‘Stop the Loss’ coalition

Bishop of Tasmania John Harrower draws attention to a new pro-pokie-reform website.

“I ask parishes to print out this… to stem this hemorrhaging of life blood from the vulnerable among us. Let’s care for the needy and protect the addicted…” – at Imaginary Diocese.

Learning from Steve

Oak Hill’s Vice Principal Chris Green looks at the man behind Apple, the late Steve Jobs, in the latest issue of the college’s Commentary magazine.

Download the full issue as a 4.8MB PDF file.

Warning Passages Ahead

Collin Hansen writes:

“The Book of Hebrews daunts even the most gifted preachers and scholars. For one thing, we don’t know the author. He quotes the Old Testament at length and repeatedly, but his method of interpreting these passages doesn’t always make sense to readers. His arguments about angels, Moses, and the temple require more than cursory understanding of the Hebrew Bible.

And then there are the so-called warning passages. It might be hard at first to grasp the significance of the priest Melchizedek, but many Christians viscerally understand the practical importance of these warnings. Can I lose my faith? What if I doubt? Fail to overcome sin?

To answer these questions and more, I turned to the acclaimed scholar Peter O’Brien, professor emeritus at Moore College in Sydney, Australia…”

– read his questions and Peter’s answers at The Gospel Coalition.

J. I. Packer: Fighting heresy in churches and small groups

“[I]t’s my firm conviction that churches ought to foresee this unhappy possibility of heresy getting in when lay-folk are leading. And they should counter the possibility by what in the history of the church has been called “catechesis.” We hardly hear of it these days, but in the second and third centuries A.D.—and indeed for some centuries after—it’s rather amazing to discover that inquirers into the faith were fed into catechetical classes.”

– J I Packer was interviewed by Christianity Today International for SmallGroups.com (h/t Anglicans Ablaze.).

Archbishop Orombi announces retirement plans

“Archbishop Henry Orombi has called for the election of a successor as primate of the Church of the Province of Uganda.

In an address to a meeting of the Ugandan House of Bishops on 7 Jan 2012, Archbishop Orombi said he would step down by year’s end, just short of year before his mandatory retirement at age 65…”

— story by George Conger at Anglican Ink. (Photo: Joy Gwaltney.)

An open letter on the Anglican Covenant

Canon Chris Sugden responds to an article in the Church of England Newspaper by Andrew Goddard –

“You write that the Covenant has been “consistently supported by the Global South Leadership.”.  Yet on November 24 2010, seven primates [Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda,Tanzania, West Africa, and the Southern Cone of Latin America] representing 40 million Anglicans released a statement that in their view “the covenant was fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate”…”

– read his full letter at Anglican Mainstream.

Don Carson on Hebrews — at The Castle

Don Carson spoke at ‘Winter @ The Castle’ in Ireland in early December. He gave five talks on Hebrews.

Thanks to the organisers, you can now download the audio files from The Castle website or via iTunes.

The Pastor’s Role in World Evangelization

Some encouragement from John Piper.

Also this video on ‘the work of a Christian leader’ is a good reminder that reminders are constantly needed.

Tim Challies reviews ‘The Meaning of Marriage’

Tim Challies reviews The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller:

“the distinguishing feature of this book is its deep dependence on the gospel. This distinguishing feature is also the book’s greatest strength.

Marriage simply cannot be properly understood or practiced without being rooted in the gospel. ‘If God had the gospel of Jesus’s salvation in mind when he established marriage, then marriage only ‘works’ to the degree that it approximates the pattern of God’s self-giving love in Christ.’…”

– read it all here. Places to buy it.

Tim Challies reviews ‘Real Marriage’

After earlier making observations (1, 2) about Mark & Grace Driscoll’s new book Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship & Life Together, Tim Challies has now published a review. From his conclusions –

“Having read the book through two times, I’ve found myself wondering how to best measure or evaluate it, but perhaps these criteria are useful: Would I want to read it with my wife or would I encourage her to read it on her own? Would I recommend it to the people in my church? In both cases the answer is no.”

– Read his full review here.

‘Knowing God’ — free AudioBook for January

This month’s free audiobook from Christian Audio is J I Packer’s Knowing God.

The m4b version is about 300MB. It’s a new recording, read by Simon Vance. Know someone who doesn’t read books? Send them the link.

The 2011 Highlights in Church Legal News

AS Haley, the Anglican Curmudgeon, has posted his 2011 Highlights (or perhaps lowlights) in Church Legal News –

“This blog’s principal focus is tracking the vicissitudes and adventures of the Episcopal Church (USA) in the secular courts, as it engages in an unprecedented campaign of ‘intimidation by lawsuit’ against the dioceses and parishes who have reached the limits of their tolerance with the national Church’s leadership in general, and with its individual bishops in particular. For – make no mistake – it is the collected bishops of the Episcopal Church who are enabling the Presiding Bishop and her personal Chancellor to bring more than seventy-five separate lawsuits across the country…”

– Read it all here.

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