and increasingly the answers are expressed in labels. I even discovered recently you can now ‘identify’ as vegan!

And one of the labels people are obsessing over is whether or not to be a feminist.…”

– Dr. Claire Smith asks, Should we call ourselves Feminists?, in her first article on the topic of ‘The Challenge of Feminism’ – at The Gospel Coalition Australia.

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