Remodelling Hell
Is belief in hell disappearing? “Absolutely,” says Barnard College professor Alan Segal, author of Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion. Segal’s remark is found within a news story released by Religion News Service. …
– Al Mohler writes in his blog.
Worth thinking about: What are the implications of preaching to people who don’t believe God will judge? And how many professing Christians think this way?
Obama and McCain at Saddleback
“Today we’re going to be live-blogging the Saddleback Civil Forum, with presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain. The candidates will appear at the Lake Forest church this evening and give back-to-back, hourlong interviews with Pastor Rick Warren.
As our Maeve Reston reports today, the event will be an important preview of what’s to come in the three presidential debates, the first of which takes place next month at the University of Mississippi. This will be the first time since the general-election campaign kicked off that the candidates will share a stage together. …”
– This liveblog from the LA Times gives a feel for the Saddleback meeting. (As is usual in reading a live blog, start at the bottom.) The BBC has video excerpts.
If they build it, will He come?
Last Thursday, in Jerusalem’s Old City, around five hundred Jewish teenagers signed a declaration – to spend at least half an hour each week working towards building the Third Temple.
If they ever succeed, it’s going to be a day to remember. For Jews, it will be the trigger for the coming of the Messiah – who will descend from the Mount of Olives, break through the sealed Golden Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City, and redeem the people. …
– ABC Correspondent Ben Knight reports from Jerusalem. (Photo: ABC.)
TEC’s San Joaquin diocese: deadline passes
Bishop Jerry Lamb, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, said it is unlikely that there will be any action taken Aug. 15 at a meeting of the standing committee to depose clergy who failed to reply to a letter sent with an Aug. 5 deadline.
Bishop Lamb said it was within his canonical authority as the elected bishop of the Episcopal diocese to proceed to depose all clergy who did not respond affirmatively to the first of three options he outlined in a July 10 letter. But he said it was very unlikely that the standing committee would take any action toward that purpose at this time. He said a more likely prospect would be the issuance of another invitation leading to reconciliation. …
– Report from The Living Church. The letter sent to clergy is available here (direct link to PDF file).
Test Revival with Doctrine
“Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma, one of the main charismatic magazines, has written a lament and critique of the Lakeland ‘revival’ which is now in a tailspin over the leader’s announced separation from his wife.
Grady’s summons to pray for the church and our nation is right, and among his commendable questions and observations are these…”
– Read John Piper’s comments at Desiring God.
And from the Charisma article to which he refers –
“Why did God TV tell people that ‘any criticism of Todd Bentley is demonic’?
This ridiculous statement was actually made on one of God TV’s pre-shows. In fact, the network’s hosts also warned listeners that if they listened to criticism of Bentley, they could lose their healings.”
Chappo’s book reviewed
Mark Tubbs reviews Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life by John Chapman – at Discerning Reader –
Chapman’s calling as an evangelist informs this book from cover to cover. He presents the good news of the crucified Christ in clear and accessible ways, and quotes large swaths of Scripture, knowing that the Word of God alone has the power to convict and save. Using the parable of the rich fool, Chapman hits hard early on, showing how Jesus labels the person who fails to consider the next life a fool. …
Want to buy multiple copies to give to your friends and relatives? (Of course you do.) See Matthias Media, Moore Books or Evangelism Ministries. (The other place has them too.)
Bishop Don Harvey reflects on Lambeth
My dear members of our ANiC family, For the past three weeks, I have been combing the Internet for news from Lambeth. And there has been no lack of it. The blogs and (especially UK) media have been full of information. Making sense of all that information, however, has been a challenge. This is my best effort to make sense of Lambeth from this side of the Atlantic.
One of the key benefits of this Lambeth conference was the opportunity it afforded Anglican leaders from throughout the world, including our own Primate, Archbishop Greg, to meet together in groups, as well as one-on-one, to discuss important matters. There have been many reports of positive “indaba” and Bible study group meetings.
There have also been reports of frustration. Frustration that Lambeth, by design, did not produce any further clarity on the crisis – no clear direction, no decisions. However, this was indeed by design and was cited by bishops who chose not to attend as one of the factors in their decision. Two Primates – one attending Lambeth, one not – spoke passionately and eloquently of the intransigent anti-Christian actions of the North American churches, actions that precipitated the crisis. I have great respect for both Archbishop Deng Bul (Sudan) and Archbishop Orombi (Uganda) for their courage in taking their stands when silence would have been far easier. …
– Read all of Bishop Harvey’s comments at the Anglican Network in Canada.
See also his Reflections on GAFCON.
(Photo: Bishop Don Harvey of the Anglican Network in Canada at St Mary of the Incarnation, Metchosin.)
Open Evangelicalism, NEAC 2008 and the future of the Church of England
The Church of England Evangelical Council website is now advertising ‘NEAC 2008’ – a consultation in continuity with the previous ‘National Evangelical Anglican Consultations’. Meanwhile, on the Fulcrum website, there are rumblings about whether this is going to be truly ‘representative’ of the current state of Anglican Evangelicalism in England. …
Fulcrum was founded in reaction to the direction being taken during the organizing of the last residential NEAC, at Blackpool in 2003. … Since then, Fulcrum has claimed the ‘Evangelical Centre’ and, simultaneously, has steadfastly opposed more Conservative groupings such as Reform, and initiatives such as GAFCON. In effect, therefore, it has formalized the divisions in Evangelicalism between its Conservative and Open strands.
Thus Evangelical unity in the Church of England is probably at an all-time low since the end of the Second World War. …
– John Richardson provides an insight into the state of ‘evangelicalism’ in the Church of England at The Ugley Vicar.
What seems like an age ago (1993), we published this article by John on the then state of UK Evangelicalism – in the ACL’s newsletter.
Who needs church?
Two recent broadcasts from ‘The White Horse Inn’ may be of interest to our readers –
1.) Who Needs Church? – “In his recent book Revolution, George Barna suggests that Christians no longer need to join churches, but rather should simply look for life-coaches, and helpful information for spiritual growth via the internet.”
2.) Calling the Sheep to Become “Self-Feeders”? – “A recent study conducted by Willow Creek Community Church discovered that the most committed among their church members were the most vocal about the lack of theological depth, and were among the the most dissatisfied with the worship.”
Both broadcasts look at contemporary attacks on the biblical doctrine of the church.
The road from Lambeth
The recently-concluded Lambeth Conference provided an opportunity for bishops from around the Anglican communion to discover the deeper realities of the contexts in which each seeks to spread the gospel. …
The Anglican communion’s present reality reflects a struggle to grow into a new level of maturity, like that of adult siblings in a much-conflicted family. …
– TEC Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori writes this opinion piece in The Guardian.
Church considers £1.2m shortfall
A £1.2m deficit in the recent Lambeth Conference’s budget will be discussed on Monday by the committee that manages the Church of England’s assets.
A boycott of the conference by more than a quarter of bishops over the issue of homosexuality is thought to be partly responsible. …
– From the BBC. (The caption to the photo accompanying the article reads: “Homosexuality was the main topic discussed by bishops at the conference”. Not correct.)
Photo: Lambeth Conference media.
ESV Study Bible: Jonah
Crossway has posted online the entire book of Jonah – along with the associated introduction and notes – from the forthcoming ESV Study Bible.
It’s available as a free download from Crossway (2.6MB PDF file – direct link).
(See also the interview with Dr. Mark Futato, who contributed the study notes – with thanks to Between Two Worlds.)
The Anglican Blog Song
American Anglican Paul Erlandson has composed The Anglican Blog Song and posted it on YouTube.
– A bit of light relief.
Dr Williams and his Bishops: wheels within wheels?
The ability of the Anglican Church to undergo apparently impossible convolutions has been further highlighted by the publication of, on the one hand, letters written between Rowan Williams during his time as Archbishop of Wales and a former Anglican Evangelical and, on the other, a letter supporting Dr Williams signed by nineteen bishops and published in today’s edition of The Times.
Dr Williams’ letters tell us nothing really new in terms of either his theology or his church polity. …
– John Richardson writes at the Ugley Vicar.
Canterbury answers critics
In response to the recent coverage of the correspondence dated back to 2000, The Archbishop Canterbury has made the following statement:
“In the light of recent reports based on private correspondence from eight years ago, I wish to make it plain that, as I have consistently said, I accept Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference as stating the position of the worldwide Anglican Communion on issues of sexual ethics and thus as providing the authoritative basis on which I as Archbishop speak on such questions. …”
– from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.
However see also the important Latimer Study: The Theology of Rowan Williams An outline, critique and consideration of its consequences – written by Dr Garry Williams of Oak Hill College in 2002.
(Photo: Archbishop of Canterbury’s website.)
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…