Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
To answer the question of Jesus’ resurrection from a historical standpoint, we must first determine what facts concerning the fate of Jesus of Nazareth can be credibly established on the basis of the evidence …
A useful summary by William Lane Craig on Baptist Press.
See also SBTS President Al Mohler’s column on “Must One Believe in the Resurrection to be a Christian?” –
Now, [Deepak Chopra, the New Age president of the Alliance for a New Humanity] writes as one who knows he is “someone outside the Christian faith,” but what makes his point so interesting is that it is almost precisely the argument made by liberal Protestant theology – that it is enough to believe that the Apostles experienced a special consciousness of the risen Christ.
Spurgeon on Preaching Christ
“I believe that those sermons which are fullest of Christ are the most likely to be blessed to the conversion of the hearers. Let your sermons be full of Christ, from beginning to end crammed full of the gospel. As for myself, brethren, I cannot preach anything else but Christ and His cross, for I know nothing else, and long ago, like the apostle Paul, I determined not to know anything else save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. …”
Advice from C. H. Spurgeon, via Between Two Worlds.
Bishop condemns embryo study plan
The Bishop of Durham has attacked [UK] government plans which could allow scientists to create embryos combining human DNA and animal cells.
In his Easter Sunday message, given at Durham Cathedral, Rt Rev Tom Wright issued a rallying call to all faiths to object to the “1984-style” proposals. …
Report from the BBC. (Photo credit: Diocese of London.)
Sydney Archbishop warns against occult
In his Easter message this weekend, the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney Dr Peter Jensen has warned of the occult.
The Archbishop is particularly concerned about people using the supernatural to contact deceased loved ones.
Dr Jensen told ABC radio’s AM program there has been a surge of interest non-traditional religions. …
Read the report – and listen to the interview (3 minute / 1.8MB mp3 file) on ABC Radio.
(Photo: Anglican Media Sydney.)
Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Easter Message
Do you believe in ghosts, spirits and such like? I know lots of people do. Even if people come back as ghosts, they are not full people. They are more like memories of people, wisps of humanity.
I know that some of you have been really heartbroken by the loss of a person in your life and you try to contact the person. This is very dangerous – meddling in the occult is never a good idea. Anyway, as the old saying goes, death is so permanent. It is irreversible. We will be joining them, but they’ll not be joining us. Read more
‘Dissident’ Anglicans retain church use
Parishioners at three Anglican churches, who voted to break away from the national church, will celebrate Easter in their buildings after an Ontario Superior Court judge held off yesterday on deciding who gets the keys to the properties. …
Reverend Charlie Masters, who voted with his parishioners at St. George’s to break away from the Anglican Church of Canada and align themselves with the more conservative group, said he was delighted to have his church building to celebrate the holiest weekend in the Christian calendar. …
Story from Globe and Mail. (Photo: Rev. Charlie Masters, St. George’s Lowville)
The Intensity of Christ’s Love and the Intentionality of His Death
The love of Christ for us in his dying was as conscious as his suffering was intentional. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16). If he was intentional in laying down his life, it was for us. It was love. “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Every step on the Calvary road meant, “I love you.”
– a meditation from John Piper.
Updated website for St. John’s Shaughnessy
For all who are upholding St. John’s Shaughnessy in their prayers – their website has been updated – and has a new address.
The new website can be seen at stjohnsvancouver.org.
Silly Rabbit, Easter’s Not for Kids
No cross this Easter for some US Sunday School lessons –
“In order to be sensitive to the physical, intellectual, and emotional development of preschoolers, First Look has chosen not to include the Easter story in our curriculum. Instead, we are focusing on the Last Supper, when Jesus shared a meal and spent time with the people He loved. We have made this choice because the crucifixion is simply too violent for preschoolers. And if we were to skip the crucifixion and go straight to the resurrection, then preschoolers would be confused.”
Read the story by Russell Moore at the Resurgence.
The Christ Files screens at Noon Good Friday
A Reminder that The Christ Files, a one hour documentary hosted by Dr. John Dickson, airs across Australia on the Seven Network at noon on Good Friday (March 21). You could invite your friends to watch it with you.
For details, visit thechristfiles.com.au.
Good Friday Offering handed to Bishop of Jerusalem
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori presented the Good Friday Offering – a check for $158,801.42 – to Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem Suheil Dawani on March 18 at St. George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem. …
The Presiding Bishop, who is visiting the Holy Land March 16-24 at Dawani’s invitation, said it is a great privilege to be able to present the offering in person. …
– Story from the Episcopal New Service. (Photo: Episcopal Life.)
Confusion over HOB vote to depose orthodox Bishops
Massive ecclesiastical confusion followed in the wake of a vote by the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops over whether or not two bishops were legally deposed at a HOB meeting in Camp Allen recently.
A report in The Living Church, following the deposition of Bishop John-David Schofield and William Cox, said that slightly more than one-third of all bishops eligible voted to depose bishops John-David Schofield and William J. Cox during the House of Bishops’ spring retreat, far fewer than the 51 percent required by the canons. Both resolutions were approved by voice vote. …
– Latest on the TEC House of Bishops’ ‘deposition’ vote by David Virtue.
Lambeth: To Go or Not To Go II: Tips for Take-overs
There have been two significant responses elicited by recent developments within the Anglican Communion. I would like to analyse what has been said – and left unsaid – and where it’s all heading.
The first response is that of the Statement by the Province of SE Asia. I begin, though, with the second, the Reflections of Bishop Mouneer Anis on the Joint Standing Committee where he shared with the world his bleak perspective on the future of the Anglican Communion. …
Opinion-piece by Dr Lisa Severine Nolland on Anglican Mainstream.
Statement from the Synod of The Province of South East Asia
The Synod… hereby:
- encourages the bishops of our Province to participate in the Lambeth Conference 2008 yet also fully understands and respects the decision of some who for their own principled reasons may choose not to attend the Lambeth Conference 2008;
- supports our bishops in fully and actively expressing our on-going concern for the issues and challenges facing the Anglican Communion, and our continued participation in and commitment to the position of the Global South; and
- gives support for such appropriate further action on the part of our House of Bishops as they may among themselves decide in order to give full effect to this Statement, and to report any such further action taken to the Provincial Synod and/or Provincial Standing Committee as soon as practicable for ratification. …
Read the full statement via GlobalSouthAnglican. (Graphic: Anglican Communion website.)
First woman to preach at St. George’s Cathedral Jerusalem
At the invitation of Bishop Suheil Dawani of the Diocese of Jerusalem, TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori became “the first woman ever to preach at St. George’s Cathedral” in Jerusalem on Sunday.
Visiting the city where GAFCON leaders will hold their pilgrimage in June, the Presiding Bishop was beginning “a week-long visit to the Holy Land”.
And from the Episcopal News Service –
The Rev. Canon Hosam Naoum, acting dean of St. George’s, described the Presiding Bishop’s visit as a historic moment. “With all the differences in the Anglican Communion today, I see her as a uniting figure who brings beliefs and understandings and cultures of other people around the world.”
(Photo: Episcopal News Service.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…